Do I have to give Partial refund

[michaebushin_0]

I have a question as a new seller on eBay. I sold a toy that arrived to the buyer all in good condition except 2 small figures. This item was a hot item that had 26 bids. The lady that bought it said when it arrived 2 action figures had broke and she asked for a partial refund. I told her to ship the item back that I would be glad to issue a full refund. But she doesn't want to do that. She knows she got an 80.00 toy for very little and it's only pennies to replace the 2 action figures. She filed a claim with eBay and I have sent 3 emails asking her to return item to which she won't respond. Do I have to give her part of a refund or does she have to send my item back for a full refund

[chinohighcowboys1963]

No, you are not obligated to give her a partial refund if you don't want to.

  Tell her that you will be happy to refund her in full when the item is returned to you.  If she keeps demanding a partial, just keep repeating "please return for refund".

[chrysylys]

I don't see anything 'sold' with 26 bids, nor anything that might include that type of item.

Your recent train collection title is inappropriate.

We don't usually recommend giving in to requests for partials, but as a low FB seller a Neg would be a big hit, so you have to evaluate your risk tolerance.

[lintbrush*]

Well, this is entirely your call on what to do.

If the item did arrive damaged, the buyer would be entitled to return it for a full refund (item price  plus original shipping) and you'd also have to pay for their return shipping.

Since the buyer opened a claim, you must respond through the claim.  That has a timeline and you must offer a resolution within the allotted time - message exchanges don't count.  Have you chosen "Return for Refund?"  You only have 3 business days to reply with one of the accepted resolutions.  Failure to do so will allow the buyer to "ask eBay to Step in" and they'll force the return.  You'll get an Unresolved by Seller mark on your account (which is something you really want to avoid if you want to continue selling well) and when do they do force the return/refund, you'll not get a refund of your selling fees.

Sometimes buyers fish for a partial refund.  Sometimes their claims are legit.  Are the buyer's claims realistic?  Did they send pictures?  Was the box damaged?  Did you pack it to withstand  the rigors of shipping?  How it's ultimately handled is up to you at this point, within the confines of policy which does have some choices.  

If you do choose "Return for Refund" and the buyer fails to do so (because she wants to keep it), then it will eventually close in your favor.  But she could send you back a box of rocks (or only part of the item too) and you'd be forced to refund regardless.  Sometimes a partial is a smart idea financially.  Sometimes it's not.

How much do you stand to lose paying shipping both ways and relisting it with damage?  

Put your buyer shoes on too - if you received a partially damaged item how would you want the seller to treat you?

[jennbisho_13]

With the fact that you've already taken a neg in recent weeks I think I would probably just issue the partial refund and be done with it.

One more neg is going to put you at a really low feedback percentage...

[fern*wood]

Concerning that neg you just received, how much time did you give them to pay before relisting?

[kattinsanity]

If the broken figures can be replaced for pennies why don't you just purchase them and have them sent to your buyer?  I recently sold a blade for a food chopper and realized it had a crack so I couldn't send it.  Instead of taking the hit I searched for another blade on ebay~~none to be found.  Instead I purchased the whole chopper on ebay and had it sent to my buyer.  She was thrilled, has extra parts for her chopper now and left me glowing feedback.  My account is worth more than money to me.