<snip>
The thing y'all seem to be missing is that I did not file this dispute "Item not as Described". I called eBay customer support, explained the situation and asked them how this should be filed, and they told me that this is how to handle it, even started the dispute process for me.
mnem
Well, it's a real shame you didn't make that clear from the start
That said however, I still have to take exception to a point, you say that he is a seller of TE gear. I think that is stretching it a bit, the seller is clearly a seller of medical equipment, 7 pages of listings @ 60 items a page, that's 420 items or there about and only 3 items of TE gear (0.75%), the rest is pure medical, even his seller ID gives it away "tekyard_medical", I think maybe you're focussing too much on the "tek" part too much.
I think it is a case like the place that a few of us brought those TTi 3GHz counters from, they are a pure computer and IT related company that occasionally find a few items of TE gear in with the job lots that they bid on, and hence why we all got a good deal as they did not know the true worth of them or how to test them, and that I think maybe the case with your seller.
Yes I know that you have a case, and I'd be feeling rather pissed myself if it happened to me, however, I'd have been amazed if a friendly word with the seller wouldn't have yielded positive results without the aggravation.