I sell china - it's all breakable, some is old and irreplaceable so a great deal of care is needed to get the item to the buyer in the same condition as it leaves me.

Because many postal services won't unsure against china breakages it's crucial that you do your best as a seller to get the item to it's new owner safely, if it got broken it's at my cost, not the buyer's, they will need to be recompensed and if it's un-insurable then it will be me that pays the compensation. Purely on monetary terms this is not what I want to have to do but also if the item is irreplaceable because it's old (even if it has no great value) then I'm going to feel terribly sad if it lasted over 100 years including coming through 2 World Wars and then got broken through my lack of care.

It's really obvious - the more cushioning there is between the object and the hard surfaces that it may come into contact with the better the chance of it surviving so the best way to start is with large bubbled bubblewrap. Small bubbled bubblewrap isn't thick enough to make any real cushioning, you'd have to use a great deal to make any thickness at all so choose the large bubbles - you can buy it from Viking Direct or look on ebay, there will be rolls there for sale.

I wrap the item in at least 4 layers of bubblewrap, and then choose a box from my selection.

I gather boxes from anywhere and everywhere, I use recycled ones from supermarkets and other shops. I always go into the supermarket with a large trolley even if I only want a few groceries because I just know that I'm going to pass a member of staff unpacking something to go on the shelf, they are pleased to have someone take the boxes away. If the boxes have been dismantled you can get dozens into a trolley. Supermarkets are great for finding sheets of bubblewrap too, they are under the apples etc and just get thrown out, although they aren't thick enough for wrapping to go in the post I use them to wrap items that I have in storage.

Wine shops and other high street shops are great hunting grounds too - I just go in and ask when their delivery day is and arrange to pick up the boxes the next day when they've unpacked them, the shops save money on not having to put them out as trade waste so are very pleased to see them go.

The box I choose from my stash needs to be about 2" wider than the completely bubbled-up item to give room for even more cushioning. If I need to save on weight because its very close to the next weight bracket or is going by Airmail I push smaller pieces of bubblewrap, air pillows or polystyrene peanuts into the corners so that the box is crushproof. If it's a very large box (usually because it's been a large multiple order and there isn't a perfect sized box available) with big areas to fill the cheapest and lightest soloution is to use capped empty 1 or 2 litre lemonade bottles - this is void fill on a massive scale!

If weight isn't an issue because it's going by courier then I can use other stuffing material like newspaper (grubby hands though) or shredded paper. My local Lush shop has paper packing material they they are happy to recycle, this is perfect for void fill. Other space fillers can be broken up pieces of polystyrene, clean egg trays and the cardboard tubes that the bubblewrap comes with.

Before I seal up the parcel I imagine dropping in on a hard floor - it could happen - and if I feel confident that the china would still be OK then I go ahead and tape it up and give it at least 2 wraps with FRAGILE tape.

Job done.