PayPal offers multiple options for shipping and printing labels, whether you have a Personal, Premier or Business account. However, not knowing the typical snags that occur when trying to print labels on PayPal can create quick frustration, especially when you're a small business trying to take care of your customers. Problems often happen because of a small software or hardware issue, or a tiny oversight.

Error

At times you might get an error from PayPal that says, "PayPal Shipping is not available. We apologize for the inconvenience" or "We are not able to generate your label at this time. Your PayPal account was not charged. Please try again later." Usually this happens when the "Ship From" address you entered for the label doesn't match the address you list for yourself or your business in your PayPal account. Or, if you use UPS as a carrier, the UPS account number stored in your account is inaccurate. To fix this, in your PayPal account click "Merchant Services" and then "Set My Shipping Preferences," and enter the correct information.

Software

If you use PayPal's MultiOrder shipping feature, you'll have problems shipping labels without the required software. For printing with MultiOrder, make sure that you have JavaScript enabled in your browser, that you have the browser's pop-up blocker disabled, and that you're using at Internet Explorer 6.0, Mozilla Firefox 3.0 or Safari 3.0, or higher. PayPal doesn't state directly that the Google Chrome browser supports the MultiOrder feature, so if you're using Chrome and having trouble, that could be the problem.

Printer

You don't need a special label printer to make labels with PayPal; you can also use a deskjet or a laser printer. However, if you don't have your settings adjusted to correspond with the printer you want to use, you'll have trouble printing. To find out, in your PayPal account click "Merchant Services" and then "Set My Shipping Preferences." Next, click "Edit Printer Settings" and choose the correct printer. Or, if you're shipping via PayPal's ShipNow feature. ensure that you choose the correct printer as you go through the shipping process. Also be sure that you enter all the required personal information and the proper package dimensions. Doing otherwise can create problems.

Invisibility

If you use eBay for your business and you're used to seeing the "Print Shipping Label" link next to a transaction in PayPal, you might be alarmed when, suddenly, you don't see that link. Whenever you don't see that link, it's likely because the purchaser didn't pay through eBay and you don't have your settings adjusted so that PayPal will display the "Print Shipping Label" link for non-eBay transactions. To do so, sign in to PayPal and click "Merchant Services" and then "Set My Shipping Preferences," then check the appropriate boxes under the "Display Ship Button" heading and click "Save."