To purchase Royal Mail shipping labels through Etsy, you must be based in the UK and accept either Etsy Payments or Paypal.
What shipping services are available?
Royal Mail offers a selection of methods for sending letters, parcels, and tubes to both domestic and international addresses. All methods that are available come with some level of compensation coverage included and shown at time of purchase.
For sending items within the UK, you can choose:
- If a signature isn't required: 1st Class or 2nd Class
- If a signature is required: Royal Mail Signed For® 1st Class or Royal Mail Signed For® 2nd Class
- For time-sensitive mail: Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1pm
- For fully tracked services: Tracked 24® or Tracked 48®
Depending on the international destination, we offer:
When you purchase an international shipping label, the necessary forms will be provided to you.
How much do shipping labels cost?
The cost of a shipping label will depend on the origin, destination, weight, and dimensions of the package. There are no additional fees from Etsy to use Royal Mail shipping labels outside Etsy’s normal fees (i.e. transaction fees).
When purchasing a Royal Mail shipping label on Etsy, you can preview its cost after you add the package details. The cost of each purchased shipping label will appear separately in your account.
VAT is not charged on Royal Mail postage purchased from Etsy.
What are Royal Mail QR codes?
If you’re shipping a domestic order in the UK through Royal Mail, Etsy can generate a digital QR code for your shipping label. This QR code allows you to have your shipping label printed directly from the post office rather than needing to do it from home.
This feature is only for the desktop and mobile web versions of Etsy.com and is not available on the Etsy Seller app.
- Purchase your Royal Mail shipping label.
- Once your label is purchased, you’ll be given the option to view a QR code or print your shipping label. The QR code option is only available for domestic Royal Mail shipping labels.
- Take a screenshot of the QR code on your mobile device. Make sure that the screenshot is large enough to show the detail of the QR code and is not blurry or out of focus.
- Once you’ve taken your screenshot, select Done.
- Take the order you want to ship to any Royal Mail post office and present the photo of your QR code to scan.
- The post office will print the shipping label for you and ship your order. Your tracking information will now appear on Etsy.
If you are purchasing multiple labels, you can request a QR code for each one.
What if I lose my QR code?
If you misplace your QR code, you can generate a new one through the following steps:
- In your Shop Manager, go to your Orders & Shipping and go to the Completed tab.
- Find the order you want to generate a replacement QR code for.
- In the order details, select Get QR code.
- Go to your Orders tab.
- Filter for your completed orders.
- Select the order you want the QR code for.
- Scroll to the label you purchased for the order.
- Select the “...” menu and choose Get QR code.
How do refunds and claims work?
To request a refund
If you bought a label by accident or no longer need it, you can request a refund for unused, unscanned labels less than 15 days old.
You can purchase a new label at a later time. Learn how to request a refund for a shipping label.
To file a claim for lost or damaged items
For refunds related to late delivery, loss, damage, or if a signature was not obtained and should have been, you may be able to file a claim directly with Royal Mail. Be sure to do so as soon as possible—within 14 days for Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1pm.