Question about when to buy the shipping label
This may be a dumb question because I've been selling for five years. I have something to ship by Monday to Glendale Heights IL for eis. I'm going to pack it up today. Do I need to wait til Monday to buy the label or would it hurt if I buy it today or tomorrow. Does eBay count it as shipped if I just buy the label, or do they only count it as shipped when the acceptance scan uploads from the post office? Ground Advantage.
Thanks for any advice.
10 comments
1tuna
·6 months agothe only reason I ever made the labels early was if I had a bad storm coming and thought I might lose power,items payed for after I go to the PO on saturday morning all get labels on early monday moring. I ship 6 days a week and never worry about acceptance scans, drop into the bin and go
bonanza125
·6 months agoIt doesn't matter as far as defects are concern. You can buy the label today, tomorrow or Monday. I would say buy today just in case the buyer wants to cancel so once you purchase the label they are detoured from wanting to even ask to cancel.
simba6
·6 months agoI have never had an issue over when a label was printed. It's best to print them one at a time as your packing to avoid mixing up items and buyers.
a_c_green
·6 months agoVery true. After all, the USPS already has your money, from when you purchased and printed the label. All that remains now is for you to provide the package. (This is especially true when the rates are scheduled to go up, usually on a Sunday, so if you purchase and print your label on the preceding Saturday, they will still honor the postage when you show up on the following Monday.)
simba6
·6 months agoWhere I live, they don't even look at the address when they deliver the mail. So, there is little chance they will check the date.
a_c_green
·6 months agoRight; the print date doesn't really matter for all intents and purposes. Just print the label and get it outta town.
itsjustasprain
·6 months agoNonsense - there are no dumb questions! Only dumb questioners! No - wait - that didn't come out right... 😄
When you print the label through Ebay you will see a popup noting that the label is good for (if I remember right) 7 days.
The Handling time does not stop until the package gets an Acceptance scan by the carrier. If your local post office is open today then you can get it mailed off today.
If they are closed but have an after-hours drop box in their lobby then you can deposit it there. If there is a Self-Serve Kiosk in their lobby then you can get a Provisional Acceptance scan on it before depositing your package and Ebay will accept that as proof of mailing within your promised Handling time. (Any insurance on the package does not go into effect until USPS scans the package themselves.)
ryry-jj
·6 months agoYou can buy the label today and ship on Monday. @fire4jewel states, there is a drop down menu to change the date to Monday if you want. I never do, at least on 90% of my labels, I just print. The date just avoids confusing if you shipped something say 2 Day, the "2 Day" starts when the carrier receives it, not when you printed the label. Im sure some customers try to say, "but it shipped on this day..." when in fact it didnt.
Im not sure what he cut off time is at night to automatically go to the next day, but I print out labels after work, sometimes around 5pm and the date to ship is still "today", when I kinda expect it to show the next day automatically....but never an issue that I know of
fire4jewel
·6 months agowhen you go to make the label, look for the 'Date' and there should be a little 'drop down' box where you can click on a different date for the actual shipping.
Hope this makes sense, I haven't had much coffee as yet.
mommaknows
·6 months agoMy understanding is that buying the label is not verification that shipment was made that occurs when the package gets an acceptance scan.
I always purchase labels after packaging which may be on a Saturday after post offices close to be mailed on Monday.