Some advice needed...

[diprotodontia.livejournal.com]

Long story short, I shipped out a commission to someone overseas, and it hasn't arrived.

The shipping was $10 and I underquoted the shipping price to begin with, so I wound up having to pay for nearly half of it out of pocket. I feel terrible that the commission hasn't arrived, but I'm not sure what to do. Insurance wasn't placed on the package and I haven't had it returned to me yet.

I offered to replace the item for free if they paid shipping costs, but they said that they weren't able to afford that right now, which I understand. But I got the impression that they wanted a refund, and I can't really afford to do that myself, especially not after paying so much of the original shipping costs out of pocket.

Ergh. I don't know what to do or say to them. I don't want them to feel like they've been ripped off, but I can't really control the postal service. I probably should have put insurance on it, but that would have been additional costs that I wouldn't have had covered by the commissioner, so er. I feel really stuck. I want to be fair but I am also struggling financially lately and I can't afford to pay for additional supplies AND another $10 of shipping to replace their item in total and I definitely can't afford a refund.