Ebay Automatically Refunded Return While I was Away-Received in different condition. How to handle?

[royalprincessdesigns]

     A Buyer purchased a pair of little girls gold glitter fox dress shoes on September 24th. Delivered on the 27th. On the 27th, she started a return with the reason for the return being: "Doesn't work or Defective." Details: "The Shoes Won't Stay on Her Feet." Ebay automatically accepted the return and sent the return label. The buyer waited 12 days to ship the item back. (Shipped October 9th).

     My store was placed on time away from October 9th-October 18th as I was going to be out of town on vacation from the 11th-17th. On the 10th, I sent a message to the buyer stating that I noticed she had shipped the shoes. I would be out of town until the 18th, and would not be able to inspect the package until I returned. I would also not have internet access. Rest assured I would refund her money once I was able to inspect the shoes to make sure they are in the same condition as sent out and thanked her for her patience.

     The shoes arrived on the 13th. I received an email from ebay to inspect the shoes and refund by October 15th. I received two more messages on the 14th and 15th to issue the refund. On the 16th, ebay automatically refunded the buyer the total cost of the shoes, including original shipping (which was not free shipping).   

     When I inspected the package last night, one of the shoes had a crease in the heel and they had clearly been worn as the bottoms were now soiled with remnants of white toilet paper? and other things that were sticking into the glue residue from the price tag that was on the bottom. If I had been home, I would have given a partial refund as a top rated seller and would not have refunded the original shipping.

     I can "Report a Problem" under the return and I can choose the box which states: "I received the item back in a different condition" which will only allow me to give a description but not upload photos. What is the best way to go about trying to appeal this to get part/all of my funds back? I don't think that it was fair of ebay to automatically refund money when they could clearly see my store was on time away and I could not inspect the shoes.

     Thoughts/Suggestions on the best way to handle/contact ebay on this? Thanks in advance.

[mtgraves7984]

This is dicey, but here's eBay's reference to such under 'Time Away' on the Help & Contact pages:

While you're on time away, you still need to uphold commitments to your buyers, such as fulfilling orders sold before your time away start date and responding to any open buyer requests related to items sold before your time away start date.

It looks to me as if they're setting the seller up to take this type of return on the chin. Sorry this happened to you.

[royalprincessdesigns]

@mtgraves7984  I decided to get in contact with ebay. Did online chat with two very nice agents. Appeal was filed by second agent. Says I have a very strong case since my store was on time away when this occurred. Will get back with me within 48 hours or so. Will keep you posted. Thanks.    

[bonjourami]

I hope they were being truthful with you, knowing the csr's, I doubt it,they say anything to get you off the phone and on to the next call..but I wish you good luck.

[royalprincessdesigns]

@bonjourami I have actually had very good luck with the online chat feature. I try to avoid actual telephone conversation like the plague. LOL.

[bonjourami]

LOL..understandable..