I will jump in here. After 10 years or so with the NAMES expo I will say this if the vendor is a small time operator. And has no stock, or inventory. The I would tell him to contact you when he has them to sell. Or when he will be at a show. Even then it's a crap shot as they could be lying. Most of the people that are tying to do it on the side with a full time job and family don't. They never have the money to do enough so they can send them out.
I lost count of the complaints that guys will come in the next year or email me that so and so hasn't delivered the goods. Mostly they want their money back, why they feel that somebody other than the party they gave the money to, should refund the money I don't know.
Credit cards are the best way of payment because you have some recourse. If you mail a check to him and he is contacting or sending a catalog through the mail you might have mail fraud.
But it isn't only in the homeshop/model engineering that it happens to.
35 years of building magic and clown props, I have seen a lot of real silliness from people trying to run home businesses. A lot more Homers in those fields
The best suggestions I can give is don't let up, if he does shows find out when and where contact the show organizers to make sure he paid the table rent. A couple of them will say they are going and not show up.
For some reason people that sell castings are bad for this. Its like they make one or two kits and then think it easy. Well 12 or more kits is a full time job.
It has been like that for years and will likely continue or get worse in the future.
good luck
