had this a couple of times as well when picking up gear from mobs, transferring gear from vault to chars and so on.
one time, i was extremely worried because i thought to have lost a very expensive item.
it seems to happen when you click on items very fast and/or connect it to another activity,
e.g. when you pick up the item and summon the next mob directly or open/close the inventory at the time.
for me, this especially happened in the lower levels when i tend to rush a lot.
there are some similar actions that can cause it as well.
you get the sound that the item is picked up ( if you have sound on ), but it doesnt show in your inventory + item number stats at the bottom although its there.
now when you try to pick up another item, it wont let you because actually you are on 8/8 items even though it doesnt show yet.
usually when you just change characters, log off or in some cases clear your cache it will correct it and the item shows again
