I feel your pain. I buy and sell over the internet for the last 15 years. During that time, I have had many packages go missing, get delayed, or be damaged. I have clients all over the world, and the United Kingdom is generally pretty safe. I haven't had any major issues with most European countries, with the exception of Italy. Something is seriously wrong in Italian customs or the Italian postal service - many other dealers like myself will no longer ship to Italy because of the systemic problems.

Having said all of that, I hope you get a good resolution. Most of the time, I end up eating a loss, but every now and then it works out in the end. :)