I won an eBay auction on 11-28-06 for Tales of Rebirth for $17.99 ($22.99 after shipping costs) and I have yet to receive the package.  I contacted the seller this morning to inform him of the situation and if I'm reading his reply correctly, he is offering to send me a replacement for free.  This is only the second time I have had a package disappear, so I was wondering if it was common practice fo sellers to do this or if he's just a really nice guy? 

For the record, he doesn't offer insurance on his auctions, although I realistically wouldn't have purchased it for a item of this value anyway.  I feel kind of bad though because I know it's not the seller's fault when a package goes MIA and I think he's offering moreso out of fear that I'm going to ruin his 100% feedback. 

And while I'm at it, I think the post office may have lost a money order from one of my buyers (supposedly was mailed around the 15th and from 1 time zone away).  Is there any way that he can get a refund on the money order if he still has that top portion of it?  Because if there isn't, I may have to consider whether I should send the item since he technically already paid once. 

And this must be karma from all those times I walked into the post office with my arms full of packages during the busiest time of the day. *sigh*

He's being a nice guy... that or he didn't keep his USPS receipt to prove to eBay that he actually mailed it and knows he'll lose the dispute.

As for the money order thing, I really don't know.  It's a great question and hopefully USPS.com could have an answer for you.  I know in another thread someone badmouthed Paypal, but I really appreciate how handy Paypal is whenever someone wanted to send a money order.

I've had the USPS lose one of my packages several months ago that I sent first class to someone. I used one of those new 24 hour drop boxes instead of going to an actual mail employee to have it shipped. After two weeks and no package I felt awful for the dude and apologized in an e-mail that I wrote to him offering him a full refund for his troubles. I also gave him back an extra $5 in a feeble attempt to even out his inconvenience. The item he won was only $10 or so (including shipping), so I didn't lose out on much, but he was pleased with the way I handled the mishap and even left me awesome feedback for it:

"Thank you! Honest, well-intented, caring & communicable seller. A from me."

He also followed up to his comment with this:

"You can trust this seller to handle all your needs & nip any problems in the bud."

I had an close call almost-lost package from Ramza in early fall when I bought his AE2 arrange off of him. My man sent it out the day after I paid, and it took almost three weeks to get here! It was posted on (hypothetically) September 1st or something, and it got here relative to the 18th! So I guess sometimes things get lost under the seat in the truck, or that smart postmen open packages and listen to SSH CDs that aren't theirs while they're doing their route. But Ramza is the man and offered me my moolah back because it was lost, to which I cried foul! Money for Patman, not Zaney! But the CD came, and it ruled, and everything was sunny and cheery in my CD player afterward.

As far as the MO goes... if the buyer is honest and/or can provide proof that he sent the MO for the amount of money that he said, then it's up to you as to what you want to do about it. I don't think the buyer can get a refund on the MO; it's not like a check that can be cancelled, although I can be wrong. Either way, it's not his/her fault that it got lost in the mail, and it's not your fault that you haven't received it yet. I would give it another several days (sometimes mail is slow around Christmas time) and if it's not there by, say, 12/30 or something, resolve the issue as you want to. I mean, you are the seller here, you know? Ball's in your court.

So, I've been on both sides of having something lost (once potentially), but I guess it's all in how you handle things. And I second Ryu's sentiments about PayPal; it's a bitch sometimes, but it's convenient as all hell and it's so easy to keep track records of what gets sent out and sent to you. No dispute on lost cash that way.

i bought a dozen oop NTT PSCN osts from matt rees back in june for $185,, and the post office lost the whole goddamn thing. not only did i lose a hell of a great deal on the lot, but ill probably never be able to find those osts for prices less than 300% of his...  if he wasnt a longtime friend i wouldve done a paypal chargeback without hesitation...

for domestic packages ALWAYS use click-n-ship cause youll have free del confirmation and an undisputable proof that u shipped it...

Hell, insurance isn't even that much, and provides tracking.  If the package is SO non valuable that you don't want to spend $1.40 to insure it, just spend the $0.50 or whatever for delivery confirmation.  There's no reason not to build your package's paper-trail to the post office.

As for money orders, the cost of the MO includes the replacement fee in the event it is lost/stolen.

Well, there's unfortunately not much I can do as a buyer if the seller doesn't offer insurance/DC.  DC also really doesn't do squat for me as a buyer if it never gets delivered unless I had suspicions that the game wasn't mailed in the first place (which is not the case).  But like I already admitted, even if the seller did offer insurance, I likely wouldn't have purchased it just because the post office rarely lets me down and the item was not rare or expensive.  I played the odds and this time that's just how the pieces fell.  I personally use Paypal shipping when I sell stuff for the sake of convenience and the reduced cost of DC to cover my own butt, so I guess I presumed that a seller with that much sales volume would do the same.  My mistake as well.  *shrugs* 

Good to hear about that MO replacement though. The item is not worth that much, so I will probably send it out anyway but at least this way I may still get paid if the little joker doesn't show up. 

And just to clarify, I never threatened to stain his feedback or do a chargeback.  I didn't even ask for a refund.  My email was fairly innocuous in that it simply stated that I hadn't received the game yet and asked for confirmation of the shipping date since I hadn't heard from the seller after I sent payment.  It wasn't my intention to assign blame or anything.  I was just trying to figure out whether replacement or refunds for lost items was common in the event that it ever happens to me as the seller.

If you ask me, only lazy sellers will not offer insurance.  Probably because they're not willing to use anything more than pre-priced shipping labels, etc.  Even the self-service machines at the post office will let you buy insurance.  I wouldn't imagine getting insurance for a UPS parcel would be any more difficult than from USPS.  At the very least, a responsible seller will have some kind of proof of shipment, which is provided by insurance, delivery confirmation, etc.