New E-Commerce business

nikkico1

Hi,

I will soon be launching an e-commerce website and would like advice on the most cost efficient and professional way to print address labels(computer software,printing machines etc) and also the best postage/courier service methods to get my products to my customers efficiently. Any advice welcome.

Thanks ,
Nicola.

jimmii

I got one of these for address labels works great

https://www.123ink.ie/Dymo-LabelWriter-450-S0838770-i13948.html

For postage depends on where you are, volume, the weight and value of what you are sending. An Post do bulk rates and you get better prices in Dublin.

_Brian

I print invoices direct from the e-cart.

Them turn them over and print the address on the reverse. Have those address holders for the outside of the package that stick on wih documentation inside.

davidr94

Hi Nicola,

I found Relay couriers pretty good for same day delivery in and around Dublin, I used to deal with Denise there,
Sending things over and back to the UK, we use DPD, for convenience more than anything (around the corner from the office),
They loose important documents at least once a month though!

BattleReady

Hi, try they guys at parcel direct. They have some great e-commerce tools

eequalsmc2

jimmii wrote: »

I got one of these for address labels works great

For postage depends on where you are, volume, the weight and value of what you are sending. An Post do bulk rates and you get better prices in Dublin.

I have this machine too. Its quite good. Just a shame the stickers for it are pricy.

jimmii

eequalsmc2 wrote: »

I have this machine too. Its quite good. Just a shame the stickers for it are pricy.

I got 5 rolls with it that I haven't got through yet. I also found a roll that isn't for it (its way too many stickers the top part is open a couple of inches) but it still works so you can go with cheaper stickers too. The sticker size isn't one of the ones listed but I am able to get it to print right on it by using the box to customise where the text goes. It works perfectly even if it looks a bit silly!

antoinolachtnai

A silly story - a person I know was in charge of shipping out stuff for a start-up company in the United States. He did it all from his apartment. He was a bit of a hacker and wanted to keep costs down, so he used a laser printer he had. Labels, printed using UPS's software, looked great.

The problem was that it was a wet weekend in North America. Because the laser printer was a bit old and the laser wasn't that 'hot' any more, the toner didn't fuse fully to the paper. The writing washed away in the rain. Took a while before he got all his boxes back and was very hard to figure out who had gotten what.

All I'm saying is, don't cut too many corners on the label printing.

All that said, there are also demo-compatible labels you can buy, no idea about the quality.

https://www.labeldiscounter.com/en/labels/dymo-compatible.html

jimmii

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

A silly story - a person I know was in charge of shipping out stuff for a start-up company in the United States. He did it all from his apartment. He was a bit of a hacker and wanted to keep costs down, so he used a laser printer he had. Labels, printed using UPS's software, looked great.

The problem was that it was a wet weekend in North America. Because the laser printer was a bit old and the laser wasn't that 'hot' any more, the toner didn't fuse fully to the paper. The writing washed away in the rain. Took a while before he got all his boxes back and was very hard to figure out who had gotten what.

All I'm saying is, don't cut too many corners on the label printing.

All that said, there are also demo-compatible labels you can buy, no idea about the quality.

https://www.labeldiscounter.com/en/labels/dymo-compatible.html

Nightmare!! I had a dynamo label peel off in the post one time but it got back pretty quickly thankfully! I tape them now to be sure.

antoinolachtnai

This is geek stuff about labels, but generally there is 'permanent' and 'removable'. For postal envelopes, what you want is the permanent. It won't come off.

StupidLikeAFox

These guys are handy - print invoice, fold it so only the customer address is showing, and pop it in one of these. Saves a lot of messing around

TripleAce

jimmii wrote: »

I got one of these for address labels works great

https://www.123ink.ie/Dymo-LabelWriter-450-S0838770-i13948.html

For postage depends on where you are, volume, the weight and value of what you are sending. An Post do bulk rates and you get better prices in Dublin.

Silly question, do you connect this directly to the PC, click a button and it prints? do you need to change ink often?

eequalsmc2

TripleAce wrote: »

Silly question, do you connect this directly to the PC, click a button and it prints? do you need to change ink often?

Will connect to PC or Mac. Download their software and it allows you to select the sticker you have entered (you have to manually select it). Then you simply enter your message (you can write multiple lines if you want to try squeeze them on if you like) and hit print and thats it. You never need to buy ink because it burns the image onto the sticker.