One of the many perks of Shopify Shipping is the ability to buy and print shipping labels. What was a time-consuming task in the past has now become wholly simplified for you. Shipping labels not only look professional, but they make your packages more secure. You’ll also save tape by printing a label on a sticker sheet.
Shopify has everything you need to set things up in a few clicks if you’re new to shipping products.
You can even buy and print multiple shipping labels at a time. If you’re a new merchant wanting to know more about how to create a shipping label on Shopify, read on to find out.
Buying Shipping Labels in the United States
Shopify allows you to use shipping labels in the United States, Canada, and Australia. For this article, we’ll focus on buying and printing shipping labels for the United States.
Before you buy your first shipping label, you should be familiar with your carrier of choice. You can purchase and print shipping labels for:
- DHS Express
- UPS
- USPS
Another step to take before getting started is to set your default shipping package. Here’s how to do it:
- Go to Settings > Shipping and delivery
- Go to the Saved Packages section, and hit Edit beside the Default Package Label
- Enter your unique title, weight, and dimensions of your average package
- Save your changes
Taking this step will ensure that your shipping fees will stay as accurate as possible. Once you know your shipping carrier and have your default information, you can move on.
Important Limitations to Consider
Certain shipping carriers have some limitations on their services. It’s crucial to know these limitations so that you don’t place an order they can’t fulfill. Here are the limitations that you should know about:
- You can’t use a P.O. Box address as the shipping origin or destination for UPS orders
- You won’t be able to print a UPS shipping label if your origin address is in Puerto Rico. If your business is in Puerto Rico and you want to use UPS, you can add them as a third-party carrier.
- Certain packaging types aren’t able to receive a tracking number from the USPS. If you’ve promised to track data for your customers, double check your package types. As long as they support tracking numbers for them, you’ll be fine.
Buying a Label
The next step in learning how to create a shipping label on Shopify is buying labels. It’s essential to know that the cost of your labels will show up on your Shopify account bill. That will save you the extra step of entering payment information every time you buy a label.
Here are the steps you’ll need to take to buy a shipping label on Shopify:
- Start at the Shopify admin page, then go to Orders
- Select an order that has unfulfilled items on it
- Under the unfulfilled section, hit the green Create Shipping Label button
- Under Items, select the total number of items for this fulfillment
- From the Package drop-down menu, select a package. Enter the weight in the Total Weight box
- Select your shipping method of choice from the Shipping Service section
- Accept any necessary terms and conditions
- Review your details under Summary, and then hit Buy Shipping Label
That’s all it takes to purchase a shipping label through Shopify. There are a few optional steps that you can take, such as adding shipping insurance. If you have insurance coverage for your package, it’s crucial to enter it here.
If you need to use more than one fulfillment for a customer order, you can do that as well. You can buy additional shipping labels for each fulfillment that you have. You can easily change the number of items you want to include for each fulfillment.
You can also select a shipping date and then send the details to your customer. That can add to your user experience as long as your dates remain accurate. Customers always appreciate knowing when they can expect their packages from you.
When shipping some orders, you may have to print the customs form separately. From there, you can attach it to the outside of the package.
Buying and Printing Multiple Shipping Labels at a Time
If you’re placing a bulk order and need more than one label at a time, that’s no problem for Shopify. In fact, you can buy and print up to 20 shipping labels at a time from the Shopify admin page. Under the Orders page, select all 20 checkboxes for the orders that need shipping labels.
There are three types of orders that Shopify will discard for bulk labels:
- Orders that have digital products that don’t require shipping
- Orders that don’t have valid shipping addresses
- Orders that you have already fulfilled
Let’s say that you have a partially fulfilled order. In that case, Shopify will only include the unfulfilled items in the label purchase.
Buying multiple labels at a time is a straightforward process. As previously stated, you go to the Orders page from the Shopify admin. You then select the checkbox for each order that needs a label. From there, you click Create Shipping Labels. After that, click Buy Shipping Labels, and you’re all done.
Using Shippo for Shipping Labels
Now that you know how to create a shipping label on Shopify let’s talk about Shippo. It’s an app you can download from the Shopify App Store that makes shipping even more straightforward. Shippo has excellent discounts from all the major carriers. You can also automate workflows with a sleek set of tools that are easy to use.
But we’re here to focus on shipping labels, and Shippo does them better than anyone else. Remember how we said that you could bulk print 20 shipping labels at a time on Shopify?
Well, with Shippo, you can bulk print up to 100 labels at once.
Not only that, but the app features pre-filled shipping details. If you want to streamline your shipping label process, then downloading Shippo is a must. To get access to this great service, visit Shippo at this link.
How to Create a Shipping Label On Shopify ( quick video )
Closing Thoughts
By now, you should know how to create a shipping label on Shopify. It’s another one of the many processes that Shopify makes quick and effortless. By using Shippo, you’ll be able to bulk-print shipping labels at lightning-fast speeds. If you want a full guide in shipping on shopify check out our article at this link.
For more great content to help you develop your Shopify strategies, check out the rest of the merchant posts on the site.
