The buyer bought my item and never paid for it and for the shipping costs.

[kukusruku]

The buyer bought my item and never paid either for the item or for the shipping costs.

More than that, he sent me a message saying that he is not going to pay.

The unpaid item case ended up with nothing. Does that mean that EBay encourages theft? To me it looks like that.

PS.: By the way, I contacted Ebay via telephone but most of the customer service representatives do not seem to speak or u nderstand English. 

[recped]

Theft? If you still have the item then where is the "theft"?

Unless for some unknown reason you shipped before you were paid? If that's the case then it's still not theft because you gave it away all on your own.

[lucitabby]

Sadly, it happens.

Put them on your block list and move on.

[reallynicestamps]

I contacted Ebay via telephone but

That's where you went wrong. Instead go here:

http://resolutioncenter.ebay.ca/

The entire process is automated and English (orFrench) is not a requirement.

The first step is to contact the buyer, but you have already done that.

When the Dispute is closed, you get your Final Value (selling) fees back.

The deadbeat gets a Strike which makes it harder to bid on eBay in future.

Also go to your Seller Preferences and set up automatic Blocks against bidders with Strikes. Save yourself hours of trouble. There are other Blocks there to consider.

[kukusruku]

No, I shipped the item as soon as it was bought because I was leaving for a trip and thought basing on my buying experience that there is no way the buyer could not pay if he bought an item.

As a result, the buyer has my item without paying both for the item and for the shipping costs.

[maximus7001]

There is nothing you can do about it.

[lady.stark]

Did you open an Unpaid Item Case? If not, do it NOW.

[Anonymous]

That is a HUGE mistake to do that.  Wait until you get the payment before sending out the item.