Does "it's too early" not make sense to you? Much of eBay are private individuals and not companies. People don't remember when their auction expires and don't check their email for a day or two. So the seller may not even be aware that you have purchased it yet. I agree that it is sloppy, but it happens.
If this is a new seller (check their history and feedback) then you have to cut them some slack as they may be just as clueless as you are as to how eBay works. Just keep trying to contact them to get an idea of when they plan on shipping your item.
If it is a bigger company or experienced seller, there are some that are just uncommunicative and that's too bad. But if they have a lot of feedback then you should feel better that you will get it, but just not as instantly as you were expecting.
Don't worry; PayPal has taken the money from you but they have not yet released it to the seller, so you will be able to get your money back if this deal does not work out.
I've bought a lot of things from individuals, and especially during the summer months this has happened. They put out a long auction period and forget that they will be on vacation when it ends. They come home to an inbox full of inquiries. eBay needs to have a special section devoted to newbie or casual sellers that advise them of these kinds of gotchas that they must think about; all the other instructions are too complicated for the casual user to pay attention to.
Which bit of 'it's too early to open a case' do you not understand?
You haven't been scammed; you are just waiting to receive your item. So that's what you do: wait (and stop getting your knickers in a twist for nothing).
Wait
'Too early'
