Hello 'oaktotem',
Has the buyer paid? If so, and because you are a new seller, paypal will almost
certainly hold it for 21 days.
The following important link explains all about that:
http://pages.ebay.ca/help/pay/payment_hold.html
If you were to retain the item until the funds have been released, the buyer will most
certainly have filed a "not received" claim to get his money back.
The way to always avoid a "not received" claim is to send the items with Delivery Confirmation.
If the value is over $325 Cdn you will want signature confirmation. You may choose that
even if the value is less. You can review the seller protection policy here:
https://www.paypal.com/ca/webapps/mpp/security/seller-protection-learn-more
If you foolishly waited 21 days to mail the item, in addition to the NR problem, you would
likely get a negative. People are prickly about shipping times. Aren't you?
If your buyer pays from a credit card or a paypal balance, the payment is instant. If the
buyer pays from a bank balance, the e-cheque can take around 10 days to clear.
Only ship the item when your paypal account transaction info indicates it is okay to ship.
If the buyer is in a "questionable country", you will still have to mail it when instructed to do so,
just make sure you have a Delivery Confirmation number. This tells the buyer it is on its way,
and in the event of a claim, you simply enter the DC number into the dispute and you will win.
Of course, you could always refund and cancel, but you would certainly get a well-deserved
negative by doing that. Just make sure you can prove delivery and you'll be fine.
In future you might like to consider setting up your listings to exclude countries you don't want
to ship to. You can set your 'buyer preferences' here:
http://pages.ebay.ca/help/sell/manage_bidders_ov.html#set
Good luck
