Same story with me last summer (or thereabouts), Dan.
1) Order, pay with PayPal, wait.
2) After a week of hearing nothing (order status email, etc) I inquire about order status. Told it's out of stock, should be in "next week."
3) Wait another week. Inquire again. No repsonse. Never heard from Kevin again, via email or phone.
4) Had to lodge a complaint with PayPal to get my money back. He didn't even respond to PayPal.
Never again.
I agree with you Dan - in this day and age there's no excuse to go incommunicado for more than a business day, especially for someone with an internet storefront.
My 2 cents.