Bizarre seller has refunded me - now what?

Pincers

I bought a pair of curtains from eBay. When they arrived, they were longer than stated - too long for the room - and had a minor but visible fault that was not mentioned on the auction.
I sent a message to the seller politely explaining I was unhappy and would have good grounds to raise a dispute with Paypal. Over several messages, he told me it was my fault for getting the length wrong, that I still hadn't paid anyway (I had, it was showing up on my credit-card receipt) then that I had taken over a week to pay, and finally that if I did start a dispute with Paypal he could just tell them I'd made a mistake and they'd laugh at me.
At this point I'd gone from annoyed to !!!!ed off, so I started a dispute. I gave the option of a partial refund to cover alterations and repair as I did like the curtains. The seller refunded my money in full. No escalation to a claim, no request to return the item and provide Paypal with a tracking number, no explanation from the seller.
I got an eBay message saying he tried to refund the partial amount but 'Paypal wouldn't let me' and 'you have had the money and the curtains for two weeks so please send them back recorded delivery. If you don't understand this I will be forced to revise my feedback and open a dispute with Paypal.'
Bit miffed at all this, especially as curtains are heavy to post, I'd be happy to keep them once they're altered which is why I compromised with the seller, and I'm off on holiday next week so don't have much time to spend at the post office! What happens now?

soolin

Tell the buyer politely that you will wait for further payment to cover the costs of returning the curtains fully tracked which you estimate to be 'xx'.

Pincers

"Right,have you posted them back yet or are you even going to bother doing it? Otherwise I am going to open a dispute with paypal to say that you have both the curtains,and the money. So to put it politely,post my curtains back now"

Hmm. Well, I could ask them this but the seller is less than co-operative it seems - not impressed with their communication at all. If I post them back and they get lost, can the seller open a dispute with Paypal? He has already refunded me in full for SNAD, when I suggested a partial refund.

Dizzie77

Why not just pay them the amount that you were prepared to pay them before and keep the curtains?

Pincers

I've sent them an e-mail asking this.

Pincers

When I won the auction, I got an e-mail saying my item would be in the post later that day. I responded to say he might want to wait until I'd paid, which I would in a couple of days when a card payment had cleared. I paid when I said, then when the dispute happened, the seller kept claiming I hadn't paid at all. Either he's inexperienced (only two feedback) or very odd.

alfiesmum

I don't understand what your dilema is. You have all your money. You have the curtains. Paypal would require you to return them at your expense anyway. It's just the way it's set up to work. Using Paypal means it's useful to know a little about how they play things.

Pincers

I'm not in a dilemma. I'm just confused as the seller has refunded me in full, for an item which I would have been happy to purchase at full price if as described, and happy to keep and get altered with a partial refund to cover these costs.

Kestrel

alfiesmum wrote: »

I don't understand what your dilema is. You have all your money. You have the curtains.

I have to agree with alfiesmum.

This seller sounds inexperienced -
He can't leave you a neg. Making threats about revising his feedback is pointless.
He won't "win" an unpaid item dispute - you paid and have a PP transaction number.
He issued a full refund by his own choice, how can he dispute his own actions? - to say that "Pay Pal wouldn't let him do a partial refund" is rubbish - he just doesn't know how to do it.

Pincers

So if, say, I didn't return the item, or at least returned them and they got lost in the post, where would I stand? Like I said, they will be heavy to post so I will lose out quite a bit if the buyer is unwilling to stump up the cost of return. I'll ask, but given the correspondence so far, I don't anticipate a favourable response.

I was baffled as to how a dispute could be opened up with Paypal too - I haven't sold anything to this person. Paypal gave me the option to offer a partial refund, which I selected, but the seller claims it wouldn't give him this option - which as you say is unlikely.

Kestrel

Pincers wrote: »

I'm just confused as the seller has refunded me in full, for an item which I would have been happy to purchase at full price if as described, and happy to keep and get altered with a partial refund to cover these costs.

He decided (for whatever reason) to issue you with a full refund. You have been honest enough to get back in touch with him and offer to pay a lesser amount than originally agreed, be patient for now and see what his reaction is - hopefully you will be able to reach an agreement, that way you pay the price you're happy with and the seller is not out of pocket and curtainless