Posted 2 April 2023

Thermal label printer for eBay shipping labels

I'd be grateful if anyone could share their experience of using a thermal label printer for printing Royal Mail/EVRI shipping labels for ebay auctions. (say 5 labels per day)

Is it really as simple as deciding if I want wireless or not and then just buying the cheapest model that can handle 4x6 labels and that will do the job? I see some on Aliexpress for £50 and I don't mind spending that on one of these.

A lot of the reviews/guides I see online are focussed on ebay.com and I know things are potentially different there.
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  1. omarm's avatar
    I'd be really interested in the same question.
    I don't have an answer... but I thought I would share my frustration with trying to use a Zebra printer...
    I got an old one from ebay. I've got 3 old ones funnily enough.

    I wanted to 'just' print. You can't. You need special software. You can't just add a print driver.

    I tried resizing the content to the dimension of the label and printing. It would miss out a big chunk of the top left - on which you can't print. I tried contacting Zebra. I can't remember what they said.

    My main purpose was trying to print directly from a web page.
    Zero luck. :/
    I then tried to print to a PDF and then print to the Zebra printer after opening the PDF. No luck. I gave up.

    My none expert opinion and knowledge: Zebra is the big player, they're the best. Maybe I wouldn't have the same problem if I purchased a brand new printer for £400 (or whatever the price is). Many people swear by other cheaper printers. See many Tiktok videos.
    Brother printers: stay away... they 'try' to force you to use their expensive label paper. This sucks. Zebra doesn't have this dumb restriction. I'm sure the cheap Chinese printers don't have the same restriction as well. I'm sure there are workarounds... but you'll be a criminal on the run trying your best to dodge their detection systems.

    Cost of labels: you need to consider this as well. If you buy from the right places, you can get away with paying 1p-2p per label.

    Hope that helps a little.Eagerly awaiting to see if others give a positive answer to your original question.
  2. AMaky's avatar
    Pretty much.
    I went for wireless,ebay was about £80, not branded.
    Buy labels from amazon.
    No issues for past 6+ months.
    bob-mk2's avatar
    Author
    Can you share a link to the model that you bought?
    Were there any features that you found particularly useful or that you wish you had gotten?

    It does seem counter-intuitive to me that the cheaper ones are the ones with les hassles, but I am always aware that the big companies have a habit of screwing up something that should be simple.
  3. jamie15's avatar
    Yes it really is this simple just avoid things like the new Dymo range with paper DRM, the cheap Chinese printers will be fine.
  4. bozo007's avatar
    I use Royal Mail Collection service and the postie gets the label. But I am also not sending 5 packages daily, more like 5 a month.
    jamie15's avatar
    This is great for the occasional label, but it's so much easier to have the label printer if doing any sort of volume. I find if I have too many parcels unlabelled it can get mixed up (or would have to write item name on box to differentiate), label printer straight after packing is the best way though.
  5. sm9690's avatar
    The Dymo 4XL you can still use 3rd party labels, unlike the new 5XL
  6. windym's avatar
    I sold my business a few years ago (not eBay but online) and we used a Zebra ZD420. At the time the RM labels to fit these were free - not sure if they still are - but it is by far a workhorse and once it is bought, it is nigh on free if you can get the labels. (edited)
    jamie15's avatar
    Think RM shipping supplies are free if you have OBA. If not, label rolls are relatively inexpensive
  7. hc4eva's avatar
    I just use a regular wireless printer and buy a4 sheets with 4 x 4x6 labels per page.
    jamie15's avatar
    If that's an inkjet printer, thermal ones are better in the long run as you never have to pay for ink again. Good for occasional use though (edited)
  8. imran999's avatar
    Another vote for zebra 420 thermal. I use mine for fnsku labels and shipping labels from amazon/ebay

    Can be picked up from ebay 2nd hand for cheap price. Just get the seller to run a diagnostic report to show you the number of labels that have been printed from it. Lower the better. Can usually pick up a low mileage printer on ebay for around £100. Only issue i have ever had is when swapping label rolls from one brand to another and even then, its a few button clicks to recognise the new label spacing of the new label roll.

    Or if your buying new, then one of the rollo (or other generic brands) thermal printer will do. (edited)
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