Thermal Printer

[LoriFromNY]

I am getting ready to make the leap to a thermal printer. Looking at them on Amazon, so many to choose from! Any recommendations? Is there a certain size label I need to be able to print the Ebay shipping labels on?

Thank you in advance!

[Rhianna]

We just got a Dymo Labelwriter 4XL and I love it so far. It is so fast and then ink does not run.

[s]

In my Dymo 450 I use off brand Dymo 99019 labels, here’s a link to.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/6-Rolls-of-150-1-Part-Ebay-PayPal-Postage-Labels-for-DYMO-LabelWriters-99019/301331070894?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2648

[Julie B]

I’m a huge fan of the Rollo thermal printer, which came onto the market relatively recently. I am not good with technology and I heard that some brands of label printers can be tricky. But the Rollo was super easy to install and I’ve never had any issues. It prints unbelievably fast. You can buy it from several sites but if you want to see of a video of it in action they have a website rolloprinter.com

[Ryanne]

i have the Dymo 450–
https://amzn.to/2vQFpY0

LOVE IT!

[Retro Treasures WV]

I second the Dymo 450 turbo with off brand 99019 labels. I use the MESA labels on amazon that are about $7.75 for 150 labels. $.05 per label

The printer is so fast and easy! You have to play with the print settings to get the right contrast on the barcode. The default settings won’t scan consistently.

[Warren]

I just wanted to thank you guys for this thread because it actually got me looking at some of the printers you all recommended. So when I walked into a Goodwill yesterday and stumbled upon the Dymo 450 in original box with all cables, software and starter rolls for $18, I couldn’t buy it fast enough. I haven’t had a chance to play with it yet, but based on the way it looks I would guess someone loaded a roll of paper, used it a few times and decided it wasn’t worth the hassle and donated it. Pretty psyched to fiddle with it this weekend in hopes of starting to crank out labels for next week’s shipping.

Huge thanks Scavenger Life community!

[s]

It’s the best investment I’ve made for my business…besides inventory. Just know that the labels it comes with aren’t the ones you need to print labels through ebay.

[almasty]

If any of you ever see a zebra eltron label printer with its power brick out in the wild, grab it! They used to go for nothing on Ebay, but it looks like prices have gone way up on them.

[Inglewood]

Be careful when you buy thermal printers that are used – anything with heavy use will probably need a new print head – which is the price of a new printer.

We use thermal printers all over the place where I work (print several labels a minute on some of them 24/7) but once the head goes (it will leave lines on the label, and makes the bardcode unscannable or some text illegible) you are stuck investing in a new one.

[s]

By chance do you have a ballpark number on how many labels one will print before the head starts to out? I’m at a little over 300 on mine and haven’t encountered any issues up to this point.

[Inglewood]

The heads last at least 100,000 labels from my experience, and may last for millions – my warning was just if you are buying a used one it could be very well used and have the head issue that is costly.

If you have a gently used unit with very little cycles on it, you’ll be safe for a long time.

[bcfol440]

I am late to the Dymo 4XL crowd. Wow, what a difference. I was using Avery labels and ink-jet ink for 2 years, shipped 1,000 packages that way. I love the thermal printer! I found a staples.com deal for $100 flash sale and grabbed it. Never going back, look for deals / coupons for sure!

[BigSally]

Re-investing back into the business and just got a Rollo Printer, set up and install was pretty easy for a non techno person- I use a MAC book…Need a sale to test it out!

Wondering how others use it for FedEx- looks like I will have to do some research-

[Sharyn]

I print FedEx labels on regular paper. From what I’ve read on the forum, there is no easy way to print those on a thermal printer. I ordered the plastic shipping pouches so that I always have a stash on hand. I had to sign up on the website so that I could order them (no cost).

I’ve had my Dymo now for about 6 months and love it! I guess the only nit pick I have is that I have to switch between the Dymo for labels and the regular printer for packing list.

[Marshal_G]

I use a Zebra GK420d (wireless because my girlfriend and I both need to print to it). I got a smokin’ deal from a friend of a friend. Best investment you’ll make for your business if you’re serious. As for print heads, my friend (who is a printer repair tech) said it’s mostly from heat damage. If you print dozens of labels at a time (like for FBA) or if you adjust the darkness too high (it’s thermal, so the darker the print the hotter the head gets) then that will wear the head out. He said for a small eBay business printing one label a few/several times a day it should last basically forever. He also advised Zebra printers because the media for Dymo printers is in general more expensive. Of course with Chinese knockoff label rolls on Amazon there’s probably not much difference. Also used ones could have old/proprietary firmware flashed (UPS or USPS had huge contracts and had their settings on them and you’d have to reflash the firmware). Still, finding a new label printer with all the bits in a Goodwill is a score!

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