Community Chat

[Jayjay]

I have never used one but need to very soon.  I have the boxes and wanted to print the label at home to save some money.

Has anyone done this?  Any suggestions to have it go smoothly?

I have an USPS account and will attempt to print a label tomorrow.  Do we need to print the label  on certain paper?

[homedecor1]

I do this shipping a lot. The flat rate boxes get a discount if you do it online. It's pretty easy - fill in info and pay.  The. I print on reg paper and affix to the package. It's quick and easy

[teainlondon]

I used a USPS box for the first time to return a ring. The Q label was 6.95 and the box, label w.insurance and tracking at the post office was only 5.95. So I thought I would try it. I tracked the ring and it arrived back to Q in 2 days. The one thing is that Q has not creditied it yet, but their return says it could take two billing cycles. I don't know why. But, I have the documentation if there is any problem so I'll see.

tea

[Ibby114]

I always use USPS flat rate services for my returns -  I keep plenty of flat rate envelopes on hand for that reason!  I order them from usps.com ($0 cost!) and they  take up  minimal space at home. I'll often return multiple items in one package- I jsut returned 4 clothing items in one package! I roll them up (just like the vendors show to ease packing for travel) with the receipt and squish everything together. You  can pack them to the max! Shipping to Q is tracked and is much faster than their 'easy return'  label. Q is slow with crediting returns in general, but it ends up  being faster overall sicne the return gets to them in a better timefame.

[Jayjay]

Thanks....have any of you paid online and then printed the label to add to the package? I believe the medium size box I need to use costs $12.95 but it's $11.50 (just guessing; can't remember the exact amount when I was "testing" it weeks ago) when you buy and print online.  I only charged $11.50 for shipping on this item but with fees (ebay) I know I will lose some $ on the shipping part of this transaction. SO, I want to try and get the reduced price for shipping, if possible.

Ibb38, I order the boxes throught usps.com as well and have the small and medium boxes as well as a variety set.  When I recently ordered the medium size in anticipation of selling this heavy item, I thought I was ordering 2 boxes and ended up with 2-25 count boxes. I took one bundle back to the post office but kept the others....I don't think I'll ever use all 25 of them so I might bring more back after the holidays.

[kittymomNC]

If you already have an account set up with the USPS website, all you have to do is go to the Postage Price Calculator and it will lead you through everything, give your options to choose from, and then give you the option to print your postage.  You may have to fill in some information if you haven't printed any postage/labels before, but it's really simple.  Then you can choose to pay with a credit card or with PayPal... I love that they have started giving the PayPal option.  You don't need any special printer paper, and I print mine with the label on 1/2 of the paper, and the tracking info etc. on the other half.  You just cut off the label part and attach it to your box.  

A lot of shipping options give you a discount for printing the label online instead of having the postal person do the postage at the post office - I know the priority mail flat rate envelopes are $5.05 if you print your label online, and $5.95 if the postage is printed at the Post Office.  I would think it would be a more substantial discount for a flat rate box.  

[LTT1]

@Jayjay  You can print the label on regular paper.

It is cheapest to ship in a poly mailer (like a Q bag) if you are using USPS First Class...

[Jayjay]

Thanks everyone.....always a problem with me.  Filling out the online form was no problem and payment went smoothly BUT the manifest form threw me off and I couldn't get it printed.  All of a sudden, everything was complete and I didn't print anything yet.  It took awhile for it to appear under my "history" but I finally was able to get the label printed.  I tried to call CS but there was a 45 minute wait and within 10 minutes I had what I needed EXCEPT the manifest form so I hung up. 

I went to the post office but all was ok and she gave me a receipt.  I just went up to the counter to be sure all was ok since it was my first time but I always thought you could just drop it off on the counter and just leave.

Is the manifest form just for when you have USPS pick up your package?  

AND it turns out it would have been cheaper for me if I just mailed it on my own and got it weighed......I thought for sure it was heavy and the postage would be above the $11.30 I paid.....I paid about $2.50 more than I should but I'm learning and experimenting.