you imply the seller is in Europe. His tactic might help avoid reversed charges.

Some of us have dealt with overseas customers who pay on Monday and then ask Ebay for their money back because the product did not arrive in South America by Friday. Ebay has tried to crack down on premature "item not received" claims but I got hit with one of those within a week of one of the new policy directives.

It's also possible he travels a lot. I extended my handling time to 4 days to accommodate my frequent travel rather than canceling and re-listing every time I take a short trip.