How to Ship Ceramics, Candles and Handmade Crafts by Courier in Malaysia

26 October 2026

Short answer: a handmade ceramic, a candle or a craft piece arrives in one piece by courier in Malaysia when two things are true. Nothing hard ever touches anything hard, which means the piece is wrapped until you cannot feel its surface through the bubble wrap, sits in a snug inner box, and that box floats in an outer carton about 5 cm bigger on every side with every gap filled. And the parcel spends as little time in the heat as you can arrange, because the Malaysian failure for candles, resin and soap is not the drop but the afternoon in a closed lorry body, where standard soy wax softens and cured resin starts to give. Ceramics are packed for impact, candles and resin for heat, soap for sweat, and a mixed order follows its most fragile item. This guide covers how each one fails, the double-box method step by step, candles in our climate, resin, soap and glass, which once-used carton from RM1.10 takes which piece, and the habits that keep a five-star shop at five stars.

Why handmade parcels are harder than factory ones

A factory mug ships in a moulded tray inside a printed carton that was designed around it, in a pallet of identical cartons. A handmade mug ships one at a time, in whatever box is to hand, from a studio or a kitchen table, and the buyer paid three or four times the factory price for the glaze and the maker’s name. The parcel is heavier for its size than most, the value is concentrated in a surface that scratches, and a single chip is a return rather than a discount.

The marketplace rules put these items at the strict end. Shopee’s standardised packaging guideline, as summarised in current seller guides, puts anything that can crack or break in the fragile group, which asks for a cushioned inner box inside an outer carton and a visible fragile label, and says a mixed parcel is packed to its most fragile item. Our fragile items guide has the general two-layer method for a factory product. This guide is for the maker: the pieces are one of a kind, the box is yours to choose, and the heat is a bigger enemy than it is for anything else on the shelf.

How a ceramic, a candle or a craft parcel fails

Impact at a point. Fired clay and glass do not bend; they take an impact at one point and crack from it. The point is always where the piece touches something hard: a handle against the carton wall, a rim against another rim, a foot ring on the carton floor. A parcel does not need to be thrown; a 60 cm drop onto a hub floor is normal handling, and a mug touching the wall at that moment breaks.

Weight in a small box. Stoneware is dense. A set of six mugs with their wrap is 3 kg or more in a carton the size of a shoebox, which is the weight-in-a-small-box problem our plates and glasses guide explains: the carton walls bulge, the base sags, and the parcel underneath it in the cage takes the damage. Single wall is not enough for it.

Heat. A closed courier lorry body in the afternoon, or a parcel on a hub floor in the sun, is well above 40 degrees. Candle-supply guides put the softening point of standard container soy wax in the mid-40s Celsius, fully liquid by about 50, with paraffin and high-melt blends holding to around 60; resin makers advise keeping cured epoxy under about 50 degrees and say some formulas start to soften in the low 40s. A soy pillar candle or a thin resin tray on a two-day journey through that is going to change shape. This is the Malaysian risk, and no overseas guide covers it because their advice is written for summer and ends with “use ice packs”.

Sweat. Handmade cold-process soap, unglazed terracotta, raw wood and paper crafts take on the wet season’s humidity in a store room. Sealed in plastic and warmed in a lorry, that moisture condenses inside the bag: soap gets a wet film and softens, terracotta blooms, labels lift. Our humidity guide explains where the damp comes from; for a maker the rule is that porous things travel in paper, not plastic.

Surface marks. Tape pulled off a glaze takes nothing with it, but tape on a matte or unglazed surface, a cold-process soap or a resin finish leaves a mark, and bubble wrap pressed against warm resin or soft wax prints its pattern into the surface. The first wrap on anything with a soft or matte finish is paper.

The rejected claim. The booking platforms list, among the damage claims they reject, the one where the outer packaging is intact and the item inside is broken, because it says the contents were not protected. Nearly every broken mug is that claim. Our claim guide covers the evidence that wins the rest.

Ceramics and pottery: the double-box method, step by step

This is the method potters’ own guides have settled on, and it is what the fragile group of the marketplace rules describes. It applies to mugs, bowls, plates, vases, planters, teapots and anything else fired.

Inspect and photograph. The piece on a plain background, all round, with the maker’s mark and any intentional crackle or glaze run in frame, after the order is confirmed and before any wrap goes on. This photo is what a “it arrived chipped” dispute is decided on, and it shows the buyer what they are getting.
Protect the weak points first. A fold of 2 mm PE foam or a few turns of 10 mm bubble round a handle, a spout, a lid knob or a thin rim before the main wrap. Fill a bowl, a mug or a vase with crumpled kraft so the walls are supported from inside and the wrap cannot press a thin wall in. A lid is wrapped separately and never travels on its pot.
Wrap until you cannot feel it. Three to five layers of bubble wrap with the bubbles facing the piece, held with short strips of tape that touch only the bubble. The potters’ test is that you should be able to press firmly anywhere on the bundle and not feel the surface of the piece; if you can, add a layer. Our bubble wrap guide covers single and double layer; for ceramics, double-layer 10 mm or two turns of single is the normal first choice, and 25 mm for a large vase or a heavy planter. For a matte or unglazed surface, a sheet of kraft goes on before the bubble.
Snug inner box. The wrapped piece goes into a box it nearly fills, with a pad of crumpled kraft or a strip of layer pad across the bottom and the top. For one mug that is a mini carton; for a set it is a small once-used carton with dividers cut from layer pad so no piece touches another. Never use the gift box the piece is sold in as the inner box; it is thin paperboard and part of what the buyer bought.
Outer carton about 5 cm bigger on every side. Filling across the base, the inner box on it, filling down every side and across the top until the flaps close on the filling. Shake it; if anything moves, add more. Loose foam beads settle in transit and let the inner box reach a wall, so use crumpled kraft, bubble offcuts or folded layer pad. Double wall for anything over about 2 kg, which is every set and most single vases and planters.
H-seal, fragile tape, label and declare. 48 mm packing tape along the centre and both edge seams top and bottom, a strip of fragile tape across the top and one down a side, the thermal label on the widest flat face clear of the seams, “This way up” if the piece must stay upright, and a specific declaration such as “Handmade ceramic mug, 1 pc, fragile” rather than “gift”. Our label guide has the printing side.

A single thick stoneware mug sold cheaply can skip the inner box if it is wrapped to the press test and sits in a carton with 5 cm of filling on every side, because the filling is doing the inner box’s job. Anything thin, anything with a handle or spout, anything over RM50 and anything sent in multiples gets both boxes.

Sets, plates and the pieces that travel together

The rule for more than one piece is that no two hard surfaces meet, and the second rule is that the parcel does not become a brick.

Plates and saucers are wrapped individually, stood on edge in the inner box like records, never stacked flat, with a layer-pad strip between each and filling at both ends. A stack of flat plates puts the whole weight on the bottom plate at every drop.
Mugs and bowls each get their wrap and a cell: cut a cross of layer pad to divide a small carton into four or six, drop one wrapped piece in each cell, pad the top. Bowls can nest only if there is a full wrap between each one and the stack is upright.
Teapots and lidded jars travel as two wrapped pieces in one inner box, the lid beside the body, never on it, with kraft stuffed inside the body.
Weight. Weigh the packed inner box before choosing the outer. Over about 8 kg, split the order into two parcels rather than one that no courier handles gently; our courier size and weight guide has the current bands.
A gift set or a hamper of ceramics with food or candles follows its most fragile item, which is the ceramic, and its most heat-sensitive one, which is the candle, at the same time. Our food shipping guide covers the food half.

Candles: the parcel that fails from heat, not from drops

A candle is a soft solid in a hard container, and in Malaysia it is packed for the afternoon in the lorry before anything else.

What survives and what does not. A candle in a glass jar, a tin or a ceramic vessel survives a soft hour, because the container holds the shape while the top few millimetres go soft and set again overnight; the surface may be slightly uneven and the wick may lean, which a note to the buyer covers. A pillar candle, a taper, a shaped or sculptural candle and a bag of wax melts have nothing holding their shape, and in a hot parcel they slump, stick to their wrap and to each other, and arrive as one piece of wax with a label in it. If you sell shaped candles, the honest options are a high-melt wax, a rigid inner box per candle with no contact between candles, and a shipping window that keeps the journey to one night.

Ice packs do not work here. Overseas guides end with gel packs. In a 40-degree lorry a gel pack is warm water in a few hours, and before that it sweats, so the box is damp, the label lifts and the candle still softens on the second day. Cold-chain shipping is a different service at a different price, and a candle does not justify it. What does work is time: Monday to Wednesday pickups, a morning drop-off at the counter rather than a late-afternoon pickup from a hot porch, and stock that stays in the air-conditioned room until the moment it is packed, so it starts the journey cool.

The jar is a ceramic. A glass or ceramic candle vessel is wrapped exactly like a mug: lid off and wrapped separately if it is glass, a disc of kraft or the candle’s own dust cover over the wax so the wrap never touches it, then three or more turns of bubble and the press test, into a snug inner box or a cell in a divided carton. Candles never touch each other in a parcel, because two jars knocking together is how both break, and two soft candles touching is how they fuse.

Tell the buyer. A line in the listing and a slip in the parcel: “If the parcel feels warm, leave it unopened in a cool room for a few hours before lighting.” It sets the expectation, and it is also what the dispute team reads first.

Resin, soap, glass and the rest of the craft shelf

Resin trays, coasters and art. Cure fully before packing; resin makers say at least 72 hours, longer for a thick pour, because a piece that feels set can still dent. The first layer on a resin surface is smooth paper such as glassine or baking parchment, never bubble wrap, tissue or cling film, which stick to and print into the finish in the heat. Then foam or bubble as an outer layer, a flat piece between two layer pads cut larger and taped board to board, and a carton it nearly fills. Nothing heavy goes on top of a flat resin piece, and a thin tray is the one item on this shelf that can warp from a hot afternoon alone.
Cold-process and handmade soap. Soap sweats in our humidity, so it travels in paper or a breathable wrap, never sealed in plastic, with the bars separated so their scents and colours do not transfer, in a flyer bag or a small carton. A soap in a sealed poly bag arrives with a wet film and a soft corner.
Glass: terrariums, vases, suncatchers, candle holders. Glass is a ceramic with less tolerance. Full fragile method, kraft stuffed inside anything hollow, double wall over 2 kg, upright if the piece has a heavy base, and a terrarium’s plants follow our plants guide.
Macramé, fabric, crochet and paper crafts. Soft goods go in a thin bag and a flyer bag one size up; a framed or mounted piece goes between two layer pads and into a carton. Paper and card are kept flat, dry and out of plastic if they have been in a damp room.
Wood and rattan. Wrapped in kraft then bubble, corners padded, and never sealed in plastic straight out of a humid store room, because finished wood that sweats in a bag can white-bloom.
Anything with liquid, such as a reed diffuser, a room spray or a candle sold with a matching oil, follows the five layers in our liquids guide and is bagged separately from the dry items.

Which carton for which piece

Sizes below are from the current range, listed length by width by height. The inner box is a snug once-used small carton or a mini carton; the outer is chosen for about 5 cm of filled space round the inner box on every side. Once-used cartons are Grade A and start at RM1.10.

Piece	Inner box	Outer carton
One mug, small bowl or jar candle	New XS 170 x 115 x 150 mm, the wrapped piece filling it	New A4 310 x 220 x 220 mm, once-used Bary 300 x 200 x 250 mm (double wall) or Ain1000 320 x 220 x 280 mm
Two mugs, or a mug with a saucer	Once-used Ain500 320 x 165 x 230 mm (single wall), divided	Once-used MG 380 x 230 x 270 mm or Adala 410 x 240 x 235 mm
A vase, a teapot, or a planter up to about 25 cm	Once-used Bary 300 x 200 x 250 mm, kraft inside the piece	Once-used DUA 360 x 240 x 390 mm (double wall) upright, or new Q440 440 x 310 x 310 mm
Set of four mugs or bowls	Once-used Regal 380 x 280 x 215 mm with a layer-pad cross	Once-used Yellow 460 x 330 x 310 mm
Set of six, or a dinner set for two	Once-used Sania Blue 390 x 280 x 230 mm or SNA4750 390 x 250 x 230 mm	Once-used TX 450 x 380 x 380 mm (double wall)
Flat resin tray, coaster set, framed piece	Two layer pads cut larger, taped board to board	Once-used Royal 400 x 300 x 125 mm or Tyson 430 x 300 x 160 mm, flat, nothing on top
Six jar candles in a divided carton	Once-used Vita 400 x 250 x 190 mm with a layer-pad cross	Once-used Yellow 460 x 330 x 310 mm, or the Vita alone with 5 cm of filling if the jars are small
Large planter, big vase, a wholesale order of pieces	Once-used Yellow or TX, divided	Once-used APT 590 x 390 x 360 mm or new NLN 590 x 390 x 390 mm; weigh it, and over the band it goes by lorry

Two notes on the table. A double-boxed mug is a 310 mm carton for a 100 mm item, so the courier charges volumetric weight rather than the scale weight; our volumetric weight guide has the arithmetic, and the right answer for a handmade piece is to price the shipping honestly rather than shrink the box. And a once-used carton is the right outer for a maker in a way it is not for a factory: the buyer of a handmade mug expects a plain brown box and reads a reused one as part of the ethos, where the same buyer would read a reused box from a brand as corner-cutting.

The Malaysian habits that keep a craft shop at five stars

Cool before sealing. Candles, resin and soap come out of the air-conditioned room and go straight into the parcel, and the parcel goes to the counter the same morning. Nothing is packed on a hot porch or left in a car.
Early in the week. A parcel booked on a Friday can sit in a hub or a lorry over the weekend, which is two more hot afternoons for a candle and two more nights under other parcels for a mug. Monday to Wednesday pickups spend less time in the cage.
Porous things in paper, hard things in bubble. Soap, unglazed clay, wood and paper travel in kraft; glazed ceramic, glass and jars travel in bubble over a layer of kraft. Plastic sealed round a damp item sweats.
Nothing touches. Not the carton wall, not another piece, not the lid of its own pot. Every broken piece touched something.
Weigh before choosing the box. Stoneware adds up faster than it looks, and the carton is chosen for the weight as well as the size.
Photograph before and after, and declare specifically. The piece unwrapped, the piece wrapped, the sealed parcel with the label, kept with the order. The booking platforms list vague declarations among the reasons a parcel is held, and the fragile sticker is a condition of some couriers’ claims rather than a request for care.
Pack for the return. The inner box and the filling mean a returned piece comes back as it went, which for a one-of-a-kind item is the difference between relisting it and losing it.

Six mistakes behind most craft complaints

The gift box as the inner box. It is thin paperboard, it is part of the product, and it crushes.
A mug touching the wall. The handle takes the drop, and the claim is rejected because the carton is intact.
Plates stacked flat. The bottom plate carries the set at every drop.
A soy pillar candle in a flyer bag on a Friday. It is a puddle by Monday.
Bubble wrap straight onto resin or soap. The pattern is in the surface when it is unwrapped.
Single wall for a 4 kg set. The base sags, the walls bulge, and the parcel under it in the cage pays.

Checklist before a craft parcel leaves

Order checked, piece photographed all round, maker’s mark and any intentional glaze feature in frame
Weak points padded first; handles, spouts, knobs and rims; hollow pieces stuffed with kraft
Kraft first on matte, unglazed, resin and soap surfaces; parchment on resin
Bubble to the press test, three to five layers, tape touching only the wrap
Snug inner box with pads top and bottom; sets divided so nothing touches; lids separate
Outer carton about 5 cm bigger on every side; filling base, sides and top; shake test passed
Double wall over 2 kg; order split over about 8 kg
Candles: rigid container, dust cover under the wrap, jars never touching, stock cool, Monday to Wednesday, morning drop-off
Resin: fully cured, parchment, board sandwich, flat, nothing on top
Soap, wood, paper: in paper, never sealed in plastic
H-seal, fragile tape top and side, “This way up” where it matters, label on the flat face, declared specifically, care slip inside

FAQ

Why do handmade ceramics break in the post when the carton looks fine? Because the piece was touching the carton wall, or touching another piece, when the parcel was dropped. Corrugated board spreads a knock, but it cannot stop one, and a mug with its handle against the wall takes the whole impact at the thinnest point. A damage claim where the outer carton is undamaged is also the one couriers and marketplaces most often reject, because it says the contents were not protected inside. The fix is a wrapped piece in a snug inner box, floating inside an outer carton about 5 cm bigger on every side with every gap filled, so nothing hard ever meets anything hard.

Can I send candles by courier in Malaysia without them melting? Yes, if the candle is in a rigid container and the parcel spends as little time as possible in the heat. Standard container soy wax softens in the mid-40s Celsius and is liquid by about 50, and a closed courier lorry body in the afternoon is well above 40 degrees, so a soy candle on a two-day journey will soften at some point. A glass jar or a tin holds the shape while it does, and the wax sets again overnight. Pillar candles, wax melts and anything without a container are the ones that arrive as a puddle, and ice packs do not help, because they are warm water within a few hours and the condensation damages the label. Ship Monday to Wednesday, drop it off in the morning, keep stock in the air-conditioned room until the moment it is packed, and tell the buyer not to open a warm parcel until it has cooled.

Do I need two boxes to ship a mug or a bowl? For anything handmade, glazed or sold on its finish, yes. The piece gets three to five layers of bubble wrap with the bubbles facing in, until you can press firmly anywhere and not feel the surface, then goes into a snug inner box, which goes into an outer carton about 5 cm bigger on every side with the gap filled so the inner box cannot move. Potters’ own guides call this double boxing and say to do it for anything heavy, expensive or sent in multiples, and some overseas couriers refuse a claim without it. For a single thick stoneware mug sold cheaply, a carton it nearly fills with 5 cm of filling all round is the least that works.

What is the right carton for a single handmade mug, or a set of six? For one mug, a snug inner box with the wrapped mug in it inside the new A4 at 310 x 220 x 220 mm, the once-used Bary at 300 x 200 x 250 mm or the once-used Ain1000 at 320 x 220 x 280 mm, all of which leave about 5 cm of filled space round an inner box the size of a mini carton. For a set of six mugs or bowls, each piece wrapped and separated by a layer-pad divider in a snug inner carton, then the once-used Yellow at 460 x 330 x 310 mm or TX at 450 x 380 x 380 mm as the outer. Anything over about 2 kg goes in double wall, and the inner box is a once-used small carton, never the piece’s own gift box.

Will a fragile sticker make the courier handle a ceramic parcel carefully? Treat it as a condition of a claim rather than as protection. Ninja Van’s published terms say a fragile item must carry a fragile sticker and that the company is not liable for damage without one, and Pos Malaysia’s service warranty terms list fragile articles among those with a limited payout and exclude inadequate packaging. Neither promises gentler handling. Put the fragile tape on, because the claim may need it, and then pack as though nobody will read it, which is the only method that has ever worked.

Where to get it

Everything in the method except the glassine and the gift box is on the shop, with current prices on the product pages: once-used Grade A cartons from RM1.10 in the small sizes that make a snug inner box and the double-wall mediums that make the outer, new cartons including the XS mini and the A4, bubble wrap in single and double layer and 25 mm heavy duty for big pieces, PE foam in 2 mm for handles, rims and resin, corrugated layer pads that cut into dividers, base pads and board sandwiches, flyer bags with a document pocket for soap and soft crafts, 48 mm packing tape and fragile tape for the seal, and A6 thermal labels for the flat face. Delivery across KL and Selangor is free on orders of RM300 and above, and a flat RM30 per trip below that.

Making mugs, candles, soap or resin pieces and not sure whether your orders need the XS inside an A4 or the Regal inside a Yellow, or how much bubble a month of parcels takes? WhatsApp +60 16-891 6381 or contact us with your usual piece sizes and we will suggest the inner and outer cartons and the wrap that cover them. We are open Monday to Friday 8.30am–5pm and Saturday 8.30am–1pm, and closed on Sundays and public holidays.