The Battery Is the Whole Compliance Question
Modern cordless power tools are lithium battery products that happen to have a drill attached, and that inverts the shipping problem. The tool itself is a robust chunk of metal and plastic that survives almost anything; the battery pack is a regulated dangerous good. Get the battery right and power-tool shipping is easy — get it wrong and you have an undeclared hazmat shipment in a truck.
The distinction that governs everything is installed versus loose. A battery installed in the tool is the straightforward case and ships under ordinary conditions with the tool. Loose or spare battery packs — the second battery in a kit, a replacement pack sold on its own — carry real restrictions: they must be protected against short circuit (terminals taped or each pack in its own bag or case), they're subject to watt-hour limits and packaging conditions, and larger packs are ground-only rather than air. Damaged, swollen, or recalled packs aren't shippable as ordinary parcels at all, and shouldn't be shipped, period.
⚠️ Never ship a swollen, damaged, or recalled lithium battery pack as an ordinary parcel. Tape the terminals of every loose pack, bag each one individually, and choose ground service — an undeclared lithium battery in the air network is a genuine fire risk, not a paperwork technicality.
Heavy, Dense, and Hard on Boxes
Power tools are compact and heavy — a corded circular saw, a hammer drill, a bench grinder — and like the cookware category, that means actual weight governs the postage and the box has to be structural rather than decorative. A dense tool in a thin single-wall carton will burst a corner or punch through a seam, and the failure isn't just yours: a heavy tool loose in a trailer damages other packages too.
Double-wall corrugated, reinforced taping on every seam, and enough fill that the tool cannot shift are the baseline for anything heavy. Immobilization matters more than cushioning here — a two-inch layer of bubble wrap does very little if a fifteen-pound saw is free to accelerate into it. And once weight climbs, run the freight comparison: heavy tools going a long distance can genuinely be cheaper on a freight service than as an oversize, overweight parcel. Weigh the packed box and quote both before assuming parcel is the answer.
Blades, Bits, and Protruding Metal
Power tools bring the knife problem in a different form. Saw blades, drill bits, router bits, and chisels are sharp, hard, and perfectly capable of cutting through a box wall — or cutting the person who reaches into it. Remove blades and bits from tools before packing wherever possible, and guard every cutting edge: a blade in its own rigid sleeve or between stiff cardboard, bits in their case or a bagged block, nothing loose and nothing exposed.
Protruding hardware is the related problem. Handles, guards, chucks, and cords all stick out, and they concentrate force against the box wall from inside — the point where a heavy tool punctures its own packaging. Pad those protrusions specifically, coil and bag the cords (a heavy cord end swinging inside a box is a hammer), and orient the tool so its densest, hardest parts aren't resting against a box face. The tool will survive; you're protecting the box and everyone who handles it.
- Remove and guard every blade and bit — sharp steel cuts boxes and hands.
- Pad protrusions (handles, chucks, guards); coil and bag cords so they can't swing.
- Double-wall box, reinforced seams, zero movement — immobilize before you cushion.
- Loose batteries: terminals taped, bagged individually, ground service.
Selling Used Tools: Fluids, Function, and Fair Description
The used-tool market is enormous and practical — tradespeople and hobbyists buying on eBay, marketplace, and forums — and buyers care about exactly one thing above all: does it work as described. Photograph the tool running if you can, note the model and any serial, and disclose the wear that matters: brush condition on older motors, chuck runout, cord damage (a nicked cord is a safety issue and must be disclosed), battery health and cycle age on cordless kits, and any missing guards. A missing safety guard is not a cosmetic omission; say so.
One more category-specific trap: fuel and fluids. Gas-powered tools — chainsaws, trimmers, generators — carry the same problem our camping-gear guide describes with stoves. A tool that has held gasoline retains fuel residue and vapor, and carriers can and do refuse packages that smell of fuel. Drain the tank AND the carburetor, run it dry, and let it air out thoroughly; if it still smells of gas, it isn't shippable as an ordinary parcel. Empty the fuel, guard the blades, tape the terminals, box it strong, and describe it honestly — a used tool shipped that way arrives ready to work.