Having trouble with ebay transaction

Captain Slow IRL

I had an item for sale on ebay.ie - thought I'd checked the box to exclude ebayers with 5 or less feedback, but that's another issue. Anyway, they were bought by a guy, claiming to be french after just moving to dublin. He provided me with a dublin address to post the item to. Before I start my spiel, I should mention that on the auction page, I had clearly stated:

I will only accept bank draft or postal order as payment - don't wanna go screwing around with paypal.
The tickets will be posted when payment has cleared. Buy in confidence from an established ebayer!

He wrote to me, through ebay's mail a few hours after the auction finished:

Hello,
I live in Dublin recently, I come from France.
I would like to know how can I proceed to a warrant or a bank check? Which is the better and more practical?
Thank you, xxx

To which I wrote back:

Hi xxx,
Congratulations on winning the item. A bank draft would probably be the safest form of payment. If you go into any bank, they should issue you with one. I would also recommend you register the envelope you post the bank draft in for extra security, it will only cost a few euro.
Regards,
Capt. Slow

The auction finished on a friday afternoon, so I figured he wasn't going to make the bank so I wrote to him late monday afternoon:

Hi xxx,
Did you get a chance to post off your payment today?
Regards,
Capt. Slow

When I checked my email a few hours later:

Hi Capt. Slow,
Why I send you payment before? I thought I gave the money when the factor password? It's not how it is!
Regards,
xxx

My response was:

I have stated clearly in the auction that I must recieve payment before the tickets will be dispatched. The payment can be via postal order or bankers draft and must clear before I will post them out.
Regards,
Capt. Slow

He still hasn't responded - do I give him more time or just open a dispute? I've never sold anything off ebay before so am unsure what to do.

CamperMan

it sounds like your French buyer is trying to pull a fast one, NEVER send an item out until you have payment and if cheque or bank draft, make sure it clears first before sending the goods!

Captain Slow IRL

I know that! At first I was a little sceptical when I saw the bad english, but his postal address was sent to me by ebay so I relaxed a little.

Come to think of it, I saw an option to select in ebay if I thought I was being scammed.

JJ

I'd just open a dispute and strike his ass if he still doesn't pay up. It sounds like he's just wasting your time.

jor el

What's a "factor password"? He's either an idiot or a scammer, so raise a non paying bidder dispute and re-list, as you'll probably want to sell these quickly.

If accepting a cheque in future, ask the buyer to put their cheque guarantee card number on the back. If they say they don't have one, don't accept the payment, as everyone with a cheque book gets a guarantee card, and it's most likely a stolen or forged cheque. Before lodging any cheque, ring the bank that it's drawn on, and ask them to check it's validity. They should be able to tell you if it was reported stolen/lost.