I am very disappointed in this item.  The coffee table components were in a box alright, but there was no packing in the box other than a thin plastic bag.  The plastic bag was so thin that during shipping the table top and shelf had worn through the bag and become stained brown from rubbing the corrugated cardboard box.  Some of the brown stain was removed with bleach cleaner, but some is there forever.  In addition, the assembly instructions had been misprinted and it was just blank paper except for the first page which stated it was page 1 of 3.  Finally, the manufacturing tolerances built in to the legs, top, and bottom shelf were so sloppy that none of the legs attached to the top or shelf with the same angle or geometry.  It's a table, but barely.