ECommerce Business Tip: Using Online Postage Providers Saves Time

One of the most challenging issues you’ll ever have to face with running your own business is time management. Finding enough time is even harder than keeping the books maintained and your customers happy! One way you might not have thought of to make the time you have more productive is by using an online postage service. Let’s face it: becoming a fixture in your local post office is time-consuming and paying for an expensive postage meter isn’t exactly an attractive option either.

Stamps.com and Endicia are two companies that offer online postage services and both have been approved by the USPS. Either one will let you print postage directly from your PC, but they offer enough differences that you may need to look through and decide which one would work best for your business. Luckily, we’re going to discuss these two options and save you the time of researching them yourself.

If you already have a printer that can print out labels (thermal printers work especially well) and want to get started quickly, then Stamps.com may be your best bet. It is a software-based system designed to get you printing with time to spare. Here are some of the features you get with this service:

- Free software download to get you started
- Affordable monthly plans, ranging from $15.99-34.95, for the service itself.
- Ability to print on labels, paper or envelopes for added versatility.
- Discounts on your postage, as well as free gifts of a scale, labels and extra supplies – just for signing up.
- 4-week no-risk trial period to check it out for yourself

With Stamps.com, you will get an account and your postage cost is deducted from it each time you print. You can also import addresses from Outlook, Word, Corel WordPerfect or many other contact management systems. When your packages and/or envelopes are ready to go out, all you have to do is send them. You can, of course, take them to the post office or place them in a drop box (13oz. limit waived with Stamps.com postage), but you don’t have to…simply give them to your mail carrier or arrange for a pickup by a postal worker.

Endicia is a good choice if you either don’t have a printer yet, or are wanting one specifically for your postage and labels. They offer a variety of thermal printers and labels to choose from, which are a great investment for your business.

Some of the benefits with their service includes:

- Postage for up to 70 lb. packages
- Instapostage service for when you just want stamps
- Fast international service with pre-filled customs forms
- Ease of use for high shipping volumes
- Keep track of customer lists for accounting, customer service, etc. with postage logs and web-based reports

Premium and Professional subscriptions make available additional features, such as stealth postage, delivery stats, return shipping labels and database integration. Plans range from $9.95-34.95 monthly.
There are a lot of features with each service but the key is making the time spent in shipping more productive so you can focus on other things, whether it’s sales and marketing efforts or precious extra time with your family.

Having used both services, they are pretty close in features. I now use Stamps.com exclusively as I found it better matched my personal preferences, but Endicia is great too. You can check them out at:

Stamps.com
Endicia