Well, Christmas.
I understand that USPS did not hire extra workers this year because they are near bankruptcy.
For future reference, Canada Post this year gave November 18 as the last date to ship to the USA for Christmas delivery by Small Packet Surface. Mid-November is the usual cutoff.
If you are buying by Mail Order, either shop before then or plan to use faster more expensive delivery services.
ran out of inventory after taking my money,
That's dropshipping. The seller never sees the product, she just handles the orders for a warehouse somewhere. She is totally unable to control stock levels, packing standards, and shipping time.
Dropshippers can be spotted. Most are competing with hundreds of others selling identical products with identical pictures and identical descriptions. Using the Compare feature on price will show these up easily.
There have also been a raft of complaints about Asian sellers who do not ship or who use Surface shipping and then try to string the customer along until the 45 day deadline for Disputes has passed.
If any item is past the 30 day mark, it is time to start a Dispute. The Dispute process adds another 20 days to the deadline, so anything that is going to arrive, will. If not, Paypal will refund you and go after the seller for reimbursement.
