So this guy bought a 1/6 scale figure outfit from me (white version of Nier Automata 2B's outfit) then an hour or so later before I could ship he requested to cancel the order.
I was out when I got those alerts on my phone, but when I got home and sat down to cancel the order I saw he sent another message telling me to forget the cancel and go ahead and send it.
Then another message from him asking if I have the 2B head to go with the outfit, which I told him no, I didn't.
Then he asks when I will have the head in stock because he needs that too, and I told him I won't because I'm not a retailer.
After that he sent me a couple more messages asking me things like when will the head be available and where can he get it. I answered his questions quickly the best I could, but at that point my instincts told me this guy could be a problem because he probably bought this without reading the description or title, or looking at the photos. He most likely hit cancel because he wants a set with a head included. I felt like I should probably accept his cancel request, but he had asked me to forget that and send it, so I did, that same day.
I should have trusted my instincts.
2 days later he gets it and immediately puts in for a return, saying item not as described because it has a bad stain. I asked to see a photo of the stain, and he sent me the 2 pictures attached below. (the ones between my listing photo- I had some error here and ended up with my listing pic attached twice)
I pointed out that what is in those pics looks like a tiny piece of dried glue from the sealed package or something, which he could easily just pluck off, but if he doesn't want to do that he can send it to me and I will remove that tiny speck. I told him I'm not sure that counts as item not as described, and I can fix it and have it back to him quickly either way. I asked him to please work with me to fix his issue rather than return it, but if I must, I would accept the return.
His reply was "I will just wait for the 4th and escalate to get my money back".
Then he left me a negative feedback saying "Harassment on a return & makes up stories on why seller can't accept return", which was a blatant lie.
I called ebay, told them the situation, and they looked at the pics and our conversation. The person on the phone said he used to be a seller too and felt for me because he ran into a buyer like this once too. He said although this buyer is pretty clearly doing me wrong, he could end up winning a dispute still so my best option is to accept the return then when I get it back and find that the tiny speck of whatever comes right off, report that with photos and ebay will make him refund me the return shipping, will remove the negative he left me, and if I report him for misusing the returns system he could lose his account too.
I suppose that's what I will do, but thought I'd ask for any opinions or advice here first.
3rd pic is the one from my listing where you can see there was no tiny speck, much less a "stain" on the outfit.
