posted on July 8, 2001 08:42:54 PM
I signed up with Endicia 3 weeks ago. After using Stamps.com for a few years, I thought my dreams had come true - no more printing two stamps for media mail, no more having to go to the post office with international mail. ..But I've just wasted $6.24 cents trying to print stamps with this "Dazzling" program and I'm afraid to try any more. The software charges me every time I print but all that happens is that the sheet of labels runs through the printer without printing anything. Maybe it's the labels. I bought Avery 6 to a page labels. The program would not accept my 2x4s and so I printed on envelopes and stuck those on the packages until I bought these new labels. I am so frustrated arrrghhhhh.
Is anyone else having this problem? Are there any other internet postage companies left besides stamp.com? I am not a happy camper.
posted on July 8, 2001 08:55:17 PM
I had that same problem so I switched to simply postage. I use the Pro-mail device and haven't had a miss print yet. And the built in scale has saved me postage too!
posted on July 8, 2001 09:37:13 PM
I had problems also, I cannot remember what happened, but I ended up losing postage also because I never could get it to print right. The customer service was impeccable, and they were so friendly, I just did not have time to mess with it anymore and cancelled my account. Stamps.Com sucks, but they were very simple to use. Heather
posted on July 8, 2001 09:58:17 PM
Hi there, I use Endicia. I did have trouble too at first when I was configuring my printer with labels. I worked for a few hours one afternoon, using "test print" after "test print" and finally.....got it right. For the savings over stamps.com, I felt the effort was well spent. Now, not to say I have not had my share of misprinted postage, because I have had a lot. There is a form you can fill out for a refund of mis-printed postage. I received a check from Endicia after some prompting for my refund, but did get it in record time after I e-mailed them.
Overall I highly recommend this company to all!! The customer service is superb and on time. They rock. Also as a last note, not to promote this but I bought their labels and they are perfectly sized to list everything including delivery confirmation.
--Sue (Dave61's other half)
posted on July 9, 2001 04:26:07 AM
Hang in there!! I found it frustrating in the beginning too (but my problem was printing the envelopes). But I use the same labels you do (6 to a page) and it works beautifully. I agree with the poster that said to use the 'test' print - I used it a lot until I finally figured everything out. Now it's so easy (hindsight is 20/20). Try their customer support - they've been very helpful.
posted on July 9, 2001 04:38:06 AM
I just signed up with them over the weekend and configuring the printer was a little hard and there was no customer service over the weekend. Part of the problem is my printer! I am dealing with a piece of junk Lexmark that isn't the greatest on printing envelopes. I managed to get the first envelope (the one you have to mail) printed and have gotten the label configured for regular postage. I do think I will like the program but it does take some playing with to learn it all. Did a lot of test prints and I do think that if I decide to stay with it I will purchase their labels.
posted on July 9, 2001 08:15:09 AM
The one thing Endicia has that leaves it head and shoulders over stamps.com is the electronic delivery confirmation. If stamps.com would ever get it's head out of it's butt and incorporate it, we'd go back to them due to the simplicity of the software. However, after some tweaking, I was able to get the Endicia software pretty much the way I wanted it. We still use stamps.com for window envelopes, since Endicia doesn't support them.
posted on July 9, 2001 09:04:35 AM
While it would probably be good to have a "simple" mode and an "advanced" mode to the software, once it is set up you don't need to mess with it. jemsnjools: Why did you go through $6.24 in postage without assuring that a test was printing correctly?
I do huge amounts of mailing (I just generated postage for around 200 items yesterday) and am completely satisfied with Endicia.
posted on July 9, 2001 10:37:21 AM
avaloncourt:
>Why did you go through $6.24 in postage >without assuring that a test was printing >correctly?
Stupid me - it took me a while to realize that the postage was being deducted when the postage was not printing. I had printed test stamps with no problem but when it came to printing the real stamp nothing printed, not even the address. I never encountered this problem with Stamps.com - that program would always give a printer error message and did not deduct the postage. Now I'm not going to try printing a stamp until I get answers to my emails to Endicia tech support.
posted on July 9, 2001 10:47:14 AM
Let me ditto the comments above. There may be a few bumps setting it up (although I was printing labels on my EL60 label printer in about 2 minutes) but let their support help you, and you will never look back to stamps.com.
I will accept the "shortcomings" (such as they are) of endicia in order to have live, knowledgeable, and prompt customer support.
I also have more confidence in the longevity of the company, since they have products other than electronic postage.
posted on July 9, 2001 11:33:43 AM
Whenever I have to learn a new piece of software, my palms get sweaty, my heart races, I think my eyebrows actually hurt. I signed up with Endicia last week and I HATE change - but when they dangled that free delivery confirmation for Priority Packages (.12 DC on all others) and the international shipping option.....well, I just couldn't resist and I made the move from SimplyPostage to Endicia. I did have a slight issue with getting it set up on my HP OfficeJet G55 (a five minute call to tech support got that straightened out quickly), but no problem getting it set up on the HP LaserJet 1100. I am using their BlueArrow Labels which are quite lovely.
If anyone needs their toll free number it's on their website, but I'll give it to you here as well: 1-800-571-3279. You might have to leave a message for tech support, but when I had to do that, they called me back within an hour.
posted on July 9, 2001 07:24:58 PM
Okay you guys, thanks for your help and support. I've got it licked now after printing numerous test labels. The culprit was more than likely my old HP 600c - and me not being too patient. With a bit of tweaking here and there I managed to get a real stamp on a label and I've saved the set up. Thanks a lot you guys!
posted on July 9, 2001 08:43:13 PM
Hi. My question is to the originator of this thread, jemsnjools. Jem, do you mean that with Endicia, I can actually skip the trip to the post office with my international packages? For the few months I've done international shipping, I've never been able to print int'l postage with stamps.com.
I'd read somewhere here on the ebay outlook board that the postmaster general (or whatever the title is) has not approved international postage printing for any company yet.
In spite of the problems I'm reading on this thread regarding Endicia, if I can somehow print international postage from home, I'd
switch over in a heartbeat to Endicia.
posted on July 9, 2001 09:07:59 PM
Hi Jack:
This was copied from the Endicia website. I hope it was okay to cut and paste. It's one of the reasons I joined Endecia too, although I have yet to print out international postage:
Endicia lets you print postage for both Domestic and International destinations. Send letters and packages to 243 countries around the world. From Abu Dhabi to Zimbabwe - if the USPS lets you mail it there, Endicia can print the postage for it.
Endicia doesn't just print the postage, it's a complete solution for mailing overseas. Endicia's International Mail Advisor takes all the guess work out. It shows you all the mailclasses, rates, restrictions, prohibitions, observations, customs forms, and areas served. All you have to do is provide the address, select the mailclass and weight, then print."
I'm sure you still have to go through the usual customs form etc and give it to the postmaster. It seems that it will be a great time saver. The only reason I ever go to the post office is to send off international mail.
posted on July 9, 2001 09:21:16 PM
blackjack21: Yes, you can print international postage. Endicia has that capability as of the last version upgrade of the software.
This is fine for letter mail but there's one little sticking point for packages. If you are mailing items which should have a customs declaration you still have to fill out that customs declaration and apply it to the package. The local post office still needs to potmark the declaration and keep their copy.
I send a lot of 6-9 bubble mailers and have found that I can get these through without problems. As noted by the counter person at the local post office, they used to only require the declaration forms for items 1lb and over but now the form reminder comes up all the time on the counter terminals.
I signed up with Endicia last week and I HATE change - but when they dangled that free delivery confirmation for Priority Packages (.12 DC on all others) and the international shipping option.....well, I just couldn't resist and I made the move from SimplyPostage to Endicia. I did have a slight issue with getting it set up on my HP OfficeJet G55 (a five minute call to tech support got that straightened out quickly), but no problem getting it set up on the HP LaserJet 1100. I am using their BlueArrow Labels which are quite lovely.