Karl I think your in the wrong here and Weevil is talking complete sense (this is exactly how E-Bay works, it is diffenet to usual trading methods).

YOU BID TO BUY NOT TO VIEW!!! You should view the items before you bid!! Just like a normal auction.

If you want to buy the laptop but are worried about its condition / if it actually exists then you have to go and look before you bid and before the auction ends. Placing a winning bid on an item is a legal contract to buy that item.

Example:
If I sell an item on E-Bay and the seller wants to collect it and pay cash on collection when he turns up at the door he has to hand over the money before he sees the goods because he has already bought them, hes just collecting. If he then has issues with the goods it needs to be dealt with through the systems in place to combat this (through E-Bay).

I suggest in this case you simply take up his offer of cancelling the deal with no negative come backs and you re-read the rules of trading on E-Bay.