Interesting how things escalate here.
Reading all this makes me think of the SSIPAK (did I spell that right?) pink sale where he promised to replace the defective caps and just disappeared.
My school blocks sites with hack in the name or other sites suspected of hacking activity. It's not a stretch to think an employer would block a site called geekhack.
The first issue is that if there really were over $9000 in sales and if his situation was the truth he could be living off that money right now. If you suddenly start making claims for the money PayPal will go after him, especially for larger amounts, if he doesn't pay it back.
However, to say that someone shouldn't ask for a refund is a bit absurd and to use lines like "if you charge back the $9000 in orders might never ship" is extreme peer pressuring IMO.
If they can't afford to lose the money or can spend it on other things to be productive they have every reason to ask for a refund. Clack hasn't shipped the caps yet so he can always put them up for sale once he's well again and people would guarantee buy it.
Of you can afford to lose the $60-110 and want to keep your spot it's that simple, just stick with it.
One of my online friends was homeless for a bit over a year and only came on to talk twice in that time.
As others have mentioned, such troubling times could mean he's aggressively seeking new employment, visiting friends and family most of the time, cleaning up and taking care of himself and his health.
However there's always the possibility he will never deliver. Even if it's slim, it's there. I'm not going to say he will or will not. For Chinese scammers it's a very common practice to build up reputation selling little $1 knickknacks then go sell $40-80 items and run off with the money. I highly doubt someone would spend this long making artistic products only to run off several years later. And frankly $9000 isn't that much money in today's world.
At this point people will just have to wait and see if the cat is dead or alive.
