I bought a radio off ebay about a year ago. I offered to pay the seller by "gift" if he'd end the auction and sell it to me. I thought it would be enough of a sweetener for him to take me up on my offer. He accepted, but the radio hasn't turned up to this day.
I thought that was £200 down the swanny, until I came up with the idea of contacting people from his feedback list that he had bought from, to see if one of them would send me his address. One lady did, so I emailed him saying that I would be round to pick up the radio or my money at a convenient time. Funny old thing, he refunded my money that same day.