There are 3 steps.You order, your info says processing, his shows up as a new order.Vendor clicks on shipped, which clears out your address and stats so he can't see them anymore, and on your end it changes to 'shipped', and has the 'finalize' option then available.If you click 'finalize' the vendor gets his payment. Normally, you do this when you receive your item, but if you've agreed to finalize early, the vendor most likely won't ship until you've clicked on finalize.Hope that clears it up for you.BTW - mail takes 2-3 times as long in the 2 weeks before Christmas, so a week isn't very long to wait to start stomping your feet.