Using Paypal Shipping

As a seasoned seller on the EGL Sales Community, as well as having sold things on eBay for many years, I have become very acquainted with the post office and USPS. I ship A LOT OF STUFF. Before I discovered PayPal shipping, I used to walk to the post office, get my packages weighed, pay for my postage there, and have to remember to get a tracking number back to my buyers.

I noticed that, while buying many things on the sales community, the majority of sellers do exactly that: go to the post office. If you accept money via PayPal, there is an easier way! When you invoice a buyer and they pay you, you can print your postage online and tape it to your package! No more standing in line at the P.O waiting to send packages. No more having to remember to give your buyers tracking numbers. Paypal has made it easier for you, and this handy dandy guide will help you ease the pain. Especially around the holidays, NOBODY wants to spend their day at the post office. It goes step by step from beginning of sale to end.

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PLEASE NOTE: THIS GUIDE IS REALLY ONLY HELPFUL TO US BUYERS AND SELLERS. FOR US SELLERS SELLING TO INTERNATIONAL BUYERS, YOU CAN ONLY BUY AND PRINT GLOBAL PRIORITY LABELS ONLINE, BUT YOU STILL NEED TO STAND IN LINE FOR CUSTOMS FORMS.

1. Calculate your shipping by the weight of the package. If you are like me and happen to have a postage scale (like I said, I send a lot of stuff), you can use that to weigh your packages down to a quarter ounce. If you don’t have a postal scale (this eBay store has them really cheap, it’s where I got mine!), then you can usually use a regular household scale or a kitchen scale if you have one. If you are weighing something and it is just under a pound, when in doubt, ROUND UP! I have had packages come back to me because I didn’t round up on the weight and owed more postage. Once you have the weight of your package, you can go to USPS.com and do a shipping calculation.

2. Send a money request to your buyer using PayPal, including the total amount for the item and the shipping. Some sellers also include Paypal fees in their totals, so if you are one of those, and easy way to calculate your PayPal fees is with PPCalc. They also have an up-to-date currency calculator. Using the Money Request form, you can imput the buyer’s email address and if they have a PayPal account, PayPal will detect it in their system. PayPal will also let you request money from an email address even if they don’t have an account.

3. Once your buyer pays their invoice/money request, it will show up in your PayPal account history, and next to it it will say “Print Shipping Label.” This is the button you will click to print your shipping label online.

4. Once you hit “Print Shipping Label,” you will be taken to a screen with all of the address information, where you can change the address of the recipient if you need to. You can also select your shipping methods, input the package weight and size.You can also type in a personalized email message to the buyer.

5. After you’ve input all that information, it will take you to the screen where you confirm and purchase your label. When you purchase your label, it will automatically take the funds from your PayPal account, so you won’t have to transfer money out to your bank account to pay for shipping. You may go back and make changes by clicking the edit buttons, and you may also change your printer settings to accomodate your label.

6. After clicking Pay and Continue, PayPal will open another window, provided you don’t have pop-ups by PayPal blocked by your browser, which will contain your label. It will give you the option to print a sample label, where it will test your printer settings and print exactly what you see pictured, your label with “SAMPLE” written on it. If you don’t want to print a sample, you can just click “Print Label.” You can print on regular paper and just tape your label to your box, or you can get special labels through USPS, as well as find them online.

7. Once your label is printed, you will notice that in addition to the label, it also printed an Online Record Label. On that it shows the shipping method, the tracking number, the price you paid for postage, your address and your buyer’s address. It also shows instructions for fixing your label on your package.

8. Once you close that window, Paypal sends you a confirmation email, and it also sends your buyer a confirmation email that includes the tracking number and a link to USPS’s website to track the package. You will then be given a screen that has a link that lets you print a packing slip. I usually print these out to include in the package when I ship it to my buyers, so they can keep it for their records. If you go back to your account history on PayPal, it will show in your account history that the item has been shipped, and it also shows a link to track the shipment.

9. Now you are ready to ship your package. Through the USPS website, you can schedule a pickup for your package(s), which saves you a trip to the post office. Or some mail carriers will pick them up if they are small enough and you leave them in your mailbox with the flag up. Or, you can go to the post office and drop the package in the appropriate mailbox without standing in line.

10. If you are short on packaging, you can go on the USPS website and order boxes FOR FREE. You can get Priority Mail and Flat Rate boxes, address labels and customs forms sent to you for free. If you need to send something First Class and you only have a Priority box, you can take the box apart and turn it inside out. If you need bubble mailers, they sell them dirt cheap at Walmart, and also in bulk at Sam’s Club and Costco.

I hope this guide was helpful! If you have any questions, you can contact the administrator.