Avalon said they shipped but no tracking #'s and they blame customs...didn't you read the avalon thread? it's a good read
I have some experience with receiving shipments from Chinese marketplaces and have had shipments often stopped at customs.
The fact is that a tracking number is always there when the seller has, at the very least, reserved one with the courier. Even the cheapest and dead slow couriers (China Post, HongKong post, EMS) have tracking numbers.
if it the tracking number is not there, the seller has not shipped. Plain and simple. Now of course he will try to reassure you. He will lie to you. Say he has already shipped. This is quite common. He is only trying to keep you quiet while he keeps trying to source the item in that big mafia of no-name factories and dodgy distributors which is Shenzen. That's why reputable Chinese marketplace sellers generally don't have the very latest unobtainium in their catalogs till production is good enough to guarantee some reasonable supply without having to bribe someone too much.
IMO:
One thing you can rest assured of is that, if there is no tracking number yet, nothing has been shipped yet. And these Avalon guys, assumed they aren't scammers, better know how to get things going in China because if their devices draw too much attention (as they probably do) they will "disappear" from the factories well before their contact can ship them.