Posting glass items

[laura-pro]

Looking for some advise on the best way to package glass items for posting. I handpaint drinking glasses and any orders I take from fairs I have to then hand deliver which is a hassle and has a cost to it too. I would love to be able to try selling on line but the packing is holding me back.

Any suggestion gratefully recieved

[bodrighy]

When I post some of my more delicate things I put in a strong cardboard box. They are individually wrapped in heavy duty bubble wrap and then well padded in the box with either bubblewrap or shredded paper. The idea is to have them individually floating in the packing inside a strong box that can withstand being thrown about. So far i haven't had any breakages and sopme of my goblets are in fact more fragile than the glass ones as they are so tjhinb . Also some things have long thin stmem on them. My friendly postmistress slaps 'Fragile' stickers all over the outside for me as well.

Hope this helps

pete

[laura-pro]

Thanks Pete, very useful. Can I be cheeky and as you how much it generally cost, is it expensive?

[bodrighy]

My wood is probably lighter than glass would be so yours would be more but it varies according to size from about £2 - £5 for the UK. Abroad is more as I usually send it recorded delivery with some insurance on it just in case. Bubble wrap or polystyrene beads by the way are quite a bit lighter than shredded paper so whenever I have them I use them instead. I only use recycled packaging so don't always have them but do have a shredder.

pet

[HF Glass Lady]

can't anymore to what Pete has said except never under estimate the power of bubble wrap! Wrap your glass well with it and then put loose packaging around it. If you want cheap and eco friendly try popcorn!

[loupo]

Hi there,

don't hold back, go for it! I've only been selling mine since December but I've had a lot of sales both here and abroad and no breakages yet. I wrap mine in large bubble bubblewrap. I scour my local supermarkets for fairly plain boxes which I then wrap around the bubblewrap (printed side inside) and then use brown paper to cover the card. You can buy fragile stickers on Ebay. I do tend to write 'open with care' on the parcel too just incase someone has jumped on the parcel in the sorting office. Hopefully that day will never come!

Lou
:)

[AnnieAnna]

Royal Mail have managed to smash my pottery to smithereens and badly chipped some turned wood so I don't have as much faith as the other repliers.
In both those cases the cardboard box had been pierced - as if something pointy fell on it.

However champagne sellers send their bottles in a wooden case + bubblewrap + a cardboard box.
You can buy really strong triple walled cardboard boxes. I think the russian doll technique is the way to go and i love the tip I got off here. Liberate your bubble wrap from your supermarket.

AnnieAnna

[Melissa]

Although not glass I post porcelain - I bubble wrap really well and sometimes double box or put card supports inside the box as well. Also although I have not tried it my self, someone once suggested to me to blow up small balloons to wedge in all 4 corners, not sure quite how it would work but the customer would have fun opening the box!!!

[loupo]

lol Melissa, that's so funny! I'm quite tempted to try it now!
Lou

[bodrighy]

You can get big bubble wrap that is made of very big bubbles like balloons. I get all mine free as my wife works in the range and brings home the wrapping from their goods. Also get a 25% discount there. Who's a lucky boy. :mf:

Pity they don't sell wood or turning tools though:frusty:

Pete

[traibabes]

[QUOTE=bodrighy;346888]You can get big bubble wrap that is made of very big bubbles like balloons.

Whenever I've sold larger more fragile items, I've used recycled carrier bags or food type bags, and inflated them like big cushions to pad my boxes out with!

tRaCeY :)

[laura-pro]

Well it has only taken me 3months but today I finally posted my first item, it was from a fair I did and I didn't want to have to hand deliever it and if it works and arrives safely I can start attempting to sell online!!

I boxed my glasses in there gift boxes then bubble wrapped these and put this into a cut down A4 paper box which was filled first with shredded paper then the bubble wrapped glasses before being stuff some more with shredded paper (a bit over the top!!??) then put the lid on stuck lots of GLASS FRAGILE stickers on taped it up and now hoping for the best!!

Just can't wait to hear that it has arrived safely (finger crossed!!)

the best thing is all the packaging was free as I work in a printers and boxes and shredded paper is plentiful :)

[laura-pro]

:D Yippee!!!! :D

My glasses made it throught the post and the buyer was very happy with his glasses!! Now I can do fairs further afield and look into online selling.

This is hopefully a good turning point for me!!

[loupo]

That's brilliant! Well done you. There's no turning back now. It's great that you get the packaging free. The bubblewrap that I use can work out quite pricy when I have to use a lot. It's really interesting reading how others pad out their boxes. I did use crumpled up newspaper to pad out the edges of a box the other day as the glass was plentifully bubblewrapped but the box was just that little bit too big. I did wonder if my customer would judge my reading matter lol. I was careful not to put in any Page 3s :)