Hi Nick,
Maybe he is stalling so you cannot leave bad feedback or raise a formal dispute on ebay or Paypal , I thought I had the same with skegs and pump for the yak - but it all turned out in the end. ( even tho the seler was no longer a registered eBayer by then ..... I only had ( and had passed )
60 days to raise an eBay dispute and the item itself disapeared from eBay
Give him a (small ) number of days and then escalate it. If he wont give you the tracking number then I would doubt there is one. See what else he is selling and suggest he is in for -
eBay dispute,
eBay bad feedback,
Paypal dispute,
report him to his police authority - if he's a copper he wont like that,
if he's not, then it's an offence to claim to be - especially in respect to his own maybe criminal activities.
But be prepared to get little - if any - help.
Or, of course, it could turn up and all's well,
Fingers crossed...