When considering purchasing fragile items such as glass, porcelain, pottery, etc. pay particular attention to the shipping method a seller will be using to send your item. If listing reads “Standard Flat Rate” or “Parcel Post” Shipping I would consider it a Red Flag. I would email the seller when Standard Flat Rate is listed and ask what their shipping method will be? When asking for a shipping and handling qoute if not on the listing make sure and ask for the method of shipping, not only the costs.. I’ve had items shipped that were within my own state take more then a week to receive when they might be a few hours away when shipped Parcel Post. If Parcel Post is listed I would email seller and ask for a faster shipping method like Priority Mail, even though it will probably cost $1.00 or $2.00 dollars more to get the item it may save you some disappointment in the long run.. The faster an item arrives at your door the less likely it is to be damaged along the way. Even with careful packaging slow methods of shipping are not a good idea. UPS and FedX seem to be able to get items delivered fairly quickly. If the seller will not agree to ship by another quicker method I’d probably bypass that auction and wait for another. ALWAYS CHECK THE SHIPPING METHOD USED FOR FRAGILE BREAKABLE ITEMS.