Home Label guidesHow to print GOAT labels on a 4 × 6 thermal printer

How to print GOAT labels on a 4 × 6 thermal printer

GOAT labels have a quirk that catches people out. The shipping label is printed upside down on its page, and the page is slightly taller than 4 by 6.

Skip the reading. Drop your label PDF into the converter and get a 4 × 6 file back. Free, nothing uploaded.

Open the converter

What GOAT sends you

A GOAT label PDF has two pages, and they are quite different from each other.

Page one size
288 × 450 pt (4.00 × 6.25 in)
Page one orientation
artwork rotated 180°
Page two size
612 × 792 pt (8.50 × 11.00 in)
Labels produced
2

Why the upside down label matters less than you think

A label printed upside down still scans, because a barcode reads the same in either direction. You can also just stick it on the box the other way up. So this is not a functional problem so much as a presentation one, and it makes packing slightly more annoying because you have to check each label before applying it.

The real problem with page one is the height. At 6.25 inches it does not match 4 by 6 stock, so a printer set to 4 by 6 will either clip a quarter inch off or scale the whole thing down to fit, and scaling is what narrows barcodes past the point of scanning.

What Relabely does with a GOAT label

Page one, the shipping label

The label artwork is found within the oversized page, cropped to its actual edges, and turned the right way up. The rotation is worked out from the barcode position, not assumed, so it comes out upright rather than merely rotated.

Because the crop is to the artwork rather than the page, the quarter inch of empty page is dropped and the label lands on 4 by 6 at about 97 percent scale, which keeps the barcode comfortably within tolerance.

Page two, the order slip

Cropped from the Letter sheet and placed on its own 4 by 6 page. It stays upright, because unlike the StockX slip this one is a tall shape that already fits a portrait label well.

Printing them

Set the paper to 4 by 6 and print at 100 percent, the same as any other label. Both pages come out in one file, shipping label first, so the pair stays together per order.

Working out whether an item is worth listing at all? The reseller fee calculator shows your fees, payout and net profit across eBay, Mercari, Poshmark, Vinted, Whatnot, Depop, Facebook Marketplace and Grailed.

Questions

Why is my GOAT label upside down?

GOAT prints the label artwork rotated 180 degrees on its page. Relabely detects this from the barcode position and turns it the right way up automatically.

Why is the GOAT page 6.25 inches instead of 6?

GOAT uses a slightly oversized page. A printer set to 4 by 6 will either clip it or scale it down. Relabely crops to the label artwork itself, which drops the extra quarter inch.

Does an upside down label still scan?

Yes, a barcode reads the same either way, so an upside down label is a presentation issue rather than a functional one. It is still worth fixing so you are not checking orientation on every parcel.

What is the second GOAT page for?

It is the order slip with the item details and a QR code for GOAT's own use. It goes inside the box, and Relabely turns it into a second 4 by 6 label.

Relabely is an independent tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to eBay, StockX, GOAT, Vinted, Poshmark, Mercari, Depop, USPS, UPS, or FedEx. Product names and trademarks belong to their owners. Always check a printed label before you ship.