When you open a dispute like that the seller can’t send you another item... because then there is a chance that they’ll close the disputes in our favor and he’ll lose the money and another item.

Items get lost in transit all the time... that is not the sellers fault... whether this seller is shady or not though you can’t really know because his question is legitimate. If you want to take the risk in another item, close the claim and see if he sends it but send him a message that you are trusting him to send another item if you close the claim, that way worse comes to worse you can call Ebay and show them that he scammed you.

If you don’t want another one just tell him to close the claim in your favor with a refund and he should be able to do that.

Ebay should give sellers the option to send a replacement with the claims but they only give an option for a refund. If a customer wants a replacement the seller has to ask him to close the claim which looks shady as hell but it doesn’t necessarily mean the seller is trying to scam you.