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Best packing and shipping practices?

The Father
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Nice day for shipping and receiving here.
Mailed an item today for OF’er. Our ever diligent postal employee turns in her chair and chucks my parcel into the bin. Ohhh wait, it bounce off the bin onto the floor, nice. She didn’t bat an eye.

UPS delivers to the house. Watch on the cameras. Let us place the packages in the middle of the walk halfway down. Not by the front door behind the pot. I wonder if he put a tag on “steal me”

A fine track record
 
squarelug
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+1 on parcel pro, with which you can also provide different values for customs than for insurance purposes, best of both worlds
 
X350 XJR
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The over packing edition...😁

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Edited:
 
B
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I just a small USPS flat rate box - I put the watch in a bubble envelope and then actually just tape the envelope to the inside of the box. I dunno if that's defeating the purpose of the bubble envelope but it definitely stops the watch from rattling as much in there..!
 
JimInOz
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I just received a watch and I don't think even Australia Post could have damaged this one.

A nice hard plastic container (tape over the clasps) in layers of bubble wrap.

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And the watch in more bubble wrap, nice and secure.

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Now I'm off for some cathartic relaxation.............popping bubble wrap.

😁
 
Hotwheelbill
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First and foremost, I save every box from every new cell phone. Including friends and family. Very sturdy boxes for shipping things such as a watch. then it can be boxed into just about any other shipping box.
 
Trev
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JimInOz JimInOz
I don't think even Australia Post could have damaged this one.
Shhh, they might interpret that as a challenge and up their game 😉
 
southtexas
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Altoids boxes are great for bracelets, watch heads, inserts, dials, etc. Almost indestructible.
 
Jasebird
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Just received a Watch using the company parcel pro… The safest shipping I’ve ever had.
 
BradleyJ.
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Won't lie, I recently shipped a watch head and I didn't have any foam so I slit a brand new car wash sponge and slipped it in between, then boxed it up. #NotAshamed lol.
 
southtexas
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I bought a bunch of these from eBay to expend my “eBay bucks” before they expired...a few dollars apiece...definitely worth it.

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L
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honestly, i think styrofoam boxes are excellent. They are light and yet very sturdy. They are very cheap and since they are light, your shipping costs can be greatly reduced.
 
ArchTimepieces
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Centinal Shipping is fantastic, if you sell a lot of watches, I made an overnight shipping label with 5000$ insurance for less than 50$
 
watchlovr
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Jasebird Jasebird
Just received a Watch using the company parcel pro… The safest shipping I’ve ever had.
I do not think this is true any longer.
 
Spec
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Do you guys purchase insurance with USPS? it just seems so costly especially for 4-5k watch. I think I estimated it costing around $300-$350
I have an omega James Bond 50 year that I want to sell but shipping it without insurance just seems so risky.
 
BDHD
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Wrap very well the watch with bubble wrap and put in a small box with foam to prevent when someone throw it
 
Dan S
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Spec Spec
Do you guys purchase insurance with USPS? it just seems so costly especially for 4-5k watch. I think I estimated it costing around $300-$350
I have an omega James Bond 50 year that I want to sell but shipping it without insurance just seems so risky.

I'm not sure how you calculated that because it's WAY off. Try this site: https://postcalc.usps.com

For priority mail, it's about $1.40 per $100 for insurance after the first few hundred, so roughly $70 to insure the maximum $5000. Registered mail is slower, but cheaper to insure, and you can insure up to much higher value IIRC.
 
Otterina
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Syrte Syrte
Someone once used registered mail to send me as a gift three tiny gold plated Longines lady strap buckles in a padded envelope. I got the envelope all right but it was empty. Someone had opened it, removed the contents, sealed it again and when I got it I signed for it without checking. That’s one of the things I’m trying to avoid.
Registered mail is on average very good but stuff can happen — and I want to minimize chances of it happening.

This made me panic, @Syrte. What an awful experience!
I'm constantly in a dilemma trying to make a purchase on ebay/OF from sellers outside of EU. Even after searching around the forum I still haven't come across any clever ways to make a purchase. It seems impossible to 1) avoid overpaying for customs (at worst I've paid about 40% of declared value of the good to PostNL in Netherlands) and 2) indicate the value/detail of the content vaguely enough so as to invite theft.

On your same topic, I hope maybe other members can also advise on 'shipping/labelling' specifically for international customs fees. 😟
 
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