Many eBay sellers take advantage of both the convenience and cost savings of printing out online postage through eBay Shipping, Stamps.com, Endicia or USPS.com. Inexpensive or free Delivery Confirmation is one of the best perks of purchasing online postage. But poor label quality or barcode placement can drastically decrease the number of tracking updates your shipment receives during transit. Here are a few tips on making your Delivery Confirmation or customs form barcode USPS friendly and easy to scan during it’s journey from the point of origin to the final destination.
1. Position the barcode on the flattest part of the package
The nice thing about shipping with boxes is every side of the box is flat! If you need to wrap the label over two sides of the box, make sure the barcode doesn’t straddle two sides of the box. Bubble mailers can be trickier than boxes since the contents make the package lumpy, especially if you’re selling LEGO pieces. If you’re shipping uneven (not flat!) items with bubble mailers or envelopes, stick your Delivery Confirmation near where you seal the envelope. Next, stuff your item into the far end of the envelope away from the seal. The sealed end of the envelope will be flatter and thus more USPS scan-friendly than the uneven far end.
2. Make sure barcode is smooth and free of tape
Many USPS packages with Delivery Confirmation receive 4-7 scanned updates during shipping. A wrinkled or taped barcode can decrease your scans during transit down to one–the Delivery Scan. Carefully stick or tape the label onto your shipment as smoothly as possible. If the label looks too wrinkled for a scanner, then it probably is. Tape around the barcode rather than over the barcode.
3. Use high quality, dark printer ink or thermal labels
Choose a good printer and high quality ink when printing out shipping labels. Inkjet printers can produce poor quality labels as you run out of ink or if you use cheap replacement ink. Common inkjet printer problems include: faint ink, gaps in printing, wavy lines, etc. all of which can hinder Delivery Confirmation barcode scanning. Consider investing in a laser printer or thermal label printer, both of which produce consistently high quality labels.