I'm also sorry to hear that you had a bad experience.

This seller doesn't smell like a rip-off artist to me. I'm basing this off of the (admittedly limited) information available in his eBay profile:

1) Feedback left for him seems to be very favorable. I see lots of specific statements that the packaging was good, items were as described, shipping was prompt, etc. This isn't the sort of feedback I tend to associate with "just barely satisfied" or "vaguely disgruntled" buyers. (When I'm a seller, I appreciate that sort of specific feedback much more than a generic "item rec'd OK" or "good transaction" - it's a pat on the back, and it tells other prospective buyers what to expect.)

2) Looking over some of his recent transactions, it appears that he fairly routinely leaves positive feedback first, without waiting for positive feedback from the buyer. This is behavior that I respect, and don't typically associate with shady sellers. Many of them (and, sadly, too many of the reputable sellers) flatly refuse to leave feedback until they've "gotten theirs" first, some even stating so (as a not-so-veiled threat) in their auction listings. That's a pet peeve of mine, but I will forcibly step away from that particular soapbox at the moment...

I'm inclined to think that there might have been no intentional deception on the part of the seller. He might have described the condition as he saw it, put it up on eBay with a $9.99 starting bid, and let it go at that.

The place where, in my opinion, the seller really fell down is when he chose to rigidly stick to a policy of, "as-is, no returns". Many legitimate sellers find that to be a reasonable general policy, and that's fine with me. A really stand-up seller, though, should be willing to acknowledge that sometimes situations arise that aren't handled well by such a general policy. In those cases, more flexibility is needed. This is just such a case, and I'm really struck by the inflexibility of the seller.

Again, sorry to hear of your bad experience. If I had read that description, and then received those goods, then I would have been disappointed, too.