just a long shot but is there a chance he is a student over here bidding on a bike near him but with his home ebay account? It is getting close to that time of year. (zero feedback might suggest not.)
I tend to agree, however I think part of the issue is a fear of a higher chance of an object not turning up at said location, possibly due to less than reliable overseas postal service.
Hmm, sadly a lot of this is theft by the UK Post Office staff of foreign addressed stuff. There used to be no end of stuff missing from the UK to Singapore when i lived there, but sending from anywhere else (USA, Aus, Netherlands) to Singapore was fine. :?
The golden rule is tracked / signed for delivery, sadly.