I've bought a few things from ebay, and as someone has said, use pay pal. I have never had any problems with any of the products. I am currently waiting on a 3 tier cake tin which is coming from Hong Kong and am sure it will be fine as...
whenever ive made them ive tended to leave them in the fridge until ready for them. once on the table they seem to be fine. not the sort of thing that gets left for long as very popular.
is it the sponge you want vanilla flavour? have you tried just adding 1tsp of vanilla essence? think its 1tsp for every 6 eggs. i tend to just do my buttercream vanilla flavour, goes down a treat.