Post Office has gotten very slow since the cutbacks. Not in every case, but the anecdotal delays and packages disappearing in the system only to reappear a couple weeks later, are becoming more and more common.
If you contact the seller, I would suggest doing it through the "Contact The Seller" button, and not the "Where Is My Package" button, which automatically opens a case and puts a "defect" on the sellers record, through no fault of his own.. since it looks like he got the package in the Post Office's hands in a timely manner to begin with.
Once that defect is placed on the record, it can not be retracted, even if it shows up as delivered the next day.
If the package doesn't show up eventually, there are plenty of other ways to get recourse for the card, all of which will also put a defect on the sellers record (if that's a concern), even if he just voluntarily sends you a refund, without Ebay getting involved in the process at all.
It used to be, sellers and buyers could cordially handle problems between each other, but unfortunately Ebay is doing their best to make the relationship adversarial between the two groups.
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