# Best way to print labels



## omnimirage (Aug 31, 2015)

I'm wanting to sell at local farmer markets, because I'm needing to find a way of distributing honey, but none of my products have labels on them, which I figure is needed to be able to compete with the other guys.

I'm really not sure the best way to print labels. The quotes I got from companies to print and then ship labels to me ended up costing too much: about $0.4 per label. I figure I need to print them myself. I've been told that I can buy these sticker sheets that work in a standard printer, avery was the brand suggested to me, seems like I can buy them relatively cheap in Australia. 

Is there a better way of going about this?


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## lemmje (Feb 23, 2015)

I used Avery. My daughter, a very artistic person, created a logo for me and I used the Avery website to fit it into a template for their labels, then printed them myself. Don't remember the cost, but it could not have been much.


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## 1102009 (Jul 31, 2015)

What do you use for glue?
I would like something which can be cleaned by water.


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## Ravenseye (Apr 2, 2006)

I've used Avery as well. The online platform is pretty good. I've used it for honey, mead and soap and you can save your work to their cloud allowing you to print from anywhere without having to download software. I've had a couple of issues. One is getting the labels lined up correctly so that the entire label is filled with your work. On multi label sheets sometimes they need a little adjustment which the software allows you to do. The other is that they're not water resistant as asked for above. For me, those are minor details but I thought I'd mention it.


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## Rader Sidetrack (Nov 30, 2011)

Avery does have some polyester/weatherproof labels ... 
https://www.avery.com/campaign/weatherproof
... they are rectangular shape though. Also, inks vary, the ink in your printer may not be water resistant. IMO, laser printer toner is more likely to be water resistant than typical inkjet printer ink.


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## Specialkayme (Sep 4, 2005)

To me, there are two potential reasons for putting labels on your jars:

1. To convey basic information.
2. To market your product.

If your goal is only to accomplish #1, the cheapest way you can get it done will probably be the best. Masking tape with sharpie is probably the cheapest way I can think of. Probably not the best though. Assuming you want something more than that, you'll end up paying for it. It's a cost of doing business, and something you'll have to get used to. Like most things in life, you often get what you pay for here, within reason. Cheaper isn't necessarily better.

A step above "masking tape" in my opinion are the pre-printed labels you can get from any bee supplier. (https://www.mannlakeltd.com/shop-al...abels/field-of-flowers-large-oval-roll-of-250 Mann Lake's). They'll print all the necessary information on the label for you (address, phone number, honey type, weight) for a little over $0.11 a label. Not too bad of a deal, all things considering. It won't have granulation instructions, infant warnings, nutritional information, or anything like that. But it gets you in the door. I don't know if they're waterproof, but I would suspect not.

A step above those pre-printed labels, again in my opinion, is to get a very basic round 1.5" sticker with your trade name/logo on it. It gives you a little more of a custom feel, although it won't have address, phone number, or weight on it (probably). Stickeryou.com and stickergiant.com can have then printed for you for around $0.11 each, depending on quantity (you may be able to get it down to the $0.09 each range, but you'll need to be holding onto a few thousand stickers to get that price). The benefits are that it gives you a little bit of a marketing edge. I put these on the lids of quart and pint mason jars of honey I sell locally. Local customers don't mind the lack of additional information, as they bought it from my front lawn. If they need more information, they can knock on my door and ask. Most of those are vynl so they'll be water resistant. Good quality stuff.

The last step you should be looking at, which gives you the greatest marketing ability, are custom labels. I had a graphic design artist design a logo, front and back label for me. Cost me around $200 to get it all done. Take a look at 99designs.com if you're interested. I took the designs, which required custom die printing, to stickergiant.com. They printed them for me for around $0.12 a label. I choose to have a front and back label, so I end up shelling out around $0.24 in labels per bottle. Water resistant, looks great, and not too bad of a price. Stickeryou.com will do the same for about the same price. That's the 1,000 sticker level though. 

I had one restaurant that was looking to buy my honey complain about the product labeling. They said the plastic inverted jar with drip-less lid and custom labels screamed "too pricey" and they didn't want to pay that much for it. I told him that was fine, he could go to another beekeeper. I sell out every year, so I'm not hurting either way. I buy products from people who are knowledgeable, experienced, produce a quality product, and take pride in their work. I have my honey jars reflect the same. I don't overcharge, but I'm not the cheapest in town. If the customer lines up with my thought process, great. If not, there's other people to buy from. At least, that's my take on it.

All of this is for US orders. I have no clue about AUS.


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## lemmje (Feb 23, 2015)

SiWolKe said:


> What do you use for glue?


Self-adhesive labels that I run thru the printer. They will soak off, and they are not as stuck on as commercial labels.


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## Ravenseye (Apr 2, 2006)

Here's some mead I just bottled and labeled....

http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?341744-Just-in-time-for-the-holidays


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## fatshark (Jun 17, 2009)

I use Dymo thermal printer labels on a Labelwriter :
http://theapiarist.org/simple-honey-labels/
black and white only but this hasn't reduced sales at all.
They peel off without soaking and cost about 2.5p ($0.04?) each using Dymo labels, or about a quarter that price if you buy generic brands.
You can embed graphics, QR codes, auto incrementing lot numbers and a bunch of other stuff using the Dymo application (Mac or PC).

No idea on Aus. dollar pricing ...


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## grozzie2 (Jun 3, 2011)

omnimirage said:


> The quotes I got from companies to print and then ship labels to me ended up costing too much: about $0.4 per label. I figure I need to print them myself


How many labels did you ask about printing ? We have ours done commercially, the real cost is the setup fee. At a run of 500, it really makes them look expensive. But the real cost is about 4 cents a label + the setup fee. We ran on the order of 10,000 and it was FAR cheaper than using label stock and printing ourselves. If you are using label stock and printing your own, those labels are kinda spendy, and the printer consumables add up really fast.

The real big difference for us, no matter what kind of label stock, even with a decent laser printer, the labels dont stick well if they get damp, and there will be runny lines after they get damp. With our commercially printed labels, they wont come off the bottles easily, even in water, and the type of ink we had used never runs. We can leave a labelled bottle in water overnight, dry it off in the morning, and it's looks just fine still.

When we had our original run done, the other benefit was, we did multiple sizes at no extra setup costs, so we did labels for our larger bottles, and another set of rolls that fit the smaller bottles. We did business cards at the same time. Our business cards are the same colors and layout, the only difference, it has our names in the center area, whereas our labels have a white blank area there. We had stamps made for variety names, so when bottling honey we stamp the labels with the variety before they go on the bottles.

If you are going to do any kind of volume over time, it's well worth spending the cash upfront, have the labels laid out and printed by a professional. Buy a two or three year supply when you do the initial order, it'll be far cheaper than trying to print your own, and you get a much higher quality product.


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## 1102009 (Jul 31, 2015)

here brown packing paper is trendy, printed with your own design.

I can print my own design with the mac, but I haven´t found adhesive paper to use. I might need some sort of glue which dissolves in water. The label does not have to be waterproof, nobody cares.

Raven, I love your design!


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## grozzie2 (Jun 3, 2011)

SiWolKe said:


> The label does not have to be waterproof, nobody cares.


That depends on where / how you are selling it. We have a stand at the end of the driveway, and it rains a lot in our part of the world, things get damp. When we used home printed labels, even tho things are under a lean-to style of roof, the ink would run when things got damp. If folks pick up a bottle and the ink comes off on their fingers it leaves a very bad impression, not the impression we want folks to have of our product. Besides, the waterproof ink on professional labels was FAR cheaper than printing our own when we scaled up the numbers.


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## Rader Sidetrack (Nov 30, 2011)

SiWolKe said:


> here brown packing paper is trendy, printed with your own design.
> ...
> I might need some sort of glue which dissolves in water. The label does not have to be waterproof, nobody cares.


Hey, if you are going to use 'brown paper' labels, you might as well "roll your own" water soluble glue. Just mix white flour and water together to get a smooth paste, and ... _viola_.

Perhaps you can get customers to pay extra for "organic" glue.


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## 1102009 (Jul 31, 2015)

Hey Rader, good idea, the marketing strategy!! But they do not know it´s organic because it´s the new trend design! I hate using chemicals to clean bottles from labels so i believe others do too.
Will it work?
:lookout:


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## 1102009 (Jul 31, 2015)

grozzie2 said:


> That depends on where / how you are selling it. We have a stand at the end of the driveway, and it rains a lot in our part of the world, things get damp. When we used home printed labels, even tho things are under a lean-to style of roof, the ink would run when things got damp. If folks pick up a bottle and the ink comes off on their fingers it leaves a very bad impression, not the impression we want folks to have of our product. Besides, the waterproof ink on professional labels was FAR cheaper than printing our own when we scaled up the numbers.


I´m making cordial and always used edding pencil in different colors with handwriting to label it. People loved that.
Had a special kind of oil mixture to clean the bottles.
With my honey bottles I wonder if i should use that too and fix a certificate to the top, a small card i can design with the mac. Nobody has this, it would stand out.


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## grozzie2 (Jun 3, 2011)

SiWolKe said:


> I´m making cordial and always used edding pencil in different colors with handwriting to label it. People loved that.


How many bottles are you doing in a season ? I cant imagine trying to hand write labels for each extraction run, with typically runs between 70 and 120 cases here. At a dozen bottles a case, that's a LOT of labels to be writing by hand.


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## 220 (Dec 28, 2016)

There is quite a bit of info that you legally need to put on labels in Aus if you plan on selling honey.

Part 1.2 of the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code sets out the information that must be provided on foods that are required to bear a label.
The label on a package of pure honey for retail sale must include the following general information:

The prescribed name of the product (i.e. honey);
The lot identification;
The name and business address of the supplier;
Date marking;
Nutrition labelling;


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## odfrank (May 13, 2002)

I use Onlinelabels.com. They have numerous shapes and materials of labels and give you three month free per purchase on their design website. Much cheaper than Avery.

https://www.onlinelabels.com/

https://www.onlinelabels.com/maestro-label-design-software.htm

I use waterproof polyester laser labels that usually are in excellent shape to be re-used after customers return the bottles to me. 

https://www.onlinelabels.com/material_polyester_laser_labels.htm?search=polyester&st=s


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## omnimirage (Aug 31, 2015)

220 said:


> There is quite a bit of info that you legally need to put on labels in Aus if you plan on selling honey.
> 
> Part 1.2 of the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code sets out the information that must be provided on foods that are required to bear a label.
> The label on a package of pure honey for retail sale must include the following general information:
> ...


What's lot identification? When you say name, do you mean, my personal name? What's a business address? I don't have a business but I live in a house where I store my equipment and process honey, ain't where my bees live. What do you mean by date marking?


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## 220 (Dec 28, 2016)

Lot identification is a way to track the batch of honey, I just use the package date as my lot number and keep records of what I have bottled on that day. The hives and locations etc, date marking is your package date so if you bottled today for us Aussies it would be 16/12/17. 
If you are packaging and selling as a individual then your name address and contact phone number. You don't have to test your honey to generate a nutrition label, using a generic nutrition label for honey is fine. You can print your own, integrate it into your packaging label or buy them from most bee supply places. I ordered another roll of nutrition labels yesterday, 4c per label so it is cheaper than I can print my own. 
Most place also have generic honey labels you can simply write your address, contact details and dates on for 10-20c each.

If your still confused just have a look at the labels on the honey in supermarkets they will have all the required info and probably a bit more. Might give you a few ideas if you are going to print your own.


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## Eikel (Mar 12, 2014)

If you have trouble with water causing your ink to run, I use a light coating of spray polyurethane while the labels are still on the sheet. Let them dry and they are pretty water resistant, I get returned jars that have been run trough the dishwasher and the labels are still legible.


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## 1102009 (Jul 31, 2015)

grozzie2 said:


> How many bottles are you doing in a season ? I cant imagine trying to hand write labels for each extraction run, with typically runs between 70 and 120 cases here. At a dozen bottles a case, that's a LOT of labels to be writing by hand.


I´m doing 50-100 bottles of honey and cordial one time. I would like to use a printed label I make myself, I have good design ideas but did not find a label printing program I like so far to make it happen. And my printer is not able to use a label paper.  And i don´t like labels to have glue which does not come off easily.


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## omnimirage (Aug 31, 2015)

I haven't confirmed what the law is for selling at farmer's market (I think there is no labeling requirements there, or at least it doesn't appear to be enforced), but for selling it through commercial channels, it appears I need to have my name, and address on the label. I don't feel comfortable doing this, so because of so it looks like I won't be selling to produce stores and shops, that I'm going to rely on doing sales directly to the consumer. 

For this reason, I wonder if it's even worth spending the money on the label. Unlabelled honey appears to sell fine, I did print some labels awhile ago and they looked good, but people didn't seem to particularly care either way, and it might be more profitable in simply saving that $0.2-0.4 per label.

Do you guys find that customers respond well to labels and it results in more sales? Can I raise the price of my product much if I put a good looking printed label on it?


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## odfrank (May 13, 2002)

I have my name city and voicemail number on my jars. The owner of the produce market I sell at always calls the number on the jars when he needs more stock. If someone likes your product they will find you with the information on the label.


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## bevy's honeybees (Apr 21, 2011)

I use Online labels as well.
Last year I had a personalized logo created, and with that I go to Online and have all sorts of labels stored. Some for large jars, small jars, 2 oz bears, some for skin cream I make with beeswax and organic ingredients. Food safety label, etc. I wait for the coupons they send and I now have about 6 different label sizes for whatever. Small round for the honey type to put on top of the jar. Personalized information about my beekeeping practices for the large jars, and all have my basic information including my name, city, phone number. I use my logo and then an image I got the web for background design. I can then save the design to my computer and print from there, or log onto Online and print.

Dang, I can't fix the "attached file". I picked the wrong one. This is it but final version has a honey comb background.


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## Sharpbees (Jun 26, 2012)

Here in KY we are required to have the weight, both standard and metric, Name and physical address of producer, and product name on the label. The state is batting around the idea of mandatory nutritional labels.


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## omnimirage (Aug 31, 2015)

Bevy, do you actually not heat it up at all? How do you strain honey? What if you got a bucket of unstrained honey, stored out in the back, that turned to crystal?


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