How your box is packed.

When a parcel arrives

It is matched to your account and photographed. The photo appears in your account and is sent to you on WhatsApp, so you know what has turned up without having to check.

The photo is not decoration. It is your chance to spot a wrong size, a missing item or something damaged while it is still in the UK and still returnable.

Boxes are packed by hand, not tipped in. Heavier items sit at the bottom, gaps are padded.

Why we take the packaging off

This is the part that saves you the most money, and it surprises people.

You are charged by the size of box your things fit into, not by how many parcels are in it. Retail packaging is mostly air. A pair of trainers in a shoebox takes up roughly twice the space of the trainers alone, and a shoebox weighs something too.

So unless you tell us otherwise, outer cartons and shoeboxes come off. The result is often the same order in a smaller box, or room left over in the box you are already paying for.

What stays on

• Sealed retail packaging where removing it would devalue the item, such as anything collectable or boxed as a gift.
• Manufacturer packaging on electronics, which is designed to protect the item and often needed for a warranty.
• Anything you have asked us to keep, which is what packing notes are for.

How things are protected

A half empty box is worse than a full one, because loose items slide about in transit. Heavier things go at the bottom, fragile items are wrapped and kept away from the walls of the box, and remaining gaps are padded so nothing moves.

If you have flagged something as fragile, it is wrapped and placed accordingly rather than simply labelled.

Telling us how you want it packed

Timing matters here more than people expect. Notes have to be added before your delivery is processed. Waiting until the box is about to be sealed is too late. When a parcel arrives you are told on WhatsApp, and that message is your moment to say something.

Once it has been processed there is often nothing we can do, because the retail packaging may already have been removed and thrown away. A shoebox cannot be put back.

The common requests are keeping an item in its retail box because it is a present, removing packaging to save weight, or treating something as fragile.

If an item might go back to the retailer, ask us to keep its packaging. Most UK retailers only accept a return in the original box.

You get two photos, not one

First the parcel, when it arrives. Then the box itself once your items are in it, so you can see how much physical space is left.

The box photo comes with the numbers alongside it, updated each time something goes in. The weight so far, the size the box is currently on, what that costs today, how much of your allowance is left, and what the next size up would be and cost if you keep going.

So you always know what you would pay if you shipped right now. Duties, taxes and optional insurance are not included in those figures.

Nothing is hidden. The weight tells you one half of the story. The photo tells you the other half, whether there is actually room for the coat you were thinking about.

Getting the most out of your box

The service costs the same whether you send one thing or twenty, as long as it fits the box. So the whole trick is filling the box you are already paying for. A few habits make a real difference.

• Fill the allowance you have paid for. Every box size includes a weight allowance. If you ship at half that weight, you have paid for capacity you did not use. Before you press ship, it is worth a quick look at what else you have been meaning to buy.
• Keep an eye on the box size. Go slightly over an allowance and you pay a small charge per kilo; go further and we move your box to the next size up when that works out cheaper, and your account shows the figure while the box is filling.
• Use the photos. The photo of each parcel is not just a receipt. It is your chance to spot a wrong size, a missing item or a damaged box while it is still in the UK and still returnable. A return has to happen before the box is sealed, so if something looks wrong in the photo, sort it then, not after the box has flown.
• Watch out for big, light items. They eat space without using your weight allowance. If you are shipping something bulky, ask us to remove shoeboxes or outer packaging, which often buys you room for more.