No good deed goes unpunished

[neurstylminky]

I sold some shoes to a buyer on a "no returns" and "buyer pays shipping" basis.  The buyer contacted me after getting the shoes and told me she had had hip surgery and the shoes didn't have as much padding as she thought they'd have.  She asked if she could return them even though the transaction was "no returns".  At no time did the buyer state or insinuate that the shoes, the description or representation of the shoes was the problem.  Because the buyer asked and was really nice, I said, yes.  She followed my instructions and they were received by me in excellent condition.  When I went to refund the purchase price of the shoes only, I discovered the transaction was "on hold" with Paypal.  Paypal customer service told me I needed to add money to my account if I wanted to refund the purchase price.  I said that wasn't right - the hold on the buyer's payment needed to be released.  Paypal said eBay had placed the hold in response to the buyer having started a return or a dispute.  I called eBay and they blamed Paypal for the hold.  The eBay customer service person seemed to just want to use her power to refund the purchase price to the buyer, and while I certainly didn't object, I really wanted to understand how this mess had come into existence.  After hours on the phone with Paypal and eBay I gave up.  The eBay customer service person assured me she was only going to refund the purchase price of the shoes, NOT THE AMOUNT THE BUYER PAID FOR POSTAGE.  I agreed that was ok.  I thought the nice buyer had waited long enough.  Now I see that the buyer was refunded both the cost of the item AND THE POSTAGE.  Of course, this has been debited from MY account.  AND, I see that the reason given is that the item sold did not match the description!!!  What?? The buyer never said that, not even anything close.  The eBay employee arbitrarily chose that reason.  I am hopping mad.  What do I do now?  What, if anything, did I do wrong?  Thanks for any wisdom you are willing to share.