DutchdelightOrg

We will send off your order within one or two working days. We use the standard parcel service of PostNL to ship our parcels. You can find their estimated delivery times per country here (shortened link to pdf download of PostNL): https://bit.ly/3ZHTMJ9. In the fourth column (parcels) you can find the delivery times of the standard service (in estimated business / working days). Please keep in mind that customs / import procedures in non-EU countries can sometimes add an extra week (or even two weeks) to the delivery times.
For shipments to the USA we use FedEx Economy delivery, as PostNL temporarily does not deliver to the USA due to changes in import duties. Estimated delivery time is four days after shipping, if all goes well at customs.

Broken ceramics is a thing we do not like! Not only is it a waste of time and money, but it also (often) means the end for a rare and unique item, which was treasured and cared for by their previous owners. So we really want to avoid any damages during shipping!
We have lots of experience of shipping ceramics, and we have seen what works and what does not work to protect ceramics during transit. If we ship multiple items in one package, each item is carefully wrapped and kept well seperated from the other items. We use large boxes, with plenty of buffer all around the items, so the packages can withstand a lot of abuse. All our packages should be able to cope with a 1,5 m drop without the items getting damaged.

Yes we do. We re-use packaging materials as much as possible, which means we rarely need to buy new materials for our packaging. Only foam peanuts are sometimes bought by us, in which case we prefer to use green starch based peanuts which are fully biodegradable, non-toxic and water-soluble.
Each year, we calculate the greenhouse gas emissions in CO2-equivalents caused by our shipping. We multiply that amount by 200% and then offset it in certified CO2 compensation projects based on tree planting / reforestation in various parts of the world. So far, we have offset 35,5 tonnes of CO2 emissions in projects in Bolivia and Borneo (Indonesia). See https://treesforall.nl/en/projects/ for more information on the projects.

First of all, don't let them fall! Always handle them in a mindful way and put them in spots where they cannot be accidentally bumped over when cleaning or vacuuming. Some people put some (clean) sand in vases to make them more stable.
Second, don't clean them too often! Underglaze painted Gouda and Delftware can be perfectly cleaned with water if necessary, but often just dusting them off or polishing them up a bit with a soft dry cloth is enough. Overglaze painted items should not be cleaned too often.
The colours of ceramics do not fade in sunlight, so you can put them in bright spots where they look good. But do avoid large temperature differences, which will cause increased crazing in many Delftware and also Gouda type pieces.