Buyer opened return request but now wants to keep item

[serene_dreams950]

Hi all

First post here but I've got a difficult transaction and don't know what to do.

I sold a large bundle of clothes, but found a defect with one of the tops whilst the listing was still live. The listing already had bids so I could not change the pictures, but I added a note to the listing to say that this top was no longer included, and that I had added two more items to the bundle instead. The winning bidder placed her bid after this information was added to the listing.

The buyer then opened a refund  request under 'faulty item' saying that this top was missing! She did not message me first. I tried to explain the above in a message, but she did not seem to understand, and kept telling me that it was missing and that I needed to give her a full refund. I checked her profile and found that she has left lots of bad feedback in the past for silly reasons, so I decided just to accept her refund and apologise in order to protect my 10 year perfect eBay record! 

Lots of messages were exchanged then about postage because she said she was using hermes and that I would need to pay (v.expensive for that weight!) and I asked if she would mind using collect+, which is what I used to post to her originally. 

I then received no response for a while, and eBay's imposed 'deadline' has now passed. 

She has now responded saying that she will keep them items but that I need to give her a partial refund! 

I am not willing to do this because of course there was no defect in the first place, but now I am worried that she will not return the items, give me bad feedback / a defect on my account and eBay will issue to full refund to her anyway if she doesn't close the case, and eBay will invoice me for the return postage label!

I now suspect she wanted to keep the items all along, but had hoped I would not want to pay the expensive return postage and just issue a refund. 

Does eBay have anything in place to protect sellers from this??

Thanks

[creoleorchid]

Does eBay have anything in place to protect sellers from this??

Yes they do. Here's how it works on the U.S site, yours may be different. 

When the buyer opens a return request stating something is wrong with it, you must click on the option to accept the return and provide a label. If the buyer later changes her mind and wants to keep the lot, you are in the clear if she never uses the label. You won't be charged for the label if it never gets scanned into the postal system. 

The buyer has 5 days after the label is provided to get it in the mail. After that point you can call and have the case closed in your favor. After 30 some odd days with no package scanned in it closes on its own. Supposedly.

Messages between buyer and seller do not count. All this must be done through the resolution center as it is all automated. 

Again, that's how it works on the U.S. site. 

[tarpedge]

Your buyer had 5 business days to ship from when you clicked Accept the return.

Call eBay to have the returned closed in your favor because the buyer has not shipped return. When the case is closed in your favor, feedback is blocked, or any feedback is removed.

[puddle_jumper]

Check the bidding history, if this person placed a bid after you added to description that one item was removed, call ebay.  The buyer may not have read it or they did read it and was trying to screw the seller.