Seriously, how often does the US Post Office lose First Class Mail?!? (Mailed within the *same state* no less...)

Anyway, here's my sob story:

I don't have a Paypal account, so when I buy from the Arena, my payment of choice is postal money orders mailed through First Class Mail. This method has always worked...that is until a few weeks ago.

I got involved in a sale here on the Arena. The seller gave me the address to send my payment, which just so happened to be in the same state I live in. On Saturday November 26 (almost three weeks ago), I took my lunch break from work, went to the local post office to buy the money order, sealed the money order in an addressed, stamped envelope, and stuck it in the mailbox, sending it on its merry way (or so I thought).

Cut to last week, and the seller still has not received my payment. There's no explanation as to why it hasn't gotten to her by now other than that the Post Office has lost it.

I won't name the seller, but I have no reason not to believe that she is telling the truth about not getting my payment. She has been a seller here for years and has over a hundred positive feed backs. Why would she lie about not getting a $30 money order?

I considered offering to send her another $30 MO, but with more precautions (sending it priority or something). However, no matter how much I want it, I personally can't justify spending $60 on one single pony (unless it was super-rare). And **of course** this is the one time I can't find the customer receipt I had for the money order, so I can't even send a claim to get a refund.

I feel really embarrassed, frustrated and stupid. Not only that, I'm worried that my reputation with this seller is ruined: I don't want to be seen as a time-waster when I'm not.

So this experience has taught me to ALWAYS keep track of your receipts and to not always trust the post office.

Has anything similar happened to anyone else here?

Oh golly, that sucks! I had the same thing happen to me 6 years ago with a seller on ebay. They claimed they didn't get payment. It was only $14.00 and something so I waited the 30 days (or something like that) to file a lost money order claim. The postal service sent me a check in the mail for the amount I spent and a letter saying they couldn't locate the missing money order. Hopefully you'll find your receipt and you will get your money back from the USPS.

I'm sorry! I'm always worried that I'll get a bad rep from a post office mistake. Like a sold pony getting lost in the mail or something. It sucks how stuff like that is so out of your control! I don't think this will ruin your whole reputation on here though, if you haven't had any other issues before with trading. Anyone who buys and sells online a lot knows the PO can cause troubles that are out of your hands.

I hope you find your receipt for it - then the bank can track down what happened to the money order.

If you have the stub from the money order or the receipt from where you got it, they can track it down for you. If it has not cleared, they can stop payment on it and reissue it

sorry to hear that! how frustrating for you. The PO may have lost your money order, or it could be delayed due to the time of year it is... I hope that you can find either the receipt or the stub from the money order as OL1 said. have another careful search just incase...

Lavender - You don't have the stub from the money order? If you did, you can pay a small fee and see if the money order was cashed.

I told a story on here (I think twice now) about how a lady kept claiming she didn't get my money order. I paid the fee at the post office to get it tracked and the money order was cashed and she signed it. I called her out and she disappeared.

Of course, I'm not saying that is the case but you should check if you have the stub.

Pm'ed you!

Ahhh! I used to always pay cash too, until I was old enough to get a paypal. Scary! Maybe the holiday mail rush has something to do with it?

Hope it turned up!