Australia Post click and send satchels are know reusable. They have 2 adhesive strips so if cut open along the line can be resealed with a new strip. Not sure how many will be reused but can be handy if the item needs to be returned.

I recycle everything.....never had a complaint yet....you've just struck a !@#$%....par for the course.....could happen to me tomorrow....move on, safe in the knowledge that you're doing everything you possibly can...sleep well 🙂

Majority of my packaging is recycled. All my boxes I get from work. Same with bubble wrap and packing peanuts. Although, I did buy a few rolls of bubble wrap from Bunnings a couple of years ago when they had rolls on their specials table for 10c a roll. It would have been morally wrong to leave them there!

Only time I've had a complaint about packaging was when I buyer sent me a message, thanking me for the item, which they were extremely happy with. Apparently I went a bit overboard with the tape and they needed scissors and an angle grinder to get into it!!! (sarcasm with the angle grinder). They were otherwise very impressed with the packaging as they had received too many broken items in the past. 

I think if you can package an item and then play soccer with it in the backyard and it not break, then you're doing it right.

I've only had one buyer send a message after sale saying they wanted brand new packaging. That's fine, happy to oblige, but it will be an extra $2 on the postage cost. They declined. I'm guessing they may have wanted to reuse it themselves. Like others, my recycled stuff is spotlessly clean. I'd never wrap anything in grubby packaging. I wouldn't like it done to me. If someone then wants to reuse it themselves, then it's near brand new for them to do so. 

For someone like the Countess, get on to your local buy swap and sell sites on Facebook to unload all your excess packaging. I know on my local ones, within minutes of someone advertising, someone has jumped on it wanting it. Then the comments are flooded with NIL NIL NIL NIL NIL NIL (next in line). 

Maybe point out to buyer that you RE-USE all you packing material which is a step above re-cycling, but if the are truly concerned maybe the could REDUCE their online shopping which a) forces the use of packing materials,  b) increases pollution from transport and shop at a local B&M or better yet, only buy what they need rather than whatever they want 😉.

I sell fragile items I've made on another ebay account. Just about all my packaging is recycled.

* Bubble wrap saved for me by a local grocer, friends and neighbours.

* Tissue paper saved by same friends and neighbours - even tissue paper used to stuff new shoes.

* Boxes, padded bags and envelopes from various sources including a post office!

So far no one has complained about the extra bubble wrap, air bags or tissue paper with various shoe brand names printed all over it.  A lot feedback left on that account includes a comment on the item being very carefully or very well packed.

If I had a complaint from a buyer about over use of bubble wrap and I could be bothered responding, I'd say it was either use it or it would've gone straight to land fill, and if they so desired they could use it again, or give to an Op shop (not come across one yet that says no to free packaging). I certainly wouldn't stop my recycled packaging because of one DH.

The buyer message did make me consider if I should include a blurb either in my item descriptions or the eBay message I usually send to buyers when I have handed their parcel to AP about the materials we use to pack, but then I reckon I would be creating as much drama as I am trying to avoid. Any thoughts on this idea?

I recently received a delivery from my US parcel forwarder. Included among the items I’d ordered were some more of the Emile Henry range. In the past two such items had arrived broken, so I’ve formed the habit of asking the parcel forwarder to use extra bubble wrap and double-box specific items.

They were brilliant in following my request, and everything arrived safely, but of course I have piles of boxes and bubble wrap to discard in as environmentally responsible a way as possible.

I would much rather deal with all of that than with cracks and chips and broken pieces.

(Mind you, I’m very disappointed by the whole RedCycle collapse debacle…)

I over pack all of my products,  like you I try to reuse bubble wrap, bags of air, bubbles from item I receive so mostly recycle.

But remember one thing, people will just complain, had you under packed they would complain about breakage.  This person most like lives on Faecbook and complains about anything and everything.  Ignore them and continue to pack as you are.

This is something I also think about. I too have to send fragile items and do over-wrap (rather than under-wrap). If I am not using AP Pack It Send It boxes then my boxes come courtesy of Bunnings. I buy from real life auction houses – their packaging keeps me in bubble wrap, butcher’s paper and nuggets for ages. That really thin foam that protects white goods (like washing machines) is excellent packaging inside small flat letter rate boxes. I am old-fashioned and get a physical newspaper – I use it to protect books (themselves first protected in re-used inside out plastic bags).

I have not yet had any complaint about “over-packaging” though it will probably come. I would rather deal with that than an irate customer whose item has been damaged in the post.

I remember when I started on eBay 20 years ago sellers used to boast that they only used “brand new” bubble wrap – not “nasty used stuff.” Shows how the world has changed.