Posted By:
warshawlawThe seller was all over me w/in 24 hours of the close, in violation of ebay's own rules, which specify a 3 day window to close the deal. It became a real nightmare. I sent paypal payment, he sent multiple really hostile emails, so I panicked and had paypal freeze my payment. He reported me to the police, he called me and threatened me with violence (he claimed he had flown into the airport near my office and was on the way over) so I had to call the police and I spent an unpleasant half day with my loaded pistol at my desk, just in case he wasn't bluffing. I nearly gave up ebay over it.
Given how few buyers go to the bother of taking negative retaliatory hits for the sake of dinging a bad seller, I take negative feedbacks seriously when it comes to sellers. I especially look at their responses to the criticisms. If the criticism is rational and not rude but the response is over the top, you know you are dealing with a volatile personality.
I'd echo the others here: if you still feel comfortable in closing the deal, use paypal to pay and flip the tables on him--get all over his @$$ every day until the item ships and get tracking and other info on it.