Let me start from describing a situation that I'm sure is highly familiar to many of you. A trader claims he sent his cards to you by mail, but the letter never arrives. This can happen due to several different reasons. First, the trader did not send the cards. Second, the letter was lost by post office. Third, the letter was returned with "not delivered" status.

What should you do in this situation? In the first case, the answer is obvious. You just write a corresponding letter to BAD TRADER ALERT and let the moderators to solve the issue. However, there's a certain subtle point in there… If you obtain information that your fellow trader cancels the deal unilaterally (regardless of the info source – from the trader himself, or from other reliable sources), there's no doubt of your next action. It is your duty to contact the moderators, plain and simple. The same applies if you send a message with delivery confirmation option (the majority of modern email clients can do this, including Outlook), message delivery is confirmed but you still get no answer.

But what should you do if your respondent replies and claims he'd sent the package as agreed, mentioning possible mail fraud. This situation deserves more close scrutiny. Let's break it down into 4 most typical situations:

a) Your respondent sends his letter first, and the letter isn't delivered to you. In this case, I suggest doing one of two things, depending on the letter type. It the letter was registered, ask your respondent to visit his post office and check the letter location. If the letter was sent by standard mail, you should cancel the deal and ask your respondent to inform you if the letter gets back to him. It is possible that you cancel your deal this way, a month or two pass, and all of a sudden, the letter arrives (by the way, you can always check the sending date from the mail stamp). In this case, just inform your respondent of the fact, and I'm sure you would be able to handle the situation without any further need for my advices.

b) You send your letters simultaneously, but only one letter is delivered. This happens sometimes. In general, if you gets into this situation, my advice is similar to the above, with the sole exception: if one party gets the letter and the other party doesn't, the loss should be compensated. If your letter was lost, you should either agree on sending more cards, or return whatever was delivered to you. Please remember: you still own your cards until they are delivered to your partner.

c) You send your letters simultaneously, but neither letter is delivered. Please understand, I don't speak rippers or bad traders here. I speak of nuisances that just happen from time to time. Well, anyway, what you've lost is only several pieces of colored cardboard, though laden with some market value. Your trading is a business, and any business has its losses. In any case, losing a letter containing a dozen cards cannot be compared to what would happen to us all if the almighty Wizards Of The Coast stopped printing and supporting Magic The Gathering. Compared to this truly horrifying image, loss of a single letter should seem really small and insignificant.

d) You wait until the respondent's letter gets delivered, and only then you send your own letter. Month passes, and your letter still is on its way. If you live in a country with a developed postal system and prefer to send registered letters, you're in luck. Go to your local post office and check the letter status. Otherwise, the most correct act from your part is to send back the cards you've received, or offer an equivalent replacement. Mister Snorre Gulla (from Norway) - My respect and Best regards to you!!!

And finally, we should discuss the final case. Yes, sometimes the letter may be returned to the sender due to various reasons, and unfortunately, this occurs all too often. A mistake in the address spelling, a relocated recipient, a malfunctioning postal service – a lot of factors can force your letter to get back to you. Anyhow, as soon as you receive your own letter, immediately contact your respondent and inform him of the fact. I'm sure you'd find a perfectly good decision together.

Now, a couple of words on the postal services. I don't try to criticize postal structures of the US, Canada, Australia, etc. I believe they work fine. But if you happen to live in a country with a fail-safe postal system, you still should keep it in mind that your respondent's local postal system may be many times more corrupt, chaotic and decrepit than your own. This mostly describes postal systems of the former socialist states and a lot of Third World countries. Under these conditions, it is not always possible to check the registered letter, and nothing can be done at all with standard mail. The post office personnel often practice opening foreign letters if they suspect to find valuables inside. Problems related to mail delivery are numerous, and they tend to multiply if a person participates in active international correspondence.

Several advices:

1. If you feel there's a slightest chance your mail may be lost, send a registered letter.
2. If you feel there's a slightest chance your respondent's local postal system isn't sufficiently secure and honest, send a registered letter.
3. If your deal exceeds 10-15 USD, send a registered letter.
4. If your deal exceeds 100 USD, send a registered letter with delivery confirmation option.
5. If you (like me) happen to live in a country with insecure postal system, always send registered letters.

My reasons for producing this article:
I keep certain statistics of my MtG-related mail exchange. I got registered at MOTL on April 2, 2001. Since then, I sent 49 and received 29 letters. 6 letters got lost, bringing me to total loss of about 130 USD. 7 letters are still on their way to me. Cards of total value about 400-450 USD lie awaiting their time to be sent. Some of them await for a month already. Once I became a victim of a ripper who ended up in the Confirmed List. But the most unpleasant is this – some people fail to receive some cards from me, and they make their claims. I completely understand their angst at me, but still I can't stop feeling irritated. I lose my cards, I lose postal fee, yet it is I who get blamed, and there's nothing I can do with that. Finally, I decided to heed my own advices. Since the end of June, I send registered letters only. So, gentle readers, if someone replies "Please send cards only by Registered mail" to your deal proposal, please take this very seriously. It's not a quirk; it's the only secure course of action.

Best regards,
Leonid A. Cheorny
DCI Level 1 Judge
GAB Member
Cybiko Labs Software tester

Moscow, Russian Federation
July 8, 2001 11-35 PM

Anyway because of the added costs, the only times i'd send registered is when its an extremely big trade and its not because i'm afraid it will get lost but rather i want formal confirmation that the other side has received.

They can get lost from the mailbox, depending on the location you live. Two days ago I found my phone bill opened from the mailbox, damn neighbours!

Thet is why I agree with Leo: send via registered mail. Here it does not make a letter much more expensive. I do not know about the States and Canada. But I am sure that when you make a lot of trades, sending registered mail will eventually pay off.

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Originally posted by Juss:
Letters do not get lost in the mail. It may take a month, two or even three, be returned to the sender but they do not get lost. Unless the ship sinks or plane crashes, uhh.

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