What's The Deal With China???

Another time about a month after the ordeal of the lost mail to China I had a buyer from China bid on some stamps which he won for $35 after a week he still did not pay . Then he message me saying he is looking at some of my other auctions and asked about combine shipping, I told him No way you must pay for these first after another week he paid for the stamps. I had a bad feeling about him and felt that if I mail them to him they go missing. So I decided not to mail them and let him open up a claim to get his money back.
After a few weeks I get a message from ebay
This is the message

Unfortunately, we had to cancel bids and purchases for the following buyer because they're no longer registered on ebay:

mr.XXXXXXXXX (I removed the buyers name)

In these types of situations, we'll credit the final value fee for removed listings won by this buyer, and also the insertion fee if it was a single-quantity listing.

We also recommend you take the following actions:
-- If you haven't received payment, don't complete the sale or send the item to the buyer.
-- Don't communicate with the buyer directly.
-- Verify any payments you've been notified of by logging in to your PayPal account (or other online payment service).
-- If the buyer requests refunds or additional payments, don't send any money without contacting ebay first.
-- If you've already sent the item, try contacting the shipping carrier to find out if you can stop shipment.

So I was paid for the stamps and contacted ebay what should I do with the money, they said wait till the buyer contacts you, still waiting
I guess this buyer did a lot of scams and was kicked off ebay.
I checked his feed back and of course its all positive feedback but the comments were like this
:thanks for payment only took 6 weeks:

So I ended up with $35 and still have the stamps.

It certainly is disheartening to hear of these problems and I know that this thread is concentrating on one specific country - China. However, as others have mentioned, this is a problem with BUYERS from quite a few countries. I have had 6-7 transactions with ZhangCheng (a member of this community) as well as some with several other individuals and I am very satisfied with each one.

Ya your right Don its just not China.
I have had mail go missing in many countries, But that was in my early days of selling.
I use to plaster the package with old stamps make it a real pretty cover for a collector. We that is nothing more then a red flag.
Now a days If I sending to a country I don't feel comfortable with it goes as meter postage in a plain cover, this seems to help.

But we have to understand that mail will often end up on the slow boat and go as surface mail, one member here had a package sent to him from Canada going to Australia and took 3 months to arrive and this was sent registered mail.
Now if I have a sale from a place or a buyer who I dont feel comfortable with after readying his feedback( sometimes you get those buyers with private feedback) Instead of explaining I won't send the item to that country or because his feedback is private. I just wont send it allow them to open up a claim and allow them to be refunded.
Then block them from my sells.
Seems bad thing to do but after you get burnt too many times and have nothing but fights with pay pal and ebay I find this to be a much less stressful way too go.
This has also worked in my favor a couple of times.

Is it a wrong thing too do? probally but I dont like to give stuff away for free

ive sent probably more than 60 items to china this year and havent had any problems with payment or items being recieved,Italy on the other hand has been a nightmare,of 11 items sent 5 have gone missing and I've had to claim from royal mail,i now just print the claim form as well as the order form when I know its going to italia

With out getting political many countries despise incoming goods that take any money away from there own economy. Its one thing buying raw materials and then selling finished products to the rest of the world but to spend savings or earnings anywhere else is frowned upon. Italy is now a good example- Customs is insanly tight and anything other than personal mail is frowned upon. I recently sold a bunch of fishing related materials to Italy and the buyer said they must be marked as gift and low to 0 value or things simply dissapear. Marking family photos and the good old do not bend in the language of the destination country is a good way to bypass some red flags.
What happens when you send an item and have tracking but no signature required- If the receiver still says not received does paypal refund? I thought as a seller your due diligence was to provide tracking and if this was done the remainder was not your problem.