To ensure we are able to sell as many of your items as we can during peak times without making any errors or missing any items, it is very important that your tags are scannable. Great features of our sale like nightly sales updates and quick check delivery are dependent on scannable barcodes.

So, if you print your tags out and any of them look like these non-scannable examples from past sales, please reprint them before attaching them to your items.

Heavy ink If the ink is too heavy and the lines on the barcode run together as shown here, the space between the bars is filled in and makes the tag unscannable.	Cut off printing This is the tag on the right edge of the page where the printer stopped short of printing the entire barcode. Make sure the barcode is centered under the words Discount: Yes (or No).
Out of toner If you are running out of toner on a laser printer or copier, the bars start to lose their integrity. Make sure the lines are crisp and full.	Linen paper The texture on the paper used for this tag prevented the ink from creating a readable barcode. The color is light enough to be OK, but the texture is causing scanner problems.
Missing pixels This one is less common, and a little hard to see. There are some parts of the print head on this inkjet printer that are stuck and no longer print. Because they make it look like more bars are present, the scanner picks up the wrong number.	Handwritten overrides The barcode scan is the only way we can sell items (or hand entering the barcode). If we try to change the Discount from no to yes, it will not allow us to sell that item because it is not in our inventory. Also, we have to prevent shoppers from changing discount status with their own pens.
Correct page orientation Make sure the black lines are visible on both sides of every tag, and that the tags fill up the entire sheet of letter sized paper.	Incorrect page orientation If your tags print sideways, or leave extra white space on the sheet as shown above, it is likely they will not scan because the barcodes are too small. Also in this example, the black line on the right edge is cut off, which means that part of the barcode might be missing.

More tag printing tips:

• Paper:
  • No dark colored paper, only light or pastel card stock - WHITE is the BEST choice; no fuzzy or textured paper (because the barcodes will bleed)
  • Best type paper: 60# - 67#, 110# card or cover stock. However, please consult with your sale owner for required weight and color
  • Do not put tape on the barcode
• Printer:
  • Best Printer: ink jets with normal toner or laser printers (no dot matrix printers)
• Printing Settings:
  • Use NORMAL or DRAFT. (Best quality is too dark and causes the barcodes to bleed)
  • Print with "Black Cartridge" only.
• Helpful Tips:
  • Make sure the barcodes are crisp and clear and not bleeding
  • Sort their clothes by gender and size before tagging for best efficiency
  • Avoid long descriptions and overuse of capital letters.

If you have any questions about the print quality on your tags, please contact us.

If you are a regular consignor, you might have some card stock left over from the previous sales, but if you need to get some more for this sale, here are some ideas:

• Office supply store: You can get packs of card stock (65 lb-110 lb index) at Office Depot , Staples, etc. They are usually sold in packs of 250 sheets or more, and average between $10-15.
• Copy shop (cheapest): Stop by Kinko's or any other local copy shop and buy as many individual sheets of blank card stock as you need. We did this and got 25 sheets for $1.83 at our local copy shop (ironically called "The Copy Shop").
• Share with another consignor: If you have some friends or neighbors who are also consignors, you could share a pack of card stock with them. Remember that you get 8 tags per sheet, so most consignors will only need about 10-20 sheets.

Remember that it is important that you use card stock for your tags:

• If the tag is torn or lost, we cannot sell your item
• If the tag is damaged or won't scan, that can slow down checkout
• Make sure the card stock is white or a light color - for the bar code to scan it needs to have high contrast

Good luck tagging!