Most parcels arrive fine. This is for telling the difference between a store that packed badly and one that packed differently from how you would have.
What good packing looks like
Nothing touches the box. Padding on every side, including underneath — the side things land on.
It does not move when shaken. Movement in transit is what breaks things.
The box fits. An oversized box is worse, not better: more room to move, and it costs more to send because couriers charge for space. What is chargeable weight?
Fragile things are wrapped individually before going in together.
It can be opened without a knife and ten minutes.
What is annoying but not a problem
Recycled boxes and newspaper. Sensible and often better padding than bubble wrap. A store reusing packaging is being thrifty, not careless.
No branded tissue or sticker. Decoration, not protection — and on a cheap item, expensive packaging means you paid for it somewhere.
Over-taping. Irritating. Not a case.
What is a case
It arrived broken. Whatever the packing looked like. Photograph the box before unpacking further. It arrived broken
It arrived damaged by the packing itself — tape stuck to the item, newspaper ink transferred, something wrapped in a way that marked it.
It was sent loose in a bag when it plainly needed a box.
Damaged, faulty, wrong or not as described comes back for 7 days from delivery whatever the store's returns policy says.
The thing to do on arrival
Photograph the parcel before you open it further, if anything looks wrong. People throw the box away first and then try to describe it, which is much weaker.
And open it on the day. The window runs from delivery, not from when you got round to it. Can I have longer to decide about a return?
If a store packs badly repeatedly
Say so in a review, specifically. "Arrived loose in a padded envelope with no inner wrapping" is useful to the next buyer and to the store. "Bad packing" is not. How do I get buyers to leave reviews?
For anything genuinely fragile
Pickup avoids the whole category, where a store offers it — no box, no courier, no handling. For pottery, glass and framed work it is usually what both sides would prefer. What is a pickup point?
More: it arrived broken, how to pack an order, fragile item delivery.