Burned

I've been using Ebay for eight years now, since the fall of 2000. In all that time, I've never had any problems with the purchases I've made.

Until now.

About three weeks ago, I bought two books from two different sellers. I got an automated response from both sellers acknowledging my order and that the payment had gone through. The first seller also contacted me personally to thank me for my order, advising me of when the order would be sent. The second seller never contacted me personally, but using Ebay's tracking system I saw that my order had been marked as "shipped".

The first order arrived promptly within a week. Great -- another smooth transaction completed. The days, then weeks dragged by, and the second order never arrived. Every day I'd check my mailbox, to find nothing but ordinary mail in there.

I went back to the seller's page to read their feedback again and found that new negative feedback had been left for them -- the customer never received their book and the seller never responded to the buyer's emails. I began to get a bit nervous, but considering that this was the seller's first negative feedback, I hunkered down to wait it out.

When I reached the last day of the estimated shipping times for the book, I contacted the seller, in accordance with Ebay policy, and waited the required 48 hours for a reply. Unsurprisingly, the seller ignored my email, just as they had with the previous customer. I left scathing, negative feedback for the seller, warning other potential customers away. I've filed a claim and now I'm waiting for it to be resolved. I don't really want money back -- I just want the damned book I ordered!

Have any of you been burned on Ebay or another site, and how did it eventually turn out for you?