After almost six years on ebay I had my first bad experience. Won a D90 plus a couple of lenses just before Xmas and paid for it via paypal. Seller marked it sent on 21 Dec, but still have not received it yet

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Tried to email him a couple of times via ebay, but no response. So today I had to lodge a claim via paypal. They can track all my emails to him, but none from him to me. Hopefully it will be resolved in my favour.
I hope I haven't lost the money (as it was paid via paypal, I am hoping to get the whole lot back includig postage, $870 in total).
But end of the day it will be my words against his (unless it was lost through the post, but seller never provided a tracking number or proof of post, similarly I don't have proof that I haven't got them).
Has anyone else had similar experiences as a buyer not getting their items won? How quickly were your claims resolved?
Thanks,
Bo