bathing suit returned without sanitary liner

[1woodlot]

hello,

I sold a bathing suit that was brand new, with the sanitary liner intact.   The buyer waited until almost 30 days to open the return.  I allow returns, but specifically told her that it must still have the liner (thusfar none of my returns have come back without one, but I had a bad feeling here).   She takes her sweet time to return it, and when it finally arrives, there is no liner.   Is there any way to reject the return since it is not in the condition it was sent in?  There is no way I can sell this as new since her bare bottom probably touched it.   Everything I've read suggests that I will lose if it is escalated.  Regular department stores won't take bathing suits back without the liners.     

[1woodlot]

Thanks for all the replies.

I have probably sold about a 1000 bathing suits and this is the first return that has come back without a liner.  I do not have restocking fees since I have had few problems like this (and I think the restocking fees are likely a selling deterrent to my (mostly) honest buyers).

I am trying to figure out what to do, given that ebay most likely will side with this buyer and I will wind up with a defect if I try to fight this.  She did not try to claim SNAD.  One thought I had was to give her the refund, then after a week (when it will be 60 days and she can no longer leave negative feedback)  send her a paypal invoice for about half the purchase price saying that the item can no longer be sold as new for sanitary reasons and has depreciated in value, remind her that I specifically told her that the bathing suit must still have the liner, and tell her that I will report her to ebay for misuse of returns, hoping that will scare her into paying.  I'm guessing this falls into the category of taking a sale off ebay, but I'm thinking she likely doesnt want to call attention to the fact that she is abusing returns and is probably not going to tell ebay this. I would do this all through email/paypal.    Is this a bad idea?

[sam9876]

"Obviously if the sanitary liner is gone, the suit has been worn and used."

False.

[superaliepi]

""Obviously if the sanitary liner is gone, the suit has been worn and used."

False."

The suit should be assumed to have been worn if there is no liner.     If looking for a new bathing suit, would you want one where someone else's junk may have directly touched it? (I would not).  OP is correct that many stores have policies where they won't accept a return without the liner.   There is no reason to take it out if one is just trying on the bathing suit.   

As someone who also sells swimwear, these kinds of situations, while fortunately not too common (in my experience), suck and ebay should at least allow sellers to offer partial refunds since this kind of item cannot be resold as new.