Can eBay Handle Shipping?

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A few years back a good friend and neighbor of mine decided to sell on eBay. All went well for about six week, as he sold over twenty-five items and had a perfect buyer and seller rating. His son needed a paper cutter (the guillotine type), and his grandmother thought he meant a paper shredding device, so she purchased him one brand new; one of the good $60.00 ones. The grandmother was offended over her mistake and told them to 'do with it whatever they please,' so he put it up for sale on eBay for $38.00. A seller inquired asking if my friend would accept $18.00 and of course he declined the offer. The same potential buyer then asked if he would accept twenty-five dollars and finally my friend explained that since he had to pay shipping costs, that $33.00 was the lowest that he could afford to go. The seller took him up on the offer and despite my pleas to my neighbor to not do business with that person, he did anyway. The day that the item was delivered to the buyer, they immediately messaged my friend stating that the device had arrived broken, which I personally knew was not true because I was there when my neighbor packaged the item and in order for it to get broken, it would have had to have been dropped from the top of Mount Everest. The seller stated [and I quote] if you reimburse me for half the paid price, then I will consider the deal as settled. Ironically enough, after figuring in taxes, 'half' would have amounted to the original 'low-ball' offer of eighteen dollars. Knowing that the device was not shipped broken, my neighbor instructed the buyer to return the item; his intent was to reverse the sale, absorb any shipping losses, and then list it for sale again. It arrived back to my friend so broken up, that it looked like someone had angrily taken a hammer to it, and it didn't even power on - in short, it was completely useless. There was nothing that the eBay administration could do to aid my friend because technically it was my friend's work against the buyer's. That situation diminished my faith in the integrity of people in general, and as a result I vowed to never go beyond 'buying' on eBay. ...But recently I took 'basement & attic inventory' and I'm certain that I'm sitting on a small fortune however I am beyond reluctant to trust the selling process since there seems to be no way to prove the condition of a shipped item. Approximately ten years ago, a coworker of mine sent some items to eBay and eBay sold them for her, took their agreed upon fee, and sent her the rest. That would be the only way that I would ever consider doing business as a seller, but I don't even know if that arrangement still exists on eBay and if it does, then I have no idea what it is called or how to access it and I can't seem to find any eBay articles on the topic. ...Sorry about the long-winded story here, but in order to help me, I feel that I need to provide a full understanding of my situation. ...So has anyone else heard of the process of sending items to eBay to list and sell, and if so what is the proper name for the service and how can I access it? Thanks so much in advance for any help, people.