Ad hoc Shipping

I wanted to write this post to aide those that might be in the same situation I was just in. In the past I had only known that to mail a package to someone to had to go into the post office to buy the shipping label and send off your package. That's the only way I had ever done it.

Now, I know how to ship a package when one of my Art Dolls are sold because the website that one sells on, or at least the ones I sell on (Etsy, eBay), provide guides on exactly what to do and you can do it all from one central place, that marketplace's website. From their website you just follow the steps to print a shipping label, enter in your package dimensions, pay for postage and print your shipping label and you're done. I found myself asking "But what about when I have something that I want to ship to someone and it's not something I sold on these sites ??"

It came to me as I was browsing the internet this AM. The USPS website ! You simply go on their site, register / create an account, create a shipping label, pay for postage, print your label and attach it to your package and off it goes, just like the sites mentioned above, only this time, you go straight to the shipping service provider's website, in this case, the USPS, in the US. I'll walk you through it -

1. You can order your shipping supplies right from USPS's website at no charge -

click image to go to site

2.    Once you have your supplies and your item is packaged and sealed, go back to USPS.com to "Print A Label with Postage" Once at the website, hoover your mouse over "Ship A Package" then select "Print A Label with Postage" - 

click image to go to site

If you're not registered (have an account with USPS.com) or are not signed in to your account, you'll see this page -

Sign in or follow the steps to create an account. Then go through the process of filling out this following form / sections -

Once you've done all that, you'll finish up the process (be sure to select the free option of getting USPS Tracking on your package so you can follow it's progress) and it will give you the option of printing out your shipping label and you just securely attach it to your package and send it on it's way (YaY) !

You'll also get your tracking number in a separate email, if you selected that option, to know where your package is in the mailing process once you mail it out.

Hope that helped !