I sent a hardback book as a swap to someone exactly a week ago and I received their book and they don't appear to have received mine and are understandably disappointed about this.  I have proof of postage.  So what happens in this situation, do I get them a new book and try and claim back from the Post Office, do I cancel the swap and send their book back to them or is it worth waiting a few days?  I've never had a problem with any books reaching their destination so far and the lady did have some concern about books being left out by the postman.  I'm going to ring our local post office tomorrow but is it realistic to wait a few more days to see if the book turns up?  I feel really bad about this but it's nothing that I've done.

If you sent it 2nd class then I would certainly leave it a couple more days as some parts of the UK seem to be having problems delivering mail within the specified time

I have tried to get the person another copy of the book through swaps and at the same time claimed back from the post office. Most ppl are really understanding - especially if u have proof of postage. But normally u have to leave it 2 weeks i think before u make a claim?

RM won't even consider your claim for compensation until 15 days after you posted the parcel, so you can't actually do anything yet.  Assuming it doesn't turn up, it's up to you to decide with the other swapper what you do about compensating her, though obviously if you're able to claim compensation the best option is to do that and use the money to buy another copy of the original book.  If you print the details of the book off Amazon, RM will accept this as proof of the cost of the missing item and pay this in compensation, even though the book you sent was 2nd hand, not new.  Do make sure you keep the other swapper in touch with what's going on and I'm sure they won't penalise you on the feedback.

Just one final thought - it's worth asking the other swapper to check at her local sorting office as sometimes parcels are left there and for some reason the notification card goes missing or doesn't get delivered. 

It is disappointing when this happens but with proof of posting [POP] you can make a claim to Royal Mail after 15 days...

http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/customerservice2?catId=69800733&mediaId=70700722

You have several options with the swapper...

invite them to choose another book from your list

or return their book and cancel the swap...

with POP you can claim for the cost of  the book and postage costs....

 They're all great suggestions - thanks a lot.

 Well both books turned up today so everyone involved was relieved - thanks again tho for the advice - was much appreciated.