DYMO LabelWriter 4XL, 4" x 6" Label Printer..
Special Price DYMO LabelWriter 4XL, 4" x 6" Label Printer By DYMO
Most helpful customer reviews
69 of 69 people found the following review helpful.
By K. Crudup
I bought this printer hoping to use it on Ebay Paypal to print shipping labels. Well it works perfectly as a label printer on Paypal/Ebay. It has saved me a ton of time and worth the money I spent since I ship frequently.
For example in paypal if I have to ship ten orders using the multi shipping tool I print all ten labels at once. You have the option of printing a packing sheet to a regular printer that tells you what is to be packed in each order for the labels just printed. You need to know the weight for each shipment before printing the labels though.
Its appears that the Dymo printer is compatible with Zebra printers. Use the multi shipping tool in Paypal and set your printer to a Zebra 4X6 printer. If you are not using multi shipment in Paypal be sure to set your printer type to thermal and pick one of the Zebra 4X6 printers.
Other reviewers said the printer jams frequently. I have no such problem. What I think may have happened to that reviewer was they did not discard the first labels. Before you install a new roll for the first time you have to remove a small piece of tape from the roll. Unfortunately that tape leaves a sticky residue on one of the exposed labels. If you use that label it will put that same sticky residue in the printer causing labels to stick and jam. Dont take the chance and just get rid of the first 2 or three labels on the roll.
One reviewer said the labels fade with time. Well its a "thermal" printer and almost every device that prints on thermal paper the "ink" fades. Its actually heat the "colors" the paper and that type of paper fades over time. That is a fact of thermal technology not a problem with the printer.
Extra credit: Take those labels you discard from the new roll and put them in direct sunlight for a few days.
47 of 48 people found the following review helpful.
By Leonie
Well, I had this for a few weeks, so I can't speak for some of the complaints, but I do use this in combination with Endicia to ship packages off and it works very well. Before this, I had multiple Zebra 2844.
For those who ship a lot, the Zebra 2844 (EPL) is the standard with most 4x6 labels made for it. It retails for $100-200 more than this machine, but is available ubiquitously used on ebay in the sub-$100 range. Once you get them up and running, they often print without fail.
However, the 2844's are a complete pain in the behind to set-up. We're talking playing with settings and inconsistent software from the manufacturer itself. Sometimes I d/l 3-4 software packages before the 2844 even responded at all, let alone correctly. All this wouldn't be so bad except on my Windows Desktop, if I so much as unplugged the usb cord to the computer for whatever reason (say I was moving it), and replugged it 5 minutes later in the very same USB slot, the computer wouldn't remember the printer at all, and the nightmarish set-up process would begin anew. Not acceptable. Maybe this was because the 2844 accepted parallel and serial port input as well, and USB was an afterthought in the design? Whatever the reason, it's very plug-and-play unfriendly. Also, when the computer went to sleep, the unit needed to be restarted or it would fail to respond. The third defect was that everytime I printed out a shipping label, between 1 and 7 blank labels followed. This wasn't always the case, but it was when I had to reinstall the driver and I could never figure it out. I experienced these defects on both a 2004 and 2007 manufactured 2844, so I would say these aren't random issues.
A while back, I got a notebook that replaced my desktop, I would move around, so plugging and unplugging the USB cords became a fact of life, so enter the 4XL. I always liked dymo's smaller models, they just worked, and this one was no different. You first install the very friendly software (whether d/led or from CD) and then any of their printers and the computer recognizes it without hesitation. I can plug my older Labelwriter 400 or my new 4XL or both and there will be no problems, whether the dymo label software is actively running or not (I use endicia instead). It prints without problem. I never had it jam. Can't say much more about it.
As to any jamming, I would recommend when installing any new rolls of labels that are sealed at the end with adhesive tape, thow away the labels the tape was on so any adhesive residue never enters the mechanism. That may be a source of the problem people are experiencing.
As for fading, this is a thermal printer and inherent to all thermal printers. Think of receipts as well that fade, as many are of the same technology. However, a nice dark print comes out of this that will last longer than those cheap receipts, so I have no fear shipping items, however long, long term labels for household items may require a second thought. They are affected by direct sunlight the most. Look up thermal printers in wikipedia for more info.
If I had a complaint, it's the cost of the rolls. Dymo is ridiculously expensive, wanting nearly $0.16 a label. Although 4x6 labels are an industry standard with many makers, the dymo labels are slightly different with a oblong hole between each label, perhaps telling the printer where to stop. I'm not sure. I still have the zebra labels, but I haven't had a chance to see if they worked in this machine. Dymo warns you not to use any 3rd party labels, but that's because of profit motive.
However, I see 3rd party compatible labels for this machine at a well known site called labelvalue. An excellent site, I got my zebra labels there for $0.051 (5.1 cents) a label. The dymo compatible labels are much cheaper than the "real thing" at $0.086 (8.6 cents) a label. For a small time operation, not a big difference. Figuring that I was throwing away 1-7 labels on the zebra per print, I still come out ahead.
I just have a small business and ship a dozen items a day. The dymo serves me well. If you ship day and night, and have a desktop dedicated to shipping (where the cords will absolutely never be touched), a zebra may be better, sturdier and cheaper in the long haul.
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful.
By Silly Rabbit
I sell a lot of items on Ebay and I recently purchased this printer for the sole purpose of creating 4x6 inch Ebay Shipping Labels on a Mac. I was worried about whether I could get it to work because I've read about the various problems other people have been having getting it configured and the fact that Label Printers are not officially supported on the Mac. I'm pretty good at figuring things out so I took a chance and bought it. Long story short, I had to come up with my own solution in the end, but I ultimately got it to work quite easily. And I am now happily printing out perfect 4x6 inch Shipping Labels on a Mac. The printer is working flawlessly and the labels I'm printing are perfect. Therefore, this is a printer I highly recommend even if you're using a Mac. Below are the step-by-step instructions on how to got it to work:
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How To Print Perfect 4x6 Shipping Labels from Ebay usng the DYMO LabelWriter 4XL Printer and a Mac...
Most users selling items on Ebay already have their computer set up to print labels to their laser printer and to other kinds of printers, and for PC users, that also includes to Label Printers as well, such as the DYMO LabelWriter 4XL printer. Unfortunately for Mac users, Label Printers are not officially supported. The good news is, there is an easy way for Mac users to make use of the DYMO LabelWriter 4XL printer as well, and can easily print out perfect 4 inch by 6 inch shipping labels every single time. The following explains how...
For Mac users, when printing a label via Ebay, on the page that says "Purchase and Print USPS Postage", once you've clicked the button that says "Purchase Postage" to buy your label, a secondary page should open allowing you to print your label. It is on that secondary page that we will choose certain options which will allow us to print directly to the DYMO Laserwriter 4XL printer with a Mac, and we can get perfect results every time. The following are my step-by-step instructions...
Step 1 - After clicking on the "Purchase Postage" button and arriving on the secondary page, click the button above the label window that says "Print Label". This will open up a Print Dialog Box to allow you to select your printing options. Note, we will NOT be printing from this particular Print Dialog Box at this time because we first have to "crop" the label. To accomplish this, ignore all settings and options in the current Print Dialog Box. Instead, at the bottom of the Print Dialog Box window, click the button that says "Preview". This will open the entire label including your receipt in a separate window in Apple's Preview program. We will now use the "Crop" tool in Apple's Preview program to "crop" the label from the page...
Step 2 - Once the label is open in Apple's Preview program, you may notice that it is now oriented sideways. Don't worry about the orientation. It will still print correctly once we're done. In Apple's Preview program, choose the rectangular selection tool and select the area around the label where you want it to be cropped (I generally select an area about a 1/4 inch around the entire label). Once the area has been selected, choose "Crop" from the Tool menu (this crops out the receipt and all other unnecessary portions of the page). All that is left is your label, perfectly cropped, and ready for printing. Note, before you proceed further, make sure your DYMO LabelWriter 4XL printer is connected to your computer and turned on, and that all software has been installed...
Step 3 - From the File menu (still in Apple's Preview program) choose the "Print" command. This opens up the Print Dialog box again. We will now choose certain printing options in this dialog box...
a. In the Print Dialog box, from the pull-down menu that says "Printer", choose the DYMO LabelWriter 4XL as your printer. (Note, your DYMO LabelWriter 4XL must be connected and turned on at this time in order for it to show up under this menu)...
b. VERY IMPORTANT - Under the pull-down menu for "Paper Size", scan down through the list of sizes and choose the preset that says: "1744907 4 in x 6 in". This option will match your cropped label to the 4 inch x 6 inch labels in the 4XL printer (otherwise, it will print at the wrong size).
c. ALSO IMPORTANT - Under the Scaling Options, choose the "Scale to Fit" option and also the "Print Entire Image" option (this scales your label image down to fit within the 4 in x 6 in label space without any portion of it being cropped off).
d. Under the pull-down menu that says "Preview", pull down the menu and choose "DYMO Options". For the "Print Quality" setting, change the menu from "Text Only" to "Barcode and Graphics". For the "Print Density" setting, change the menu from "Low" to "High" (this tells the DYMO LabelWriter 4XL to print the label with maximum density and with maximum contrast).
e. All options have now been set. We are now ready to print. Click the "Print" button at the bottom of the window. Your DYMO 4XL printer should begin printing, and should print out a perfect 4x6 shipping label every single time...
By following the above, I've been happily printing out perfect 4x6 shipping labels from Ebay using a DYMO LabelWriter 4XL printer and a Mac. And it's been working without a hitch...
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IMPORTANT UPDATE: For those of you who are using the Mac program Garage Sale when selling items on Ebay, an excellent shipping option to complement Garage Sale is the shipping program called "Endicia" (it costs about $16 per month). Not only does Endicia provide direct USPS Parcel Select support (which Ebay won't offer until March), but I've also learned that Endicia is fully integrated into Garage Sale. Meaning, once you have both Garage Sale and Endicia installed on your computer, and you then make an Ebay sale, in the Inspector Palette of Garage Sale there is an option you can choose which allows you to "ship the item with Endicia". By choosing that option from within Garage Sale, Garage Sale will then automatically find and launch your Endicia application, and the best part of all is that (...GET THIS!!!...) when Endicia opens, it will already be pre-populated with all your Ebay sale data! That's right, you won't have to copy and paste anything because all your Ebay details for the transaction will already be imported into Endicia and you'll be ready to print your label. All you have to do is just verify everything you see, make any changes needed, and then Print your shipping label. It's so easy. And did I mention that the Endicia for Mac program also offers direct support for the DYMO LabelWriter 4XL printer. That's right. Ebay doesn't offer any Label Printer support for Mac users, Paypal doesn't offer it, Stamps.com doesn't offer it, but Endicia DOES! There is a preference option in the Endicia for Mac program where Mac users can now print directly to the DYMO LabelWriter 4XL printer without any fuss or problems at all. I've been printing 4x6 labels using Endicia and the 4XL and it's been working like a charm. The 4x6 shipping labels are coming out perfect (even better than printing them via Ebay as outlined above). Endicia and Garage Sale are like a match made in heaven. I've found very few things otherwise to complain about. If you want a great Ebay shipping option solution that truly works on a Mac and is designed for a Mac, then Garage Sale and Endicia and the DYMO LabelWriter 4XL printer is your ticket.
Not worth the time or the money
Perfect for students and business people
The paper is fine; the backing is flimsy