First, check how Amazon gives you the label
Amazon hands out shipping labels in a few different ways, and that decides whether you even need to crop:
- Amazon Shipping / Print Connect often lets you pick the label size on the print screen. If you see a "Label (4×6)" or thermal option, select it and you get a ready-to-print 4×6 with no cropping needed.
- Easy Ship and Self Ship in India usually give you an A4 (or Letter) PDF with the shipping label, the tax invoice, and wide margins on one page. This is the one you crop.
- Easyship batches can arrive as 2-in-1 or 4-in-1 sheets, with two or four labels on a single page. Those need splitting into individual 4×6 labels.
- FBA labels are a different thing entirely (FNSKU product barcodes that go on the item, not a shipping label), so this guide does not cover those.
Why the A4 label won't print right as-is
On the A4 page the actual shipping label sits in one area, next to the tax invoice, surrounded by white margin. A 4×6 thermal printer expects a page that is exactly 4×6 inches.
Send it the raw A4 and it either shrinks the whole sheet to fit (this is the classic "my label printed at 2×2" or tiny-in-the-corner problem) or prints only a slice and cuts the label off. Either way the tracking barcode, the one the courier scans at pickup, comes out too small or clipped to read. Cropping the label to a clean 4×6 first is what keeps that barcode sharp.
What you need
- A direct-thermal 4×6 printer. Common ones with Indian sellers are the TSC TE244 or TE344, the Xprinter XP-470B or XP-460B, and the Zebra ZD230. A 203 DPI model is enough for the barcode.
- 4×6 (100×150 mm) direct-thermal labels, on a roll or fanfold.
- Your Amazon label PDF, downloaded from Seller Central.
- A way to crop the A4 down to 4×6 and split the invoice: a PDF editor for the odd order, or a crop tool for a whole batch.
How to print an Amazon label on a thermal printer
Download the label from Seller Central
In Seller Central, open Orders (Manage Orders), pick the order you are shipping, and print or download the shipping label. If the print screen offers a 4×6 / thermal size, choose it and skip straight to Step 3. If you only get an A4 PDF, save it and crop it next.
Crop the A4 to 4×6 (and split the invoice)
This is the step that fixes the small-print and scan problems. By hand, you open the PDF in an editor, crop tightly around the shipping label with the tracking barcode included, and separate the tax invoice onto its own page. Fine for one order, slow for a batch, and fiddly for 2-in-1/4-in-1 sheets.
A crop tool does it automatically across the whole file. The EditLabel Amazon label tool runs in your browser and handles the Amazon-specific parts:
- It splits Easyship 2-in-1 and 4-in-1 sheets into individual, correctly-sized 4×6 labels.
- It separates the shipping label from the tax invoice, so you can print the label thermally and keep the invoice.
- It crops around the full label so the tracking barcode stays complete and scannable, not clipped.
- It can stamp your own SKU and a master code (with quantity) on each label to speed up picking.
- The file stays in your browser, so buyer names and addresses are never uploaded.
Set your thermal printer to 4×6
Most tiny or half prints come from the settings, not the file. This is what fixes the "2×2" print:
- Paper size: 4×6 in, or 100×150 mm. On Windows, set this as the printer's default stock size in Printing Preferences.
- Scale: 100%, or "actual size". Turn off "fit to page" and "shrink oversized pages"; once the label is 4×6 it already fills the sheet.
- Orientation: portrait.
- Print darkness: medium to high. A too-light setting is the usual reason a barcode looks fine but will not scan.
Print one, and check the barcode scans
Print a single label first and scan the tracking barcode with your handheld scanner or a phone scanner app. If it reads cleanly, run the rest of the batch. If it does not, work through the usual causes:
- A blurry or grey barcode means the print is too light. Raise the darkness, or slow the print speed by one notch.
- A tiny or cut-off label means the scale slipped to "fit to page", or the stock size is not 4×6. Check both.
- Long blank gaps between labels mean the printer needs a gap or black-mark calibration. Run the driver's calibrate routine once for your roll.
Keep the tax invoice
The Amazon A4 PDF usually carries the tax invoice next to the shipping label. Keep the invoice with the shipment, especially for inter-state orders, for GST purposes. So when you crop, split the invoice onto its own page rather than dropping it: print the shipping label on your thermal roll, and print or pack the invoice separately.