eBay account seems to suggest buyer got partial refund

[baz8755]

About a month ago I sold a non-working laptop via auction and gave a full and accurate condition of the item and what it had lead up to it's failure. It was listed as spares/repair and stated the Hard Disk would be removed for data protection.

When the buyer received the item several emails were exchanged as he wanted the Hard Disk. I explained the situation and that due to machine failure I was unable to wipe the drive. There was not argument or nastiness and he seemed to go away.

Today I was just browsing some of my old orders and noticed that this particular item had a partial refund, when I clicked on show refund details it stated it was unable to.

I am guessing the buyer complained to eBay but I did not receive any communication regarding a refund and as far as I can tell I have not parted with any funds (I think, although I may be wrong).

Can anyone explain what may have transported.

[**peaseblossom**]

It's possible the buyer contacted ebay direct and they issued a partial refund themselves, leaving your payment intact.

[papso22]

I think if ebay refunds it's the full amount, only the seller can do a partial refund.  But I may be wrong.

[department28]

I'm sure buyers complain more than they used to...  and eBay seem to fall over themselves to refund.

If you had clearly stated the hard disk would be removed, what possible grounds could the buyer have had to complain, and receive a refund?! 

[baz8755]

This is what confuses me as on the rare occasion a buyer starts asking questions after buying it usually means they are angling for some kind of refund.

However on this occasion they queried why the unit had open and were after the hard disk. Again I explained that the auction clearly stated Hard Disk was not included and when the unit stopped working the back was removed to see if any obvious issues. Again this started to set my alarm bells ringing as they made mention that some of the case screws were damaged even though they were not.

The user had a rating into the hundreds and no mention was made of a refund of any sort.

As I said in my original post I find it surprising that the buyer appears to have received some kind of refund without anyone asking or discussing it with me.

[akemp1]

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@papso22 wrote:

I think if ebay refunds it's the full amount, only the seller can do a partial refund.  But I may be wrong.

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There have been forum posts for sellers with SD related issues (accept it's a different issue here) where ebay seem to have given the buyers a partial refund. I guess it's nice that ebay are paying out some of the buyer tax to resolve disputes but it's not great that the seller is not kept informed of what might be happening. Ebay want sellers to have a very limited relationship with the buyer these days - a community with walls.

So far ebay have never had to refund from their own money on my sales but who knows?

[marco@ebay]

Hi baz8755, thanks for your post.

If you confirm the item number, I can look into this for you no problem to see what's happening.

Thank you,

Marco