Packing PC hardware: the basics
The rules that apply to every parcel — box choice, anti-static handling, void fill, and the shake test.
Start with the right box
Sturdy corrugated box, double-wall for anything heavy
A crushed corner on a single-wall box is how bent fins and cracked shrouds happen. Anything over about five pounds — GPUs included — deserves double-wall.
Two inches of clearance on every side
Pick a box big enough that the item never sits closer than two inches to any wall once padded. If it touches the wall, the wall's impacts are its impacts.
A retail box is not a shipping box
Original packaging is excellent protection — inside another box. Ship a bare retail box and it arrives scuffed, opened, or worse. Box-in-box, always.
Reusing a box? Strip it first
Remove or completely cover every old label and barcode. A stray old barcode can misroute your parcel, and carriers can charge extra for it.
Anti-static comes first
Electrostatic discharge is invisible, and ESD damage is the classic source of a dead-on-arrival dispute over a part that worked when it left.
Bare electronics go in anti-static bags
Use the metallized shielding bag the part came in, or a new one — they cost pennies. Household plastic bags and bubble wrap against bare boards can generate static rather than block it.
Handle by the edges, tape the bag closed
Fold and tape the bag so the part can't slide out into the padding during transit.
Fill every void
Kraft paper, foam, or air pillows
Crumpled kraft paper and foam hold their shape best. Packing peanuts settle in transit and leave the item resting on the box floor by the time it arrives.
Secure loose accessories separately
Cables, brackets, screws, and adapters get their own bag, taped down or boxed so they can't ricochet against the main item.
The shake test
Close the box and shake it firmly. Anything you can hear or feel moving will be moving for the entire journey. Open it back up and add fill until it's silent.
Pack for a three-foot drop onto concrete — parcels are machine-sorted and thrown, and “Fragile” stickers don't change how a package is handled. The padding is the protection; the sticker is decoration.
Seal it properly
Real packing tape, H-pattern
Two-inch packing tape along every seam — the center seam and both edge seams, top and bottom. Masking tape and duct tape let go in cold trucks.
Label flat on the largest face
Not over a seam, not wrapped around a corner. If you're reusing a box, put the new label where the old one wasn't.
Before it leaves your hands
Photograph it
The item with its serial number visible, then the packed box before you seal it.
Attach it to the order
Upload the photos as proof of condition on the order page. The record freezes at handover and counts if anything is disputed.
Keep the receipt
The drop-off receipt proves when the carrier took custody. Tracking takes it from there automatically.