Guessing from your post, I'm going to assume he didn't send a Delivery Confirmation number. As a general rule of thumb, I always ask for one, and when I deliver stuff, I always provide one.
Especially in the case of trades (and not sales, to be specific), I always be sure to include one and ask for one in return. Unless I'm trading with someone who's more reputable on Dakka than I am, I also wait until the confirmation number has been loaded to whichever courier services' website first before delivering my stuff.
Hopefully you'll get your stuff soon. Sorry to hear about your "bad transaction".