The best printer for printing shipping labels (2023)

One of the most frequent questions we get asked is "what printer should I use?"

If you are new to printing shipping labels or thinking of upgrading your shipping label printer, it pays to have an overview of the factors you need to consider before making your final decision. With so many different brands and printers on the market, we’ve put together a few considerations to help you choose the printer that best suits your label printing needs.

• Low volumes: If you are only printing a few labels and packing slips a day, you should be able to use a standard home or office printer, which is usually an inkjet or laser printer 🖨️.
• Steady to higher volumes: If your online store is generating a steady flow of orders you will want to look at a dedicated printer you can rely on with little to no downtime ⏱️.

Printing the correct label size for each courier

Once you have an idea of your volumes, the next step is finding out the different label sizes that are required by your chosen courier. Most couriers only support printing labels in a 100x150mm (A6) size, for example Australia Post, Aramex and CouriersPlease.

Often it is dependent on the courier that you are using. For example, NZ Post or eShip require an A4, A5 printer or label printer with 100mm or larger aperture.

eParcel can print labels to A4 sheets (these are usually provided by Australia Post with pre-printed logos). The downside to this is if you only have to print a few labels then you are wasting half of the page. eParcel can print to many different types of printers, including laser, inkjet and thermal.

DHL: All of the printers mentioned for the other carriers are suitable for DHL labels. As with the other carriers, there are many different printer makers and models that will fit the bill.

Check label sizes for a range of couriers across Australia.

What kind of printer do you need to print shipping labels?

There is no right or wrong printer as it depends on your shipping volumes. Let’s take a look at the 3 categories of printers and you can evaluate which kind of printer best suits your business needs.

• Inkjet

• Laser

• Thermal

Best thermal printer for shipping labels

There are 2 different types of thermal label printers. Let’s take a look at what thermal printer best suits an online retailer who wants a dependable product that will not hold up orders.

Direct Thermal

• Lower cost and budget-friendly
• Limited to black
• Limited shelf life
• Requires thermal paper

Thermal Transfer

• Transfer images from a thermal ribbon (like the ribbon you would find in a typewriter)
• Scans label images easily
• Has a longer shelf life

The top thermal printers used by online retailers (like you)

At Starshipit, we have seen the following thermal printers being used by online retailers to print shipping labels. They are all easily available at your everyday office stationery and tech stores.

High-speed printing for high volume eCommerce

If you are printing high volumes of shipping labels and you would like the option of printing at high speeds, consider a shipping solution that can manage high-speed shipping label printing.

With Starshipit, merchants print shipping labels 25 x faster than the industry standard.

Here is a handy Youtube video tutorial to learn more about installing the Starshipit print application.

What happens if you want to handwrite a shipping label?

You can write your own address, but it has to be legible and remember that you obviously still need the barcode label. Integrating with a shipping solution like Starshipit allows you to print your own labels with barcodes. Learn more about how you can set up a plain label courier.

For more information on label printing or Starshipit, please contact our support team.

Looking for simple shipping automation?

If you are considering automating your fulfilment process, Starshipit’s cloud solution enables you to manage all your couriers and fulfilment tasks in one place by integrating with a wide range of Australian couriers and eCommerce and business management platforms.

You will be able to display your negotiated rates at checkout, print labels, at high-speed if need be, and the best part is we have FREE onboarding and support to make sure you are shipping happy from day one.