How to pack china safely for shipping

Here at yay retro! we take our packaging very seriously. When posting vintage china and glass you can't take any chances, so we spend a long time getting our packing right. Here's our tried and tested tips for packing china safely for shipping:

Use only good strong boxes
Make sure the box is large enough that nothing can touch the sides, and there is plenty of room for padding
Line the box with at thick layer of screwed up newspaper balls
Wrap each individual cup, saucer, jug, bowl, teapot, glass, lid etc in bubble wrap or similar
Pad the item with newspaper, so that it cannot touch anything else in the box
Pad the item with newspaper so that it cannot touch the sides of the box
Add a good layer of screwed up newspaper between each layer of items if necessary
Pay particular attention to handles and spouts, they absolutely must not touch anything else in the box
Add a good layer of screwed up newspaper as a final layer to make sure there is no movement in the box
Seal with plenty of strong parcel tape
Label Fragile

When parcels are sent by Royal Mail or a Courier, much of the process is mechanised, so you have to pack knowing that a machine as well as people are involved in the distribution of your parcel. Machines can't read 'fragile' labels and the process may consist of conveyor belts, fork lift trucks and any number of other gadgets. By making sure everything is cushioned in your box, you have a very much higher chance of everything arriving safely at it's destination, wherever in the world that might be - yay! :O)

You can read more about our packaging on our 'Why yay retro!' page, or you can go shopping for vintage china and glassware here.