Back in the late 90s/early 00s, when eBay was young and most packages were sent without tracking, buying stuff online was a risky affair.
Auction winners sent in their payments, generally in the form of a money order, then sat around praying their package would arrive, preferably unmangled, in the next two to four weeks.
Some of these packages contained the stuff dreams are made of, and as this comic from The Odd 1s Out shows those lost and otherwise unreceived packages full of happiness will haunt us for the rest of our lives. AND NOW MY COLLECTION WILL NEVER BE COMPLETE! WAAAAAGGH!
-Via Geeks Are Sexy
She was thrilled and amazed! Made her the envy of all her new age friends.
Also, stuff still gets stolen off porches and all that. Only lost one item this holiday season, so it could be worse. Ebay certainly isn't the only place selling stuff that doesn't arrive.