I sell one-of-a-kind items and an item I had sold many months ago unbeknownst to me was listed in my store and purchased yesterday. Naturally, I did not have the item, so I called into ebay to discuss with a specialist the best way of going about avoiding a transaction defect on my account upon refunding the payment for being out of stock.
The ebay specialist Grace -- who over the years I have spoken with on other issues -- told me that I will not be stuck with a transaction defect or negative feedback as long as I send a message in advance to the buyer before refunding the item with the out-of-stock reason. In the message, I had to let the buyer know that I need to refund her and why and ask her to respond acknowledging that she received my message, essentially treating the situation as a request. Grace told me that her response would constitute an agreement with me that she accepts the refund, and that "agreement" would ensure that ebay would not hit me with a defect and could also remove any negative feedback that may follow.
I sent the message yesterday and have not received a response, and would think that it would have serviced the buyer better to have simply refunded the item without delay rather than what is turning out to be a grace period.
