That makes perfect sense in the real world but by the very nature of the fact that Ebay is an auction, the idea is that you satisfy all your concerns before you bid, not after. As it stands at the moment you have won the auction for the laptop and you have a moral if not legal obligation to make the purchase. If the goods turn out to be not as described that is an issue for you, ebay, and if the seller aint playing, any court action you might be able to take.

Furthermore, from what you have said above the terms of the auction included that the item would be posted for a fee. Again, by the fact that you have bid you have agreed to those terms including the amount of postage. You shouldn't have assumed that the seller would be happy to meet you because you live fairly close to him. You should have checked with him before you bid.

If the terms also specified payment only by cheque, then by bidding you have also agreed to that as well.

If the guy selling the item wanted to make a complaint to Ebay about you then you wouldn't have a leg to stand on, though I fully understand why you want to see the item before you pay. You've just gone about things in the wrong order.