Advice on how to resolve a trade gone bad?

Me and my girlfriend are both huge fans of pearl jam and post here often, both of us have been members of 10c for years. Infact, we met here.

Alot of people on the forums know both of us, as we have met many people at the many shows we've both attended, as well as made friends with people through the forums. We both have done numerous trades with people on the forums, as well as helped fans out with free CDs, DVDs, posters and more. We have both also contributed (and in many cases, organized) raising funds for members in need. We have always been contributing members of the PJ community.

So in September 2012, my gf made a post on Facebook asking anyone who was at midtown in Atlanta if they could grab us an extra poster as we happen to collect Pearl Jam posters as well as art with trees in it, so the poster was right up our alley.

We were contacted by another forum member through Facebook who was at the festival and was told that they would pick us up a poster at the festival. This is someone we'd met before and my gf considered a friend.

After the weekend, the forum member contacted us and said a T shirt would be fine for trade to cover the poster cost. I was going to the Missoula show at the end of September and I would grab a shirt for them.

I went to Missoula, waited in a god awful long line, over an hour, and bought the shirt. I then mailed out the shirt the following week along with a couple of DVDs as an extra thank you and to cover the difference between the poster cost and shirt cost. This was the first week of October, 4 full months ago.

The member contacted us, and said sorry for not sending the poster yet but due to a medical condition, which in the past required surgery, hasn't been able to make it to the post office yet.

We replied and said not to worry at all! I personally having dealt with a loved one having cancer and understanding how complicated it can be.

So week after week passed. During these months we checked in a few times and asked how they were doing. Each time we were told they were doing better, had gone back to work, even attended some (non PJ) shows. So we inquired about shipping. On different occasions we heard things like "I'm such a slacker when it comes to getting to the post office" and other things. Kept promising to try to make it there in a few days.

Then we see posts on the forum talking about how they need to get to the post office and ship a bunch of items, but ours never arrived.

In December we emailed again and asked about shipping. They said it was shipped that same day we emailed. several days later we email again, asking for tracking information, the reply was the number was at work and that they will send it the next day. After 3 more days we emailed again and the only reply was "it was delivered Saturday" and that's it. We were once offered to give us their poster but we told them no, we wanted ours that we traded for. We didn't want to have to be made to feel like we were taking something from the member- and who knows if it would ever show up anyways. We again asked for tracking so we could check with our local post office but never received a response.

We never got the poster. I dont believe the item was ever shipped. How can they know it was delivered if we never saw the tracking number? They never provided one. We get packages here nearly daily. Never once have we had an item not show up that was actually shipped.

We have been patient, never freaking out, never being rude etc. But it's feb 4th and the shows were in September.

How should we go forward? We've made a point to not say who it is, but I'm sure once they see it they will know its them. At this point I would rather have my $35 back for the shirt I bought and then spent another $6 to ship.

Any advice would be great. We've done alot of trades, never once had any complaints, nothing but people thanking us for the things we do. I don't want to start a fight but this is beyond ridiculous.

Btw- This weekend we received the poster from a very good friend on the board who knows our situation. A HUGE thank you to Mike (DURP) who along with his gf sent us this gift. They are amazing people with big hearts.

Thanks for reading and I would like to know how others would proceed at this time.