No, page 1 one had a Vendor asking "wonder where all the "insiders" were on this?" I and  others want to know who and what he's referring to...

No dude lol

As I mentioned somewhere on page 1 or 2, without knowing it was him, I bought some things off of Ebay from him. After a short while with no tracking and looking more and realizing it was him, I asked for tracking and then disputed the transaction. So I have legitimate reason to comment here also.

From a business standpoint it would be impossible to owe people from a year or more back and somehow magically make it all right. I would not believe that at all. He may think that once his business takes off he will do something like that (i.e, well meaning) , but logistically and financially it it next to impossible.

Some of you posted that you were waiting six months or more when this thread first started. Not to be a jerk but I have to ask why you didn't dispute the charge after a month? That is the only thing that saved my butt on my transaction with him on Ebay.

Visa/Mastercard and other CC transaction agreements specifically state that you cannot charge upfront for an item you will not ship within 30 days.

However if you wait too long to file a chargeback with your Credit card, you will lose your rights to do a chargeback. I want to say that time period is 45 days for most cards. Your card may be less so definitely check on that. For those that aren't familiar with this process you simply call the 800# on the back of your CC and tell them you need to dispute a charge.

So how could this sort of thing be avoided in the future? Agree to  pay ONLY when a unit is ready to ship out to you, or lacking that, if you are charged upfront and do not receive a tracking number by Day 31- no matter the sad story you hear, no matter the claims of "it's going to be glorious just continue waiting without your money", etc.
I know that sounds jerk'ish but you can see that very thing played out in this thread!

The common sense thing to do is to clearly let the vendor know on Day 31 that you will dispute the charge for your own protection if you do not have a tracking number by the end of the day.

I think you will be amazed how simple this works. It's really just simple business, charge the product when it's ready to ship, ship it and the customer isn't out money ahead of time and is more happy.

Or go one believing that it will come one of these days, that the vendor will send you something so awesome it will be "worth the wait" etc. That's called SEED OF DOUBT folks, and that's how scammers keep you willing to wait, willing to accept more BS. Again, something if you go back and re-read this thread you can see happening in it.

And for God sakes, never ever wire transfer for something high dollar like this with an clearly long but unknown lead time. You have ZERO recourse on a bank transfer from what I understand. In almost 28 years of business I've only done a couple myself to send money, and only then to major corporations, not Joe Smith's home biz.  I have people ask to use transfers to pay from time to time and I always advise them to just use their credit card, it's easier and the customer has more protection.

You have certain rights (like getting a chargeback after 30 days if you don't have your product) with your credit card that you don't when sending a check, money order or doing a wire transfer.   The key to that rights is just like our gun rights- EXERCISING THEM. That means on Day 31 with no tracking if you were charged upfront (no matter the story you get of glorious product worth the wait, supplier is backed up, etc. blah blah blah), tell the vendor clearly that you have to start a dispute if you don't see tracking by the end of the day. You will be amazed how suddenly product will often appear out of nowhere and ship to you right away....

From the business side of it- I figured this out really young. Early 90's, I was in my early 20's. A product that was selling like crazy suddenly had a huge backup. I had screwed up back then and charged upfront for that product. Suddenly something that was shipping in just a few days took 2 months. I dug out of that mess but I vowed never again and changed policies right there and then.

What truly happens in this situations is that when a company charges upfront, the money coming in today is usually paying for products sold a few months ago. These same places that play this game are normally "90-120 days behind" on their AP (accounts payable). So their suppliers are waiting for them to pay (and often shipping to them slower because they pay slow, or withholding shipment till payment creating more wait for you) , they are trickling in payment from current sales while still having old sales they have not even shipped yet. This sounds exactly like what happened here. It's the old "rob Peter to pay Paul" thing and it's the slow but sure death knell of any business.

Also, some cards do have longer times to dispute a charge, so it's worth a call to your CC even if it's been a long time back that you were charged. Good luck!

Excellent points, thank you!  Hopefully this will help some folks in this thread!!!