Missing return

[bethanylouise1995]

I opened a case against a buyer as they requested a return on an item due to them "smelling of washing powder and having bits on them" I lost the case and the buyer won. They returned the items to me and when I received them one of the items was missing - I then contacted the buyer to let them know something was missing out of the return and they claimed "they never received this item amongst the items they did receive" however, they never initially reported this which if something was missing I thought they would have. So I opened a case as I am now expected to refund the buyer but haven't received all of my items back so I'm not really happy doing this. I got a reply off eBay customer support that mentioned something about a partial refund but the response didn't make much sense to me so now i don't know where to go next? Thank you. 

[arkwebus]

I am puzzled by this as in these circumstances there is no case that a "seller can open".  The buyer opens the case for "not as described".

In effect the buyer is opening the case on two grounds:  "not as described as it smelled of washing powder" and "not as described in that they claim that there were fewer items than you said". 

Sadly you are on a hiding to nothing here.  You have only 3 days to deal with it.  The simple advice is that you refund without fuss and in full.  If the buyer had already escalated the case then eBay has also given you a defect and you will not get a fee credit.

Again it is all very confused.  The correct way this proceeds should be that the buyer opens the case and you simply send a label [at your cost] to return and when that happens you refund.  EBay has no way to establish "the truth". It has no way to inspect items and almost always finds for the buyer.

@bethanylouise1995