Hi there!
I’m active in tons of LEGO forums, groups, and chats, and unfortunately it’s happened to me too. The item arrived damaged.
You buy something used or even new on one of the many selling platforms – whether it’s eBay, classifieds, or Vinted – and you’re looking forward to receiving the LEGO in perfect condition.
And then the shock!
You open the door and the mail carrier is simply holding the originally packaged set in its original box. Or you open the shipping box and the contents have unfortunately suffered some damage.
For this reason, I’m showing you today how I pack my LEGO sets myself – both new and used – and what tips I can share with you.
Let’s get started!
Shipping Originally Packaged LEGO Sets
The very first thing – and this is really important:
A LEGO set, whether new or used, is never shipped in its original box, unless it has been explicitly agreed upon with the buyer.
And even then, I would personally advise against it.
For an originally packaged set, I first get a sturdy shipping box.
I personally pad the bottom with several layers of old newspaper. Alternatively, you can also use bubble wrap or other packaging material. The important thing is that the LEGO set doesn’t just sit loose in the box.
Since newspaper can leave marks, the LEGO set should additionally be wrapped in bubble wrap or non-staining packing paper.
The corners of the LEGO box are especially important. These should be well protected so that as little pressure as possible is applied to them during transport.
I generally try to leave about three to four centimeters of space on all sides of the outer box. Depending on the set, sometimes a bit less is enough, but a bit more padding usually doesn’t hurt.
Once the set is completely wrapped, I fill the remaining voids. For this, I usually use newspaper, packing paper, or loose fill like those little foam peanuts.
At the end, I check once more that:
- no corner of the LEGO box directly touches the outer box,
- nothing can slide around in the package,
- all voids are sufficiently filled.
Then I carefully seal the box with several strips of tape.
Of course, even the best packaging won’t protect against a shipping service throwing a ten-kilogram bag of dry food onto the package. But with normal handling of the goods, nothing should really happen.
Shipping Used LEGO Sets
With used sets, it naturally depends a lot on which set it is.
I recently bought a lot myself where all the LEGO sets were simply thrown into a box without any kind of protection.
The result was correspondingly disappointing: everything had completely fallen apart and some parts had scratched each other.
Therefore, I generally recommend storing Minifigures and small individual parts that can easily be removed separately in small zip bags.
This way they won’t get lost and won’t fly around loose in the box.
The set itself can either be roughly disassembled or shipped as a whole. That always depends on the particular model.
When I disassemble a set, I pack the individual assemblies in separate bags. Between these bags, I stuff newspaper or other filling material so that as little as possible can move in the box.
My goal is always to have as little as possible fall apart further during transport.
Plant parts or other delicate or easily bendable parts I always remove and pack separately. It would simply be a shame if these got damaged and you’d have to get replacements or even return the complete set.
Here again:
Store everything properly, seal the box carefully, and make sure that as little as possible moves in the package.
Conclusion
Good packaging is, as you can see, actually not that difficult.
Of course, it always depends on what you’re shipping. Originally packaged sets worth several hundred or even thousands of euros I would probably secure much more extensively than described here.
My approach is meant to be more of a general example for regular LEGO sets – exactly as I’ve packed them myself in the past and ideally also received them.
Now I’m interested:
What do you think of my way of packaging?
Do you have any other tips or your own experiences?
Feel free to write them in the comments.
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Author: Dante