Shipping software for Etsy sellers

What does no Etsy connection mean for each order?#

Two hand steps a connected store would not have: orders come in as a file you download, and tracking goes back as a number you add to each order. Everything between works as for any other order. The table is about who does each job, not price.

Etsy does not mark you down for typing the number in: it measures on-time shipping with valid tracking, however the number got there. The risk is delay, a number added at the end of the week instead of the day you bought the label.

From the orders file to a batch of labels#

Etsy's export is the documented way to get buyer addresses out of the shop: download it from Shop Manager on a computer, for a month or a year, as one of four CSV types (Exporting Etsy orders to CSV has the clicks). Drop it into The Workbench (Pro), check the column matches on the first import, and every row is priced from the cheapest rate shown.

Which file

The order items file: a row per item with the SKU, joined back into one order. The orders file hides the items.

Shipped orders

No unshipped filter. Rows it marks shipped are left out; check the rest against the New tab in Shop Manager.

Package weight

Not in the file. Weigh each packed item, or save your usual mailers and boxes as packages.

Putting tracking back into Etsy, order by order#

The step to plan for: each Etsy order labelled outside Etsy needs its carrier and tracking number added through Complete order, which sends the buyer the shipping notification. Adding tracking to an Etsy order by hand shows the fields.

Ship date

Read in Eastern Time, settable up to 3 days ahead, and measured for on-time shipping: give the day the carrier takes the parcel.

Edit tracking

Open for 3 days after you complete each order.

Valid tracking

Valid for the carrier you pick: select it first, then paste the number with no stray spaces.

1. Buy the batch, keeping tracking numbers beside Etsy order numbers.
2. Print and pack the run, then get it scanned.
3. In Etsy, complete each order with its carrier and number, the same day.
4. Check the Completed tab for every order in the run.

Keeping Purchase Protection on a label from here#

Etsy's Purchase Protection for sellers does not require an Etsy label. Its tracking condition reads "Valid tracking was provided and/or it was mailed out with a shipping label purchased through Etsy", and every label I'd Ship That sells is tracked. Tracking is one of four conditions; Etsy Purchase Protection with your own label walks through each.

• Ship inside your listing's processing time, the condition sellers miss most.
• Complete the order with the carrier and valid tracking.
• Leave third-party insurance off: Etsy makes a third-party insured order ineligible, and insurance bought here is third party to Etsy.
• Answer a Help with Order request within 48 hours.

So insurance is a per-parcel call, made before you buy. Purchase Protection covers up to $250 an order, so below that Etsy's cover is usually the one to keep; on a piece worth more, insuring it here covers the value you declare, in place of Etsy's cover.

Selling on Etsy and somewhere else#

This is where shipping software for Etsy sellers pays for the paste-back. Etsy Labels sees Etsy orders; sell somewhere else too, on eBay, at markets or direct, and the day splits across two or three shipping tools.

Here the Etsy file joins one list with your connected eBay store, whose tracking goes back as you buy, and spreadsheets or pastes of direct orders. One batch, one PDF, one SCAN form; only the Etsy orders need a number pasted back.

Shipping software for eBay sellers covers the eBay side; shipping software for resellers sorts out which resale apps supply their own label.