For all e-commerce sellers, shipping labels are an integral part of order fulfillment. Whether you are a seller on Meesho, Flipkart, Amazon, or one of the other numerous marketplaces, the correctness and quality of shipping labels will determine whether your order will reach the customer on time or not. The quality of your shipping Label Issues can directly affect whether your order arrives within the agreed time or not. So sad to say, many sellers continuously struggle to get the formatting, cropping, and clarity of shipping labels correct.
The blog that we published is an in-depth look at the major shipping Label Issues faced by online sellers, provided the causes and presented simple ways to fix them for any online merchant. Whether you are a newbie seller or a veteran merchant, it is really essential for you to know and master how to solve these problems in order to avoid late delivery, no delivery, or even order cancellation issues.
Why Shipping Labels Matter
A shipping label is much more than just a slip of paper – it is an electronic channel connecting a warehouse and a customer. The label comprises important data like the customer’s address, tracking barcode, seller details, and courier routing info. Even a minor mistake in the label is enough to bring forth business operations impediments like:
- Pickup rejections by delivery partners
- Order delivery failures
- Automatic order cancellation
- Poor customer experience and ratings
Checking that your shipping label is arranged, legible, and is able to be printed is a standard step in your fulfillment process.
Common Shipping Label Issues Faced by Sellers
Let’s break down some of the most typical shipping label issues that sellers face and the various reasons behind them.
1. Label Cropping (Cut-Off Edges)
One of the issues that are quite common among online sellers is that when they print the shipping label, some parts are cut off or cropped. This usually occurs because of:
- Wrong printer margin settings
- Mistakenly printed label size that does not match the paper size
- Printed from mobile browsers
- Using third-party PDF viewers that scale improperly
It goes without saying that if your barcode is barely cut, the courier partners will have a hard time scanning it.
Fix: For viewing PDFs always opt for a trustworthy PDF viewer like Adobe Acrobat Reader and remember to tick “Fit to Page” or “Shrink Oversized Pages” in print settings. If you are using a thermal printer then notice that the paper size generally matches the label (four by six inches).
2. Image Quality and Clarity
Just like a blurred or pixelated label is as bad as a cropped one. In the event when the couriers are unable to decipher the barcode, the result is that your product is blocked and no longer moves through the network of the courier. The most typical issues that cause a label to be unreadable include:
- Files with low resolution image of the label
- Scaling pictures incorrectly before printing
- Taking screenshots of the labels instead of getting the file in the form of PDF
Fix: The best way is always to download directly from the seller portal the original label file and avoid resizing or making changes in the image. Besides this, use good printers, and do not print from the screen image.
3. Meesho Label Crop Issues
One of the common issues of Meesho sellers is the label crop problem while printing the labels directly from the app or the website. If you are a Meesho seller and the situation is that your labels don’t have the necessary elements to say, they might be missing the barcode or the address, then that is nothing out of the ordinary. It’s just that Meesho’s label PDFs do not always update the label to the correct printer setups, especially on mobiles.
The problem of the Meesho Label Crop may lead to issues with pickup or delivery delays. However, the most important part is to make sure we use tools which are capable of adjusting Meesho labels that come in different printer sizes and also checking that the elements are correctly aligned so that they are fit for printing. You can explore a Meesho Label Crop tool here that helps resolve this specific issue.
4. Flipkart Label Crop Errors
Flipkart is yet another significant marketplace which can experience label cropping trouble from time to time, particularly for new sellers. To be more specific, the platform automatically generates with a barcode, the size of which is predetermined; however, due to not having the right settings on your printer, there can be a problem with the barcodes getting cut off together with the most important tracking info.
At Flipkart, when the Label Crop problem occurs, it is usually the vendors who are using mobile devices or browsers that are outdated. In such a case, the best solution is to make sure that you are using a desktop with an updated browser to print your labels. In the case that you do not own that kind of PC, another solution might also be the use of special tools that can reformat Flipkart labels and thus help you prevent data loss. You can check out a Flipkart Label Crop tool for this here.
5. Barcode Not Scanning
A barcode may not be scanned, even if it is not cut, due to bad quality of the print, which in turn is incomplete/missing information. Basically, this is a situation that may arise from:
- Thermal printers with ink spilled.
- Ink which is likely to smudge if roughly handled e.g. through rainwater (if the printers are not well protected) etc.
- Images of low resolution
Fix: Change your printer ink/heat settings and always, first check the label on your screen. You can understand if there are any dark or light or smudged places where the barcode is visible.
6. Mismatched Paper and Label Sizes
If you print a 4×6-inch label on A4 paper without any adjusting, you risk some of the vital elements of your label being out of place or even omitted. An error that frequently occurs is related to the paper settings, as most sellers fail to reconfigure their paper settings, hence producing labels with poor formatting.
Solution: Prior to printing, pick the correct paper type and size in the settings of both your printer and software. In the case of Flipkart and Meesho, the format of the labels is generally 4×6, but it is recommended to follow the guidelines of each individual platform.
Tips for Printing Perfect Labels
These are some of the best ways to always get clear and accurate shipping labels:
- Preview before printing every time
- Use PDF software that is not a browser to open label files
- Adhere to the recommended printers and settings
- If you are moving from one platform or printer to a different one, do a trial print
- Do not print directly from screenshots or cropped images
Although the problems with shipping labels might look insignificant, they can become the reason for major difficulties facing e-commerce businesses. Cut labels, barcodes that cannot be scanned, or wrong sizes will not only slow down the delivery but will also cause bad customer experiences and even damage your seller performance score.
By recognizing the most frequent shipping label problems and then solving them, you can guarantee fewer hiccups and happier customers. Whether you are using traditional methods or you have opted for more advanced solutions targeting the seller community, the main thing is to maintain a high level of label accuracy and to perform the checks as a regular task of your preparation for shipping.
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