Do I need a shipping station to print labels?

No. Without one, NesoTMS prints the label in your browser. A station adds printing with no dialog and sends paperwork to a second printer.

What happens when the station computer is off?

The station shows as offline, and a purchase made then prints in the browser instead. A reprint sent to it waits up to 10 minutes for it to come back.

Can a member of my team print and reprint?

Yes. Members choose the station when they buy, reprint and send tests. Pairing a computer, editing its rules and removing it need an administrator.

Does it print ZPL labels for Zebra printers?

Yes, when the carrier account's label format is ZPL and the printer is marked as taking ZPL. The app sends ZPL bytes straight to the printer. If a printer doesn't take ZPL, choose PNG or PDF on the carrier account.

Feature

A shipping station that prints your labels by itself

A shipping station is the computer at your packing table, running NesoTMS Print. When someone clicks Buy & print, the label comes out of the label printer and the paperwork out of the office printer, with no print dialog and no third-party print service. It is for warehouses that print many labels a day on a thermal label printer, and it is optional: anyone can still print from the browser.

Last updated October 7, 2026

What a shipping station does

NesoTMS Print is a small desktop app for Windows and Mac. You install it on the computer next to your printers and connect it to your NesoTMS company once. After that, each label purchase made with that station selected creates print jobs for it: one job for every package label, and one for each document the carrier returns, such as a commercial invoice or a bill of lading. The app prints them on the printers you chose and reports back whether each job printed.

A purchase never depends on printing. The label is bought and recorded first. If a printer is out of paper or the computer is asleep, you see that on the Documents tab of the shipment and can reprint, but the purchase stays a success.

Who it is for

It suits a packing table with a dedicated computer and a label printer, where a packer buys a label and expects it to be in their hand a second later. If you ship a few boxes a day, the browser's print dialog is enough and you don't need a station. If you have several packing tables, each computer is its own station, with its own printers and rules.

The app recognizes label printers by their largest paper size, or by names such as Zebra, ZDesigner, Rollo, DYMO, Brother QL and TSC. That is a guess it makes to preselect printers: you can override it, and nothing is limited to those brands.

How to set one up

The Printing page in NesoTMS has the same four steps, with the downloads. Pairing needs a NesoTMS administrator.

1
Download and install
Install NesoTMS Print on the computer next to your printers. On a Mac, drag it to Applications and open it once. The installers aren't notarized or signed with a certificate Windows and macOS trust yet, so Windows may say it protected your PC (choose More info, then Run anyway) and macOS may block the first open (System Settings, Privacy & Security, Open Anyway).
2
Connect your printer
Turn on the label printer, connect it by USB or network, and install its driver from the manufacturer if it doesn't appear in the computer's printer settings. Load 4 x 6 labels and choose that paper size. NesoTMS Print uses the printers installed on this computer. It doesn't install drivers.
3
Open NesoTMS Print and click Connect
The app shows a short code, valid for 10 minutes, and opens your browser.
4
Approve in your browser
An administrator checks that the code matches and clicks Connect this computer. Then pick the label printer in NesoTMS, send a setup test, and confirm that a clear 4 x 6 label came out.

What the station supports

What the station supports
Part	What it does
Computers	Windows and Mac. One installed app is one station, bound to one company.
Shipping labels	4 x 6 labels in the format your carrier account produces: PDF, PNG, GIF, ZPL or EPL. Images are turned upright and fitted to the page. ZPL and EPL go to the printer as they are, so the printer must be marked as taking ZPL.
Paperwork	Commercial invoices, UPS high value reports and FedEx Freight bills of lading print on the document printer, on letter-size paper by default.
Copies	Set per kind, from 1 to 10. A new station prints 1 label and 3 commercial invoices. FedEx international Express labels always print at least 3 copies.
Backup printers	One backup for labels and one for documents, used when the first printer isn't ready. A printer that is offline never receives a job.
Tests	Test label and Test page buttons print the app's own samples, so you can check a printer without buying anything.
Reprints	Reprint everything, labels only or documents only, from the Documents tab. A computer that is offline still takes a reprint and holds it for up to 10 minutes.
Job status	Waiting, Printing, Printed, or Didn't print with the reason. A failed or stalled job offers Print in this browser.

What you need

A Windows or Mac computer next to the printers, with NesoTMS Print running while people ship. The app starts when you sign in to the computer.
A label printer with its driver installed, and 4 x 6 label stock. A ZPL printer if your carrier account produces ZPL labels; otherwise set the account's label format to PNG or PDF.
An office printer if you want paperwork printed automatically.
A NesoTMS administrator to approve the computer and edit its rules. Members can send tests, reprint and choose the station when they buy.
An internet connection to NesoTMS. The app keeps a request open to NesoTMS over HTTPS to pick up new jobs, and prints them as they arrive.

How printing is chosen on the ship page

When your company has a station, a Print to picker appears above the Buy & print button, and your choice is remembered in that browser. NesoTMS sends the purchase to the station only when the station is online and its auto-print switch is on. Otherwise the browser prints the label instead, and the picker says so.

A station counts as online when it has checked in within the last 45 seconds. If the reply to a purchase is lost, the page settles the purchase first and then decides how to print from the saved request, and the automatic browser print happens only once. Quick ship's batch import follows the same rule: with a station chosen, each purchase is sent to it, and Print all labels makes one PDF of 4 x 6 pages for the browser.

What happens in NetSuite

Printing never writes to NetSuite. The NetSuite update (tracking numbers, package weights and sizes, shipping cost and ship status) happens when the label is bought, whether or not a station prints it, and a print problem never changes it. If a label has to be reprinted later, the label file comes from NesoTMS, not from a new carrier call, and NetSuite is not touched again.

How the station is kept safe

The station's key lives in the operating system's keychain, never in a log, a URL or a settings file.
That key can only ask for print jobs and report results. It can't buy, void or read another company's data.
A computer joins only when a signed-in administrator of the company approves its code. Pairing codes expire after 10 minutes, and an administrator can remove a station at any time.
The app doesn't save label files. They go straight to the print spooler, and jobs that nobody printed expire after 10 minutes.

Limitations

Windows and Mac only. There is no app for Linux, phones or tablets.
The installers aren't notarized or signed with certificates the operating systems trust yet, so both show a warning on the first run.
A job the operating system hasn't finished after about two minutes is reported as failed, and the printer's next job goes ahead.
A label job never goes to a printer marked as a document printer, and a document never goes to a label printer. The failure message says which setting to change.
NesoTMS Print prints what the carrier returns. It doesn't design labels or reformat a carrier's paperwork.

Cost

Printing is part of every plan. Basic ($99/month) includes 1 shipping station, and Advanced ($499/month) has unlimited shipping stations. A shipping station is a computer running NesoTMS Print; anyone on any plan can still print from the browser. See pricing for the full comparison.

Where to verify

The Printing page in NesoTMS lists your stations with an online light, the printers each one reported and its rules, and sends a test label or test page. The interactive demo runs in your browser with made-up orders, and its labels say they are samples. The NetSuite setup guide covers the rest of the setup.

Shipping station questions

Do I need a shipping station to print labels?: No. Without one, NesoTMS prints the label in your browser. A station adds printing with no dialog and sends paperwork to a second printer.
What happens when the station computer is off?: The station shows as offline, and a purchase made then prints in the browser instead. A reprint sent to it waits up to 10 minutes for it to come back.
Can a member of my team print and reprint?: Yes. Members choose the station when they buy, reprint and send tests. Pairing a computer, editing its rules and removing it need an administrator.
Does it print ZPL labels for Zebra printers?: Yes, when the carrier account's label format is ZPL and the printer is marked as taking ZPL. The app sends ZPL bytes straight to the printer. If a printer doesn't take ZPL, choose PNG or PDF on the carrier account.

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