update
Paypal required the seller to provide proof of shipment or refund or else they'll try to recover my money.
a few days after the complaint was filed, i get an email saying the seller has provided a tracking number.
today in my po box i get a priority mail flat rate envelope with a confirmation number on it. AN ENVELOPE. no way is my nitrous management unit in it.
so i talk to some of the postal employees there and they get my information and the whole story. we opened the envelope there so i have proof from federal employees that the envelope contained nothing besides a booklet on how to buy stamps online. just filler crap for the envelope.
the post office wanted all my communication logs i've done on aim with this jackass. got those printed off along with all my paypal documentation.
i'm taking it all in tomorrow and they'll send it to the postal inspectors. at the very least this kid will be on their mail fraud list and hopefully action will be taken since i don't think the police have done anything.
what's great about the seller sending the envelope is that now i have physical proof and eyewitnesses that he used the us postal service to scam me. if he hadn't sent anything at all, i'd be SOL. but an empty envelope with his address on it is more than enough evidence for some trouble to be raised against him.