I've placed many an order on Bricklink and not had very few problems. How big are the shops you ordered from? More importantly, how much feedback do the shop owners have? Some shops are just slow....
the orders arent big, twentyy bucks or so and the stores have feedback of 18, and 249. granted 18 is kinda iffy but still. be nice if these guys would respond.
oh and thanks for the etoys link! still cant bring myself to pay 70 for hogwarts (though), how about you guys?