Paypal Dispute - Lost In Mail, What Would You Do?

I placed an order on HipStamp on 9/11 with a dealer I have bought many stamps from over the years. The stamps haven't arrived yet and when I contacted him, he says the stamps were shipped the day after the order came in. I see that paypal will refund my money but I think it just comes from the dealer's account. I'm certain that the dealer didn't intentionally not mail the stamps and suspect these were "lost in the mail". I would like to continue business with this person but it was $30 worth of stamps. What would you do?

On a similar note, I've often wondered if postal workers that see "cool old stamps" used as postage target those for theft.

*** Moved by Staff to a more appropriate forum. ***

I have had orders float around for a month before arriving. My dealer said to wait a month. He has insurance. Luckily so far all my orders eventually arrived. He was not ebay. Ask dealer how to proceed. If any doubt go with ebay system.

I assume that there was no tracking number involved. I would not write the package off as lost just yet. If it was shipped the 12th it may not have really started traveling until a day later. Things happen along the way. 16 days is a long time but the odds are that it will turn up. If you do end up filing a claim at some point I would not sweat the blame placement. You did nothing wrong. Right? 30 dollars is 30 dollars.

As far as stamps triggering theft I do not believe in it. Others will disagree for sure. Just my opinion. Old stamps on a package are not an indicator of valuables within. I would be more concerned with insurance amounts and content declarations on USPS forms and labels that clearly indicate the potential value of the item(s) within.

It may show up yet. I had a package lost for about 6 weeks a few months ago.

16 weeks is my record
Canada to Perth Western Australia.

Personally I would email the seller, and link him to this thread.

I agree the item may suddenly show up. I have had many domesticate shipments go missing for a couple weeks and then pop up. However at the end of the day it is the seller's responsibility to get the item to the buyer and $30 isn't going to impact a seller enough to notice.

I too have had this happen a few times. One dealer sent another (duplicate) of the same item and both arrived on the same day. I sent the duplicate item back to him.

Last month, I had a package shipped USPS to me WITH tracking post as delivered even though I didn't receive it. I put out a tracer on it and then the tracking site was updated to "sent to wrong address". I finally received it 10 days after USPS said it was delivered to me. Frustratingas the package was stamp mounts that I was waiting for.

My record is 9 months. Won a lot on ebay that shipped from France. Contacted the seller after about 6 weeks and got a refund. 7 months later, it shows up in perfect condition so I contacted the seller to pay for it.

You might suggest a refund after an agreed upon time with a promise to pay for the lot if it ever does arrive.

I ordered a set of stamps I couldn't find anywhere else from Pakistan (I know, I know . . . ) and waited forever for them to arrive. Finally, after nearly two months (I'm very patient) I contacted the seller who said he had actually sent them shortly after I'd ordered them, but he would refund my money. The next day they arrived. The next day. Naturally, I contacted him immediately and paid him.

shermae, Wow! 9 months is a long time.
Your suggestion to promise to pay for the lot if it does arrive is a good idea.

This is commonly known as "Murphy's Law". Has happened to me a lot over the years. I hope you kept the envelope!

Nine months is a while. There's hope yet for my purchase that was posted from France in May