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What Is Royal Mail Labels to Go? (And Why It Appears on Your Vinted Order)

If you have searched for your Royal Mail QR code and landed on the phrase “Labels to Go”, you are in the right place. It is the name of the Royal Mail service behind the QR code, and it explains why you can post a parcel without printing anything.

What Labels to Go means

Labels to Go is a Royal Mail service that lets someone post a parcel without a printer. Instead of a printed label, you get a QR code. You take the parcel and the code to a participating drop-off point, staff scan the code, and the label prints there and then. You stick it on the parcel and hand it over.

Royal Mail first used it for online shopping returns. Retailers send a customer a QR code, and the customer prints the label at the counter instead of at home. Vinted uses the same idea for its Royal Mail shipping option.

How it shows up on Vinted

You will not usually see the words “Labels to Go” on Vinted itself. What you see is a Digital shipping label window with a QR code, opened from the sold order with the Open QR code button. That code is the Labels to Go style label. Our full walkthrough of what is in that window is in the Royal Mail QR code label explained.

What you can do with it

You have two options, and both cost the same:

  • Show it on your phone at a Post Office or other drop-off point and let staff print the label.
  • Print the QR code yourself and take the paper copy with the parcel. This is handy as a backup if your phone battery is low, or you simply prefer paper. It is still scanned at the drop-off point to print the label. Do not post it in a postbox, as Vinted warns the parcel will not be registered or delivered.

Printing the code properly

The catch with printing it yourself is that the code sits on a big page with a lot of empty space. Sent to a 4×6 thermal printer, it shrinks and can become hard to scan. Crop My Label puts the QR on its own, large and centred, on a clean 4×6 so it scans first time. There is a step by step in how to print Royal Mail labels from Vinted.

Quick answers

Is Labels to Go a different label from the Vinted one? No. It is the same code, just described by the Royal Mail name for the service.

Do I need to print it? No. Showing it on your phone works at staffed drop-off points.

Does it cost extra? No. Postage is already paid through your Vinted sale.

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