What did I do wrong?

[5684john]

I sold an old camera which I listed as "excellent working" because it looked nice and clean and belonged to a doctor, even though I admit I know nothing about cameras.  This one was 50 years old and may not have been used for a good while.  I chucked in a film to try to draw the sale.  The person who bought it obviously knew about cameras because had asked a few questions before bidding.  When it arrived he examined it and said it needed an expensive repair and he didn't want it claiming I had misdescribed it.  I said just return it for a refund.  No big deal.  He asked me to send him the return postage but I refused under ebay rules.  He became angry.  He said he wasn't prepared to spend time repackaging and queuing up at the post office and paying return postage because it was my error.  He insisted I forward the return postage or he would post negative feedback by the end of the day.  I refused again.  He duly posted negative feedback which might harm my reputation and sales.  I retaliated with some bitter comments of my own.  I have his money and he still has the camera.  I am annoyed that my feedback score is now affected.  What should I have done differently?

[norseway53 · Accepted solution]

You were right to ask him to return the item for a full refund and you should have asked him to open a case in the resolution centre, he would have been given a prepaid returns label at your expense but the label is trackable and he would still have had to go to the PO to return the item.

You should not have responded to the feedback, let alone with any negative comments as these are not allowed.

You should also not have described an item as being in excellent condition if you did not know that that was true.