Accepting a return from a buyer even though I stated NO RETURNS on listing

[goodapparelboutique]

I recently shipped out an item to a buyer, in which a couple of days later i received back in the mail. The post office had said the buyer returned the item, but i had not heard anything about it from the buyer. I emailed them to ask what was going on. However, i stated there would be NO returns since i am new to eBay and do not want to deal with the hassle of returning unwanted items currently. The item is now in my possession since they had returned it according to the post office, so must i refund their money? Do i ship the item back since it said no returns? I have read that eBay forces you to refund the buyer even if they do not return the item. 

[sam9876]

I wouldn't do anything. 

[1786davycrockett]

First of all, a seller's "No Return" policy is voided by the buyer's right to open up "not as described" cases, in which case the seller MUST allow the buyer to return the item.  The alternative is for eBay to refund the buyer from the seller's account, and to tell the buyer to keep the item.

However, since your buyer did NOT open up a "not as described" case, and simply returned the item to you without notifying you, you may have won the eBay Jackpot:  not only do you NOT have to refund the buyer, but you also do NOT have to reimburse the buyer for the return shipping charges -- plus you have received your item back, to sell to somebody else.

You may refund the buyer if you choose to do so -- but there are no eBay rules which say that you must.

You're ahead -- don't rock the boat!