Item returned after eBay had closed the dispute

[s.t.e.a.n.t]

Hi all can't seem to find anything on here that answers this question that has surely happened a lot ?

buyer breaks brand new sealed drone and opens a return.  

i dispute due to nature of item being damaged being a high risk item and easily crashed dropped etc.

ebay sides with buyer (surprise surprise)and sends return label to buyer and holds funds.

Buyer has 10 working days to return. 
25th of month is last day no return recieved.

ebay closes the return due to no activity , funds released.

I assume the buyer has changed his mind and that's the end of the matter.

item then randomly returns on the 7th of the following month having been posted on the 5th a full 10 days AFTER expiry and eBay closing the return ? 

Surely the buyer had the same correspondence that I received from eBay that the return was closed as the item wasn't returned within the 10 working days yet still chose the return ??

ive now got the item back I don't want that I sold brand new in sealed box for him to break then return outside of expiry day so what do I do ? 
my 1st instinct was to return it straight back to him but this wouldn't be tracked through eBay system and he could then further dispute ever receiving it back. But I'm certainly not refunding either as I don't agree with the return in the first place and he's obviously not following ebays process

any help or advice would be great 

[redwick1]

I think the problem is that you allowed the buyer to let ebay deal with it

You really do need to deal with these problems yourself.

You could conact ebay and appeal but may not win you should have done it straight away when ebay refunded without the return

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/buying/returns-refunds/appeal-ebays-decision-return-missing-item-buyers?...

[s.t.e.a.n.t]

They haven’t refunded without return ? And I did deal with it myself ? Please read post again ?

[s.t.e.a.n.t]

Basically eBay never refunded buyer as the item wasn’t returned in the 10 working day window so closed the dispute. But the item has now turned up with the buyer still wanting the refund ??

[redwick1]

If the case closed in your favour then ask the buyer to send a pre paid label so you can return it for him. Once the ebay case is closed that should be the end of it. However if they paid by paypal then they may be able to open a dispute there as they have 180 days. Just wait and see what happens next