Is it necessary to have a shipping label or can you use a stamp?

[MotoMaker]

Okay so I sell paintings as well as prints for my paintings.  And my first shipping label for a print cost about 80% of the price of the print.  This can’t be right.  I DID overestimate the weight of the item by a considerable degree.  But even so… I AM relatively new to this shipping stuff but…another (potentially stupid) question I have is if it’s NECESSARY to have a shipping label.  I.E., could I just mail the print in an envelope with a stamp, (many prints are that size).  Maybe labels are mandatory because it’s a business, but dang I’d like to come out a little more in the green than 20% of the price…

[Summer2024 · Accepted solution]

Hi @MotoMaker ! 

This a really great question, especially for other businesses like yours that sell prints! 

You should be able to manually mark an item as "shipped" without printing a shipping label. 

To update the status for an entire shipment order:

1. Sign in to your Square Dashboard and click Items & orders > Orders > Shipments.
2. Click To-do.
3. Select an individual shipment order.
4. Click Actions and choose Mark as in progress or Mark as shipped.
5. Enter the tracking information, select the carrier, and click Mark as shipped. (While I am unable to test this with my account, are you able to click through this part?) 

If the above steps require you to provide tracking information (which is what we are trying to avoid since you do not want to pay for labels) my next workaround would be marking the prints as "Other" for item type and collecting the mailing address in a text box at checkout. Here is a Support Article that highlights using text boxes at checkout. 

Let me know if any of this is unclear and I will do my best to work through it with you!

[Candlestore]

@MotoMaker ;

I am not sure of the size of your print or if you would want it folded or not.  Take one of your Prints to your local USPS office and see what your print could ship in.  If your Print can be folded to ship in a regular #10 size envelope, and under 1lb I believe (think 12 sheets of 8x10 paper) then a 1st class postage stamp would work.  This is why if you try to place a regular 1st class stamp on an envelope for Leagal unfolded papers, they charge you more or return it for more postage.  You can also get Free Padded envelopes from the post office.  Depending on where the Print is going these might be also expensive for Shipping.  The post office also has Tyvek Envelopes that are stiff but not padded for Free.  You just pay the shipping fees.   Here is a link to their supplies :

https://store.usps.com/store/results?Ntt=free&_requestid=7440383 

You may want some label type printer to print the address of your customer, and sometimes a shipper might be cheaper with your actual dimensions or the name of the package.  Look into Unishippers, Pirate Ship, Shippo, Ship Station etc. they offer lower rates than the Retail rate at the USPS.  Some of them also have the USPS boxes in their calculations and you just need to enter the weight of the shipped pakage, then print out your label.

Shipping also depends on Distance.  For me to ship one candle in Region 1 might be $8, but across the country from PA to Washington State is over $23.  Just keep that in mind when calculating shipping also.