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That's why you buy the insurance, and it's still less than Best Buy (if they even have what I want ...)

why not just go to the store and buy it?

Why not just refrain from buying anything ever? That way, there's nothing to lose.

Who wants to go to best buy to pay higher prices... My experiences with best buy haven't been the best.

I got a game from amazon and it went to the wrong building. I didn't know that so I sent in a complaint saying that it shows as delivered but I didn't get it. They sent me a new one. Eventually the wrongly delivered copy was delivered to me, so I returned that copy. Amazon is pretty good too.

I had to file a complaint against one of our local mail carriers for attempted theft.
The local Postmaster was furious with the person.

He couldn't fire the guy because he's black and protected by the bullshit "diversity in the workplace" laws.
Mine apparently wasn't the first complaint this particular mail carrier has had against them.

And I'm sure people have heard what happened to byuu and the guy from Germany.

Many places have price match now so I always do that and pick up from my local computer/electronics store (like NCIX).

For an expensive package, should always buy insurance.

have you ever lost a package you ordered online?

Yes. I think. I don't order expensive stuff, but I'm pretty sure I lost various packages from China (generic-brand or non-brand electronic components and such). Luckily, these Ebay sellers like to have a perfect seller feedback rating, so they'll refund without discussion. :P

why not just go to the store and buy it?

Because you can pay a fraction of what you'd pay at a local store. I got 120mm computer fans, $3 each. Sure, they are generic, brand-less fans, but they work just fine. I got a 12" x 50" roll of carbon fiber (not real carbon fiber, obviously) vinyl for $1.30, 30 computer case cooling fan mount screws for $1.20, and a crapload of other things I wouldn't find or would have paid way too much if I had shopped locally.

Then again I live in a deep, dark, cold corner of Canada, so maybe stuff is just way overpriced so Ebay is cheap as fuck in comparison. :P
Oh and one more thing, don't catch this comment as it is a ninja-trap.

Ordered a book and it never came. So I emailed the shop and they sent me another one which did arrive. I didn't buy it at a local Dutch store because it was an English philosophy book and bookstores in my area are either dead or only sell 50 shades of grey and harry potter crap.

I didnt lose it, but USPS apparently has no idea that Slovenia is in Europe and not somewhere in the USA. Thankfully after I informed the company I bought keyboard from, of what happened they send me a new one, this time with a different shipping company.

why not just go to the store and buy it?

Lmao. That is all I have to say.

Some book I ordered got lost in the mail. Considering how sticky the fingers of the logistic center's personnel and the postmen's are (because they all work for under minimum wage), it is almost surprising. Then again, even the head of the postal service recommends everyone to order to company addresses, because the people working there don't dare to steal those stuff.

Also, I think the nearest Best Buy is a couple thousand kilometers from me.

Yeah. It has happened two times now.
Numero uno was when I ordered a hoodie from this start up brand called "Voided" and I waited for two months. After a month I contacted them asking for the tracking number and then for the second time another month later letting them know that it still didn't arrive. They responded saying they can't do anything because I contacted them too late, and implied I was trying to scam them. So I took it to Paypal and got my $55 back.

And now I've been waiting for this pair of sneakers I paid for on Grailed where the seller probably took the $67 shipping fees he demanded straight to his pocket because he keeps ignoring me asking for a tracking number. I'm gonna wait another three days to open a Paypal case so it will be 40 days since I paid him.

No, delivery companies over here do not leave packages just lying somewhere if you're not around, ever.
I also tend to use their online delivery schedulers to have it delivered when I'm home :-)

Even all the sub-dollar little trinkets I get from China from time to time always arrived in the end.

No, here a note is always left through the mail slot if the recipient isn't at home. A lot of the stuff I order is not available at physical stores near enough, so I could not just go to a store.

bestbuy has everything. store pick up is pretty good

because there are not bestbuy in Europe? And if I want English books that are not Harlan Coben, Harry Potter, Game of Throne, etc., I can only by them on Amazon. And for the DVD/BD, I have to import them (Amazon.com, RightStuf, etc.).

My "lost" parcel was because the postman signed the recorded parcel himself (but it was never in my mailbox)

Never lost a package after it was delivered, but many times stuff I ordered didn't arrive.

I have made over 6000 dollars buyings on ebay with normal post and I never lost anything even those that seamed too late and asked for refund I finally got them.Maybe because in Greece the post office never leaves mail outside the door, just a small note with the number of your package and date

Why use a delivery company that drops stuff at your door? If you order items you are afraid will get lost, make it get delivered by a company that requires your signature.

A couple of years ago, I bought a really expensive book on programming websites from Amazon. Still not having it after a week, I checked, and Amazon tracking said it had been delivered. I contacted Amazon and they send a new one ... which was reported as having been delivered, but hadn't reached me. For the first book, tracking had reported it had been delivered to me ... but at times the delivery guys just don't make the effort to take down the name of the person who accepted. The second book reported it being delivered to a neighbour whose name I hadn't ever heard. But I was living in quite an anonymous neighbourhood at that time, only knew a couple of neighbours by name, so I started checking the houses all over the street. There wasn't anyone by that name, nowhere ... So I reported back to Amazon that I had neither gotten not been able to locate the books they had sent to me. I couldn't blame them for being a bit more suspicious that time. The didn't send the book a third time, but they refunded my money. A couple of weeks later, a guy from the saturday delivery got arrested as he obviously had hoarded stuff instead of delivering it, reporting all as being delivered either to the person ordering or to some made up neighbour.

A couple of weeks ago, I had an different experience on delivery. I don't know how it is in other countries. but here in Germany, automated stations for sending and getting parcels have become quite common. I have one very near my home, but I haven't used it for receiving lately as I have neighbours who I trust to accept all I get. But I do use that station for sending at times. So, last time I went there to send a parcel, it opened a filled compartment for me instead of a free one. There was a parcel from Amazon inside. I closed it and reported the compartment as too small, so it opened a bigger one instead - filled again. This time a parcel from quite an expensive confectioner. I closed it again and asked for a bigger one and finally got a free one. But to think of it: I could have taken both the parcels inside the compartments they should have never ever opened to me ...

Yes, birthday gifts I sent to a friend got lost. I don't know whether they were lost in the mail or stolen from her post box (she was at university at the time) but either way, Amazon sent the gifts again no questions asked. That's also the only time out of many times I've ordered items online where this happened.

I never had a big company not refund or replace my order if it wasn't delivered to my house properly. If it's particularly pricey item you may have to sign an affidavit but even then I haven't heard of any issues besides time being lost. The worst case scenario for me is if a package I order from an eBay seller is lost. Even big sellers that can absorb the hit have little incentive to make good on anything and the small and private sellers can't be expected to since margins are already really tight thanks to eBay, Paypal fees and taxes.

If you're worried about packages being stolen you can tell the delivery company to put you on file for signature delivery or pick up at a nearby office.

Best Buy has gotten a lot better over the years, especially when compared to early 2K but they also don't offer enough. They really should improve their online stock of computer parts and other goodies people tend to buy online. As such, I don't buy very often from Best Buy simply because they don't have the selection and certain things are still overpriced there. Their customer service, while better, still can be a PITA and it's a crapshoot finding anything in-store if you don't check online first.

tl;dr below!

The courier called me if I'm home. I said yes and that I'm waiting for him. Several hours later I'm checking the tracking site to see what's happened and got the "Package delivered successfully". Had to call their service for straight hour (you know the drill, 'calming music', 'we are busy' bla bla bla. After one hour and twenty three minutes (I still have this in my call log, good I have free calling xD) I said that I didn't take any package and courier didn't deliver it at my address. The woman at courier service said that she'd check it out. After about two hours I got a call that my package wasn't really 'delivered' but instead set to 'return to sender'. They changed the package to re-delivery and said that they would attempt to deliver my package tomorrow (it was still about 12 am and I had to wait for my package another additional day)
Next day I got the call from courier directly at about 16:00, he asked if someone's home to receive the package, my mother was home. After thirty minutes I get again the call that "Hey! You said someone is going to be home and I'm calling via intercom and no one is responding!". I asked if he's sure, if he's at the right address, if he sees the giant number indicating my address and he's like "oh shit, wait...", my mom called my two minutes later that they finally delieverd the package. It's okay if I lived in some village, but hell, there's a giant number painted on my residental block, you just can't miss it. It turned out that the courier was trying to deliver the package to the building next to mine, I don't understand. I could attach a google street view photo, but you know, posting address over internet, not so clever. Anyway, the only person that said 'sorry' was a seller that shipped my package, like he has no fault in this yet he said sorry for the whole situation. The item was a lense for DSLR, so it's not a cheap thing. Why didn't I buy it a local store? It costed a lot more and I'm not that rich you know.

From the other situations, the InPost (maybe it's also in your countries) had set my package as "delivered" or "awaiting to be taken by courier" in 90% of delivers. They get bonus if they deliver the package the next day so they set it as delieved in the system and then deliver the package as they want. Once when I called to their service and argued, that they did the same thing third time in a row the woman replied that "it's not possible, this time the package was really delivered and signed as [my lastname]". I didn't have this recorder, but momentally, hour later they denied it. My friends never had problems with them, but me? always... In opposite, the UPC delivered everything on-time, also Polish post delivered everything correctly and never lost my package despite what all the people saying about it (they delivered also all my AliExpress packages, untracked and tracked) and DHL too.

tl;dr
Never lost package physically, but had a lot of problems with couriers just because they didn't take their job seriously.