Item arrived damaged and this is seller's response

[drew_1996]

So I received an item in the post and it arrived damaged. I must say the padding inside was not good enough for the fragile items, so I'm not surprised. I told the seller and they said they will contact ebay. Came back and said "so I contacted them. They were very helpful." Sent me that picture of the conversation and then told me: "I have sent you what they said, you will have to open an item not received case and share with them that the courier service damaged the item. Then you will receive a full refund and I will also be compensated the full amount."

Does this sound suspicious? 

[sml192]

No, what they have advised is perfectly correct.  You need to open a return request using the reason 'Arrived damaged'.  As it was sent using eBay's Simple Delivery service eBay will then automatically refund you at no cost to the seller.   

[papso22 · Accepted solution]

The thing wrong with that advice is that if the item never arrived, then it's an item not received case, if it arrives damaged, then it's a return case, although ebay will probably refund without needing it to be returned.

Never open an item not received case when something has been received.

[sml192]

Apologies, I hadn't spotted that the Customer Service Rep had advised to open an 'Item not received' case.  That is indeed incorrect advice as the tracking will show as 'Delivered' and you would, therefore, lose such a case.  As previously stated it needs to be a return request specifically using the reason 'Arrived damaged'.  You will then be refunded automatically and won't actually need to return anything.