We repack almost everything before it flies, but what you order and how it arrives still shapes the outcome. A few decisions make a real difference.
What actually breaks
In our experience the casualties are nearly always the same: ceramics packed against the box wall, glass bottles with no separation, framed items shipped flat, and anything liquid without a secondary seal. Air freight is not gentle — parcels are stacked, sorted mechanically, and handled repeatedly.
What we do
- Remove retail packaging that adds volume without protection
- Wrap fragile items individually and centre them away from the walls
- Fill voids so nothing shifts in transit
- Double-bag anything liquid or powdered
- Photograph the packed shipment before it closes
What helps us
- Tell us what is fragile. We cannot always tell from the outside of a sealed retail box.
- Say what can be compressed. Textiles can often be vacuum-packed; we will not do it to something that should not be creased unless you say so.
- Flag anything that must stay in its box — a gift, or something with a warranty seal.
- Declare values as parcels arrive, so packing and paperwork happen together.
Things worth knowing before you order
Liquids over a certain volume are restricted on air freight regardless of packing. Marble, stone and large glass are shippable but expensive and genuinely risky. Furniture is usually billed on volume and rarely worth forwarding. And anything with a battery has its own rules — see what cannot be shipped.
Insurance
Carrier liability on an international shipment is limited and is calculated by weight, not by what the contents are worth. If something in the box genuinely matters, ask us about cover before it ships rather than after.