# Shipping labels for ecommerce: the four options, and when to use each

> Carrier websites, multi-carrier software, marketplace tools, or 3PL. A quick guide to what each does and the volume at which you should switch.

Ryan Badger - 9 March 2025 - 2 min read

## Shipping labels 101

A shipping label is the sticker that goes on a parcel telling the carrier (USPS, UPS, FedEx, DHL, Royal Mail, etc.) where to deliver it, who's paying, and what's inside. Without one, a carrier won't touch the box.

If you're selling physical products online, you'll generate thousands of these. Doing it right saves 30-50% on shipping costs vs. walking parcels into the post office and paying retail.

## The four options for printing labels

### 1. Carrier websites directly

USPS, UPS, FedEx all let you create and print labels on their sites. You paste the destination address, pay the rate, print, stick on box.

**Pros:** zero setup, works today, no third-party fee. **Cons:** no batch processing, retail rates (the most expensive tier), manual re-entry of every customer address.

Fine for five orders a month. Painful at fifty.

### 2. Multi-carrier shipping software

The category of tools that connect to every major carrier, negotiate commercial rates, and plug into your ecommerce store:

- **Shippo**: popular with Shopify/WooCommerce stores, pay-per-label
- **ShipStation**: deeper feature set, monthly subscription
- **EasyPost**: developer-focused, API-first
- **Pirate Ship**: USPS-only, free (no software fee; you just pay USPS)
- **Sendcloud**: Europe-focused

All of these pull orders from your store, auto-fill the address, show you rate comparisons across carriers, print labels in batches, and sync tracking numbers back.

**Pros:** commercial discount rates (10-30% off retail), batch printing, multi-carrier comparison. **Cons:** subscription or per-label fees; another tool to manage.

### 3. Marketplace-integrated labels

If you sell on eBay, Etsy, or Amazon, they each have native label printing built into the seller dashboard with negotiated rates. Use it.

**Pros:** zero setup if you're already on the marketplace. **Cons:** only works for orders from that specific marketplace.

### 4. Fulfilment outsourced to a 3PL

Once you're past ~100 orders/week, outsourcing fulfilment to a 3PL (Third Party Logistics provider) usually makes sense. You send your inventory to the 3PL; they pick, pack, and ship on your behalf. Labels are handled on their side.

**Pros:** you stop doing shipping logistics entirely. **Cons:** monthly storage fees, per-pick fees, minimum volume commitments.

## What to pick based on where you are

| Volume | Recommended approach |
| --- | --- |
| <20 orders/month | Print at home using the carrier site or Pirate Ship (USPS) |
| 20-200 orders/month | Shippo or ShipStation, connected to your store |
| 200-1000 orders/month | Same as above, plus 3PL conversations starting |
| 1000+ orders/month | 3PL fulfilment with a shipping-software layer for edge cases |

## How Shoprocket fits in

Shoprocket handles the checkout and order side. Once an order comes in, the data (customer name, shipping address, items, dimensions if configured) is available via:

- **Your Shoprocket dashboard**: view/export individual orders
- **CSV export**: bulk export for manual label generation
- **Webhooks**: push new orders automatically to Shippo, ShipStation, or your own systems

From there, pick whichever label tool fits your volume. We stay out of the carrier-rate-negotiation business because Shippo / ShipStation / Pirate Ship already do that well. What we give you is structured order data they can consume.

```
<!-- EXAMPLE ONLY. Grab your real snippet from Sales channels → Embeds in your dashboard -->
<script src="https://cdn.shoprocket.io/loader.js" data-pk="pk_yourkey"></script>
<div data-shoprocket="catalog" data-embed-id="emb_xxx"></div>
```

Paste on any site, take orders, fulfil them using whichever label software makes sense. Zero platform transaction fees, 200+ payment methods, order data clean enough to hand to any shipping tool.

## Common mistakes

### Paying retail shipping rates

If you're printing labels on USPS.com or UPS.com and paying the rates shown, you're paying ~20-30% above what commercial shipping software will charge for the same service. Over a year, that's real money. Shippo or Pirate Ship pay for themselves on their first week of use.

### Wrong box size for the contents

Carriers charge by dimensional weight, not actual weight, once the box is above a certain size. Shipping a 2oz product in a 12×12×8 box costs as much as shipping a 10lb product in that same box. Buy boxes that fit your products.

### Missing the customs declaration

International shipments need a customs form (CN22 for most, CN23 for higher-value). Skip it and your parcel sits in customs for weeks before getting returned. Every shipping tool above generates this automatically once configured.

> **Tip:** If you're based in the US and doing more than 10 orders a week with USPS, get a free Pirate Ship account immediately. It's USPS commercial rates (Commercial Plus, the cheapest tier) with no software fee. Most sellers save 30-50% vs. USPS.com retail rates within the first week.

## TL;DR

- Carrier websites are fine for <20 orders/month
- Shippo, ShipStation, or Pirate Ship save 20-30% vs. retail rates once you're past that
- Marketplace-native labels work for marketplace-exclusive sellers
- 3PL makes sense past ~100 orders/week
- Shoprocket handles the order data; any shipping tool can consume it

[Start a free trial](https://app-v3.shoprocket.io/signup) if you need the commerce side. Pricing: [$29 onward](https://v3.shoprocket.io/pricing.md), no platform fees on any plan.

---

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