Handmade work is usually one fragile material, which makes the delivery decision simple and the packing expensive.
What decides it
Fragility and volume. A double-boxed ceramic is a much larger parcel than the bowl inside it, and most couriers price on size as well as weight. Measure the outer box, not the piece. Packing handicrafts.
For a maker selling regularly, building the real packing cost into the price is better than discovering it at the counter — an underquoted parcel comes off your own balance. What comes out of a sale.
The four options
Courier for most pieces, double-boxed. Your own delivery locally, which suits makers with a nearby following. Pickup for large ceramics, lamps and anything you would rather hand over. Buyer arranges occasionally.
When collection is the honest answer
For very large or very fragile pieces, and for anything that would need a box bigger than it is worth sending. Offer it alongside courier and let the buyer choose — pickup terms are agreed before bidding, with a collect-by window. How pickup works.
Combining wins
Several small pieces from one show travel in one well-divided box. Combining is on by default and you set what each later win adds; for fragile work, remember each extra piece needs its own wrapping and separation, not just space.
Made to order
If you also take commissions, say how long making takes separately from how long delivery takes. Buyers conflate the two and then feel misled, which is avoidable with one sentence.
Questions people ask
Should I charge for packing?
Build it into the item price or the rate. Do not surprise anybody with it afterwards.
Is free delivery sensible for makers?
Above a value you have costed, yes. Below it, rarely.
What if a piece arrives broken?
Your packing photographs decide it. Take them every time. How returns work.