Hello 'peachmay',
Is what allowed, a family emergency? 😄 Oh, how I envy those with perfectly healthful lives where nothing ever goes wrong. I've never had one of those, so I tend to be a bit lenient with people. But as the saying goes, "The show must go on", and it is ever-so true in business.
You don't say exactly when you paid on the 28th, but even if it was very late, the seller should have had your item in the mail absolutely no later than Oct 5th. A seller has 7 days in which to mail the item. Assuming the 'emergency' is not his own (a guy with a heart-attack is not doing ebay), he should have tended to his business obligations swiftly all the same, - either shipped it within the week, or refunded you with sincere apologies. Even if he simply could not get to a computer any sooner than his message on the 9th, he ought to have refunded right away and then replied about cancelling.
If you have been refunded, you will get a paypal notice in your regular email that says "Your payment has been refunded". If that is not there, in spite of his alleging that the deal is cancelled, you will need to open an 'Item Not Received' dispute, and escalate to a claim as soon as possible.
The following link tells you how to go about it, although you may already know. There is a link to the Resolution Center you can use. You have to do it within 45 days from having paid, and of course, - you have 60 days to leave feedback.
http://pages.ebay.ca/help/buy/item-not-received.html
