DYMO LabelWriter 400 Turbo

I’ve been a member of eBay for several years now and have always just written my address labels by hand although in 2011 I started selling more regular on eBay to generate a little extra income which I could put towards Christmas, I started to think more about how I could make the parcels I sent off a little more professional. After analysing items I received off eBay I decided that printing the address labels would look much better than just writing and although my writing is quite neat it just doesn’t give the same finish. I started looking into label machines and having previously owned a little Dymo machine that just embossed lines which I used for card making, I went straight to their website and was amazed by how many different designs and versions there was, I just wanted a cost efficient machine to print my labels.

I spent quite a long time searching for which machine was going to be best for me, some of them printed huge amounts in minutes but this wasn’t the reason I wanted it, eventually I decided on the label machine which would best suit me – Label writer 400 turbo. Although I had made my decision I didn’t want to rush in to making the purchase as it was not going to be a cheap piece of equipment and was going to be more on an investment and hopefully last me a long time.

After watching several videos on YouTube so I had a better idea of how the 400 turbo was going to work I finally made the purchase mid august 2011, I searched eBay although in the end I bought it from Amazon for £80 as this was the best price I could find, it arrived within about 2 days of purchasing. The machine came in quite a small box although was very well protected and came with a detailed instructions as well as the guarantee which changes to 3 years once you register the product.

The machine itself is quite compact and quite modern looking. The machine has a power supply and connects to my laptop via a usb cable, I don’t have this in all the time just when I’m going to use it. To be able to use the Dymo machine you have to install the software onto your desktop which is an easy process and only takes a few minutes, once this is installed you can start printing your labels in minutes
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The software is very easy to navigate around although if you feel unsure there is a tutorial on the software that you can follow. As I was always printed different addresses for all the different people i was selling on eBay i had no need to save the label although there is an address book feature where you can save all the address’s that you use regularly so you don’t have to keep re-typing. You have the option of choosing how many copies of each label you want to print, it also has a “fit to page” option so whatever you want to print on the label will fit, you also have a huge choice of different fonts to use and can make it as big or little as you want, make it bold or underline etc. You can also print direct from Microsoft programmes. You can also add clipart to the label from a selection that is supplied or if you want to be really fancy you can import your own pictures which is really easy to do and I’ve done several times and it really does look good! The labels only take a minute to do, all you need to do is copy and paste the address and then press print.

I mainly use the label machine to print addresses although what you can do with it is endless, I’ve used it label various items so it’s easy to read and I know what it contains.

The label machine runs off thermal technology which means no ink at all, all you will ever need to do is replace the roll of labels so once you have actually bought the machine the only expense you’re ever going to have is the labels, not ink so although the initial purchase is quite expensive its very cheap to matain, I used cheaper labels off eBay in my machine and they do exactly the same job as the official Dymo labels although they work out about 75% cheaper, you can get lots of different sized labels although the size that I always use is the large address labels which are 89mm x 36mm, I believe you can also get coloured labels which would make a change to the original white. The only colour you can print with is black although you can change how dark or light you want it so you could make it grey if you wanted.

When you do need to change the roll of labels in the machine it is very simple to do and only takes a few minutes and you’re away again! I’ve got so use to using this fantastic little machine I really don’t know what I would do without it now, it takes seconds to print professional looking labels and I would really recommend it as a great investment to anyone who is a regular seller of eBay, definitely a 10/10 from me!

Advantages:
- Runs off thermal technology so no ink costs
-Very lightweight
-Gives items such a professional finish
-Very easy to use
-3 Year warranty ( although I’ve not had any problems since buying)

Disadvantages
-If you are going to use proper Dymo labels they are quite expensive although like mentioned above, the compatible are exactly the same and much, much cheaper!