How to Package and Ship Fragile Items

One of the worst shipping stories we have was with UPS Ground. This has nothing to do with the performance of UPS. During a quiet month of sales in February, we stumbled across a huge score of cheap, retired Yankee Candles that the seller had listed incorrectly, and they were ending soon! We wound up winning the auction for under $20! We were excited about reselling them for a great profit and anxiously awaited the items to come...and they did...

We knew it was trouble when we picked up the box from our front step and it sounded like the glass bottle truck had flipped over in our yard. After carrying in the box, we opened it cautiously...but it didn't matter! We had glass shards all over the place, in our hands, on the floor, it was a huge mess. The seller we purchased 30 glass candle jars from packaged the candles in one layer of newspaper, then placed them in a box, free to crash into each other. No bubble wrap, no peanuts, the box was not big enough, and the jars were touching the sides of the box.

We tried to unwrap as many of the items as possible, then, we contacted the eBay seller. The seller responded quickly, but actually seemed annoyed. After being a little pushy, we asked them to file a claim with UPS. Little did we know that if the item is packaged incorrectly, there is no recourse! Our only hope was a refund from the seller or the PayPal Insurance. After a few more emails, the seller gave in and refunded our money. We would never buy from them again! We left positive feedback, but did mention that we had a problem that the seller agreed to fix.

Hopefully you can learn from this mistake, packaging your items correctly will leave your customers happy, eager to return, and will surely get you some complimentary feedbacks. The eBay feedback forum is the equivelant of word of mouth, this can work with you or against you!

First, you may want to consider using a quicker shipping service, such as USPS Priority Mail. Longer services like USPS Parcel Post may save a few cents, but damage and crushing is much more likely with the longer it is in a warehouse. Charge the appropriate shipping to cover yourself for Priority Mail or another quick turn-around shipping service, and be sure to reasonably factor in the cost of packaging material. The great thing about usps priority mail is they offer FREE boxes via usps.com. delivered right to your business or home! Your customers will appreciate the speed of delivery offered also. You can even buy a scale and use the click-n-ship process to print postage at home and schedule a pick-up to save you major bucks on gas and delivery confirmation! (Delivery confirmation is free with click-n-ship). UPS also offers pick-up service and other extras, see their site for exact details.

Now, on to the packaging process!

Materials needed:

Boxes

Packing tape

Shipping labels or print paper

Packing Peanuts

Bubble wrap

Be sure to use a box with plenty of room for the object. UPS and other shipping services require at least 3" of packaging material around the object being shipped for insurance reimbursement. The number one most essential item in the shipping process is definitely bubble wrap. This can be ordered right on eBay for a very economical price.

Next, the box should be sealed with packing tape. Get the desired thickness tape for your boxes. Thin tapes can tend to tear, while thicker tapes have trouble sticking to boxes, so a medium-grade thickness may be best. When the box is taped shut and lightly shaken, you should not be able to feel the object or anything in the box move at all if properly packaged. Keep in mind what could possibly happen to your item during the shipping process...imagine a 20 lb box coming crashing down on your fragile antique vase in the box...if the vase isn't packaged and cushioned really well, imagine the results!! Prepare for the worst abuse all of the time, and assume the package will be dropped, kicked, and crushed (this doesn't happen often, but it does happen!).

Making the box nearly impervious to crushing by filling to the rim with packing material would really minimize your risk. Double boxing some items is a great idea for extra fragile things. Add an extra layer of protection and to minimize the object inside from moving about the box by packaging the item in two boxes. Securely wrapped with bubble wrap and peanuts, the first box will be very secure.


Postage can either be calculated through USPS.com and the Click-N-Ship scale, or by bringing into your local office and having them weigh and stamp the package.

Be sure to add insurance to items of high worth or fragility if purchased. If you don't feel comfortable without insurance, you can require it for eBay customers to purchase. Finally, attach the label to the top and ship! Don't forget delivery confirmation or signature confirmation. For international items, you can usually get "return receipt," which will send you notification when the package arrives to its destination. Also, on international orders, the customs number can be used as a form of tracking.

Keep all of your records and receipts from every transaction in case you have any problems arise. Your insurance information, delivery confirmation, and customs number should all be included on the receipt printout from USPS. Click-N-Ship info is all stored online, so this should be in your email account. Problems are rare, but they do happen!

In the event that you have a broken item, immediately contact your local USPS. They may ask you to bring the item in to them (if you are the recipient). For international shipments, the local office may refer you to the toll free number: (800)ASK-USPS.

Shipping internationally can be good and bad. You have the tracking in the form of the customs number, or Express Mail number if it is mailed Express Mail. Accepting international buyers can increase sales, bids, traffic, and have you gain some repeat buyers. They may be interested in the items you have to offer which are not available in their country, and why not offer it to them?

The pros are obvious: more sales, bids, traffic, customers, like we said. The cons: you have to fill out more paperwork, the customs number is the only form of tracking in most instances, and fraud is at a huge increase with international buyers. Overall from our experiences, it is a definite benefit. Sales will increase on the average 25%, depending on what you are selling, and most transactions go as smooth as can be. But, there are those few problem episodes...

We recently shipped an item internationally via APO. An APO is a military zip code that overseas officers can use. The package is delivered to a location in the US, where it is then transported by the military to its destination, wherever that may be. In this circumstance, this resulted in a huge loss for us. The package was not insured, and the item arrived in Europe completely water damaged. It was an expensive designer wallet, and the leather cannot hold up to such abuse. It was soaked, left in a puddle, or went for a swim at some point...whatever it was, the item was ruined and the customer was NOT happy.

We were left with only a couple of options...tell the customer "tough!" and deal with the repurcussions of a PayPal dispute and negative feedback, or handle it like a great business and leave the customer satisfied. We decided to make the customer happy, as anyone should, and refunded them. It was not her fault that the item was ruined, as was proven by pictures of the box and item. In the end, she was disappointed by the ruined wallet, but will remember the courtesy of a seller that refunded her for a slight hiccup in international shipping.