Doesn't eBay have a policy that if an item hasn't shipped within 30 days that you can ask for a refund?

Seems too good to be true to me. Seller has no feedback in the last 12 months either. That being said, if it's a scam you should be able to get your money back. Might be worth the risk..........

8 days later and I've heard nothing from ebay.

Has anyone else out there who has had to deal with a dispute/problem/etc. on ebay; a) had to wait this long to hear back? or b) and this is more what I'm wondering, ever had to deal with a situation where the other party didn't know you were questioning something (I've had issues where I had to get ebay involved because I never received my item, but that was always just through messages not a phone call and obviously the seller was aware) where ebay decided against you and then never let you know? In other words I'm wondering if ebay will ONLY contact me if they decide they can prove shill bidding? If they decide against me would they not let me know?

It's frustrating that I'm not sure if they are still investigating or if they are done looking into it and decided for the seller so I just get to wonder for eternity.

This was the first item he has sold on ebay. 15 feedback as buyer. I wonder if he'd refund me anything if I called him out. Or if I should go to eBay first?

You got played.

I agree. Any thoughts on feedback etiquette? Too circumstantial to say something/bad feedback? Do I give him no feedback as my recourse? Not that that is a hefty penalty. Contact ebay?

This is over simplified, but.....
All three LOTR books are masterpieces.
The Hobbit is "only" great.
So just by math The Hobbit movie wouldn't have been as good if it had been one movie let alone made into three movies that are all diluted from the book material and then also crammed full of other sources to make them 2+ hours. So I think we got what was to be expected from the Hobbit trilogy of movies.