Ship using Stamps.com or ETSY?

[Former_Member]

I have a Stamps.com account that I've been using to ship items. But now I notice you can ship using ETSY shipping and they deduct the costs from your account. Is there any benefit to using one over the other? Is one easier? Cheaper?

[StuckOnSilver]

Stamps.com used to charge a monthly fee--I don't know if this is still the case. Etsy's label service provides a commercial rate and emails the shipping information to the buyer. Tracking is automatically tied to the transaction. E-Z.

[fishcouple]

I use Etsy's. It's very convenient!

[CozyDawg]

Etsy. Easy. Fast. Cheap.

[Former_Member]

Stamps.com is SUPER FAST!
If you have lots of orders and are on a time crunch & need to get them done quickly...use them.

If your not too busy and have time, then use Etsy
:)

[Former_Member]

But if you use etsy's shipping, how do they calculate postage. Do people buy a separate scale and weigh each item? With stamps.com, they provide a scale...

[Former_Member]

My husband bought me a scale and an account with stamps.com a few years ago, but we had a lot of problems with it as far as entering in credit card info, pages not loading correctly and various other glitches with the pages, so we stopped using it after only a few months. I later found out that, at that time, etsy's shipping was cheaper anyway. I use the postage scale to weight my packages and then just enter the info into etsy's shipping system, print the label, tape it to the package, and drop my package in a mailbox. Super fast and super simple.

[LeedsRadio]

Stamps.com is horrible.

You have to buy postage before you use it,which means there is always some money in your account that you can't used. When I cancelled my account it took them ONE YEAR to refund the money they owed me.

Next - they swear they are cheaper than the post office. In some things that may be but in others they are much more expensive. For example if you ship Express Mail internationally and use insurance, stamps.com is much more expensive than walking up to the window in a post office or using click-n-ship or etsy.

They they try to lure people with a scale. You can buy excellent postal scales online without getting ensnared with stamps dot com.

Their interface is also horrible.

Don't use use them unless you have time to waste,love frustration and like getting money that is owed to you very late.

[SageNThymeDesigns]

Etsy is cheap, easy and fast. But in my mind the best part of printing the shipping labels through Etsy is the tracking info is then in your order record so if there's a problem it's a thousand times easier to find the info you need very quickly. Just click on the order record and you can see the tracking info, how and when it was shipped and if you have insurance. For that reason alone, I would go to Etsy!!

[OneFairfaxRoad]

I bought a scale from USPS and ship smaller items through Etsy and USPS. I sometimes ship FedEx ground on larger items, as it is often cheaper than USPS. Shipping through Etsy is super easy and as Joanne mentioned, all your records are in one place!

[AScatteredCreative]

I use Etsy shipping more and more for both my Etsy shops and just use my USPS account for personal stuff anymore - it saves steps when processing an Etsy order, I get automatic shipping notifications to my customer, the same rates as my USPS business account, and it works flawlessly on my Mac. I can also get free tracking on small, First Class packages which I can't from the USPS site. For me it's a hands-down winner.

[UniqueSewingBoutique]

I use Etsy, very convenient

[Former_Member]

I like using the Etsy option, it is the same as the PayPal ship now for commercial rates.
I do like that it is charged to your monthly bill as well.
Fast, easy, and inexpensive.

Bonus that it e-mails the customer to let them know the tracking.

[thejewelseeker]

I still use both....Stamps.com has great insurance, and so it feels safer to use them when shipping internationally.....but Etsy is so much more convenient. I can't find enough insurance on the company they use to insure packages. International packages to Italy and China have been a pain, because the higher end packages seem to get lost easily. I"m even considering not shipping to China anymore because of the loss of these more expensive packages getting lost.

Also, the lack of tracking packages to the door to some of these countries is frustrating, so not sure how to handle that.

Gayla

[Former_Member]

I have never used Etsy shipping and I just signed up for it. Anything a new user should know?

I live fairly close to a post office, so I have always just did everything through the post office.

Thank you!

[CathyLDesigns]

Krystina, anything I can do to avoid going to the Post Office I do. Sort of like pumping gas; I just hate it.

I do have a Stamp.com account. I like it for a number of reasons, especially that I can send Certified, Return Receipt mail which I always do when sending tax payments (grrrr).

They give you a tracking number; too, which I copy and paste onto the Etsy "Mark As Shipped" area. There are plusses for both USPS and Etsy.

[MariasWorkshop]

I use Etsy and I love it.

==================================

Krystina, I used to go to the post office, which, like in your case, is very close to me. I loved it when I switched to Etsy; it saves me a lot of time and trouble and possibly money.

I have no tips, as it has been a while and I forgot my first experiences. The only thing I remember is that I was very careful at first to avoid pressing the wrong button. However, the process is pretty self-explanatory and you hardly go wrong.

I did rent a box at a nearby UPS store, and that is the address that shows on the Etsy label; but I guess a lot of Etsy shops customarily do that to protect their residence address.

[LeedsRadio]

Since this got bumped I feel obligated to mention again that stamps.com is HORRIBLE. It took them ONE YEAR to give me a refund for postage. If you don't believe me about how horrible they are look here:

They have 1.5 stars on yelp
http://www.yelp.com/biz/stamps-com-el-segundo

They have 1 star here. Read the horror stories
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/online/stamps_com.html