Complete Guide to Shipping Label Printing

A shipping label carries everything a courier needs to deliver your package: the destination and return addresses, a scannable barcode or QR code, and the order or tracking number. Marketplaces generate these labels automatically when you process an order.

Printing them well matters because a damaged or unscannable barcode can delay every shipment it's attached to.

Flipkart, Meesho and Amazon each generate labels with their own layout, but all share one trait: they ship with large white margins. Cropping these margins is the key to cheap, efficient printing across every marketplace.

Amazon often bundles labels together with invoices and packing slips in a single PDF, so separating the label from the invoice before printing is an important extra step.

A4 printing works on printers you already own and is fine for low volumes — especially when you arrange four labels per page. Thermal 4x6 printing is the professional choice for higher volume: no ink, cheaper per label, and faster to apply to parcels.

Many sellers start on A4 and move to thermal once they pass roughly 20-30 orders a day.

Upload the marketplace label PDF to the matching crop tool, let it auto-detect the label boundaries, choose your output layout (single, 4-up or thermal size), and download the print-ready PDF.

The whole workflow takes seconds per batch and keeps your barcodes at full resolution.

Print at 100% scale, never 'Fit to Page'. Keep the barcode area clean of folds, tape and creases. Use matte label paper and enough contrast for reliable scans.

If a barcode ever fails to scan, reprint immediately rather than trying to re-use the label — a clean label is cheaper than a lost shipment.

Once you switch to cropped 4-up A4 printing or thermal, track your paper and ink purchases for a month. Most sellers see their printing costs drop by 50-75%, which quickly compounds as order volume grows.