Shipping a package and/or returning an item is actually a big headache especially if it's your first time doing it. Mrquality has 15 years of experience shipping an item so perhaps some knowledge can relieve some of that pain.
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I would like to make this page better but will not be able to do so for the time being due to constraints. I would like to buy all shipping items again so I can truly show first time shippers how it's done. If you find the work helpful please consider donating so I can revamp this page.
Beginner Printing - Fast and Easier to Understand but Draining
Shipping as a beginner and shipping as someone who wants to take it easy are 2 different things.
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Shipping like a beginner will take you 10 minutes with each package and will cost a small amount of energy with each package, it can be quite draining if you don't have a dedicated area.
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What most beginners do is they use their printer to print out the label on 8.5" by 11" paper.
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They then cut the excess paper off the label and tape the sides of the label onto the box.
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Remember to pack your item properly and tape all sides of the box you need to contain your item. The packing should have filler to fill up the box and protect your item from moving on all sides.
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It's easier said then done. Remember you might need to go the post office because a lot of drivers don't arrive to pick up your package, even if you call and not everyone wants to lodge a complaint that takes 3 weeks to be considered.
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Remember most post offices open and close at the worst times. 9am-5pm is such a small amount of time considering sometimes by the time you are done getting your item ready to ship, the post office is near closed.
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mrquality has fun opinions about the post offices but don't let that get you down, turn that frown into a clown, sliding down, into a town, where he shall then, be found. Thank you.
Beginner Mistakes - Make Sure To Double Box Your Items
Most beginner's don't even pack the item and don't double box sneaker boxes so don't be that person.
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Double boxing means to put an item that has a box inside a box. Yes you can just use the sneaker box but how about you don't do that when the sneakers are $200+ and has a cool box.
Even when an item, any item not just sneakers, is worth less than $200, it's just good manners to pack an item with care.
Your item coming to the recipient as it originally comes is quite important, and it won't be as it originally comes when the item has tape all over it and/or is crushed from the shipping because you didn't put the item in a box.
Making Shipping Easier
There is a lot more to shipping when you want to make it easy because you ship a lot or just want to understand.​
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The below should help out those who want to make things easier.
First things first, which Printer do you have?
Most people have a printer that is so well known I call it a celebrity. Most people have this printer the
Brother Compact Monochrome Laser Printer, HL-L2350DW,
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While it is a good printer and definitely a great first time buyer's printer, I ended up not using mine when I was seriously shipping a lot of packages. A thermal printer is far better when you want to take it easy.
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If you ship less than 10 packages a day it's a fine printer to have.
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You can use it wirelessly as well as wired.
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I would teach how to set it up but that will only come upon request.
Packing
Now that's printing is done we will discuss how to pack an item.
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It is fairly straight forward however it's always good to see how another packs in order to find the way you want to.
Freedom of Choice for Filler
There is a lot of freedom of choice as you can use newspapers, plastic bags and even old filler that you got from maybe buying something on amazon.
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I find it better to simply buy the filler paper since when I ship, I ship a lot.
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You can use filler paper recommended below. It's quite handy since you just need to roll it up a bit and put it on the 2-4 sides of the box. It's actually by sold by ebay the company themselves, so you know that they know some things about shipping, to say the least.
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There is also quite a bit to use so you should have the paper for quite some time unless you are a really big shipper, in that case, just buy more, profits shouldn't be affected much since the cost is considerably low.
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Also it's just way more professional.
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Sticky Labels
Sticky labels are heaven sent, they are the entire reason to use a thermal printer as they save much time and energy.
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Always get sticky labels.
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I believe you can use sticky labels even in the brother celebrity printer but it does mess up the toner I believe, but even so it's still worth using sticky labels and that should tell you how good they are.
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You can buy the sticky labels I used for the brother printer below but be warned that it does mess up the toner.
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You can also buy 4x6 sticky labels for whichever thermal printer you have.
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It's a great feeling once you slap that label on and get everything ready to ship.
Tape and Tape Dispenser
You can use any tape you wish however some are better than others.
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I use scotch easy unwind tape as it feels superior but you can also use other tape. Remember you get a good discount when you buy a bunch as compared to buying only one. But you can buy one below.
It comes with a tape cutter but it's terrible and I recommend taking it off unless you really need it.
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A shipping dispenser is the tool you use as a cutter and it's a great tool if you ship a lot. Use whichever one you like.
Donations / Test a Payment
Don't donate if money is an issue, it's all good. Any donation, even the smallest one, really would be appreciated.
You can also test if your payment is working or not (sometimes payments don't work and you want to know it's not you so you can test by donating) and if you want the money back after donating, you can message me but understand it can take some time for to be found in order to return the payment to you.
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Understanding how to Print a Page and most importantly changing label sizes to the size you wish.
You need to understand how to print a page to do exactly so.
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Most of the times you will click where it says print; I mean most of the times when you need to print a label in order to ship, you will be provided with a button that says print.
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You can also print a page by using the hotkey Ctrl + P on Windows. You can also right click and click print on most pages.
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However majority times when printing something on one channel such an amazon return, it will not be the same as printing out something for another channel such as an ebay return because they use different size labels.
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Why is it like that? Well of course the only reason is to give you more pain.
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At least the below FREE software can help but you need to know how to save something as a pdf.
Saving as PDF
In order to save a picture or a shipping label as a pdf, you just need to again right click and go to print or CTRL + P, but this time instead of selecting your printer, go to destination, click on the drop down arrow and change it to "save as pdf" as shown below.
Once you click on the save button on the bottom right, next to the cancel button the shipping label or picture will be saved as a pdf and you will be able to manipulate it so it gets to be the correct size you wish using the software below.
One actually free big brand software to unite them all.
I wish you didn't need to use software in order to make it so you can print something out correctly but it is what it is.
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You need to use Adobe Acrobat Reader. Make sure only to have only the acrobat for chrome add on, McAfee is not what you are there for.
It's setup process is fairly simple but a little upsetting since you have to agree to another agreement to use their software. So many agreements, what's another right?
But remember this is free software from Adobe, they didn't have to give this so I am grateful for it and hope you will be as well.
I don't like using any additional software but it's not like these multi-million dollar companies like Ebay, Amazon, StockX or the like will ever agree to use the same size of a printing label page.
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You use the Adobe Acrobat reader chrome extension to convert things to pdf, if you cannot save the page the company like Amazon or Ebay directs you to as a PDF, and Adobe Acrobat Reader to open that PDF and manipulate the size using the Adobe snapshot function so it comes to be same for all marketplaces you ship on.
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If you don't understand the above you will eventually understand if you print more often, or just see the pictures below.
Actually taking the snapshot
This is how Adobe Acrobat looks when you start it up.
Go to File then click Open, this is on the top left hand side, so you can open the PDF you saved.
Go to Edit then go to more, then you will finally see the main purpose of using this software and that is the take a snapshot function. Parts of the label in the picture above and pictures below are cut out to protect privacy.
Highlight the area you wish to take a snapshot of, which is the label itself and not any excess as you can see from the picture above. Doing this makes it so you can print out ANY SIZE label and it will actually print out correctly.
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Finally no matter how many millionaires disagree on using different size label paper you can finally still print correctly.
Right click and click on print to see the print preview below.
Now all you have to do is click print and the size should be correct since you have taken a snapshot but you can also manipulate the size by changing the custom scale as well as changing the orientation to landscape or whatever you wish.
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The snapshot should do all the work for you and you can just finally click print.
Conclusion
Knowing the basics, understanding where to buy good filler for packing, always being able to change the size of a label and using sticky shipping labels can make shipping a far less draining task.
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Whether you are a single person or a big company, I hope these tips helped.