Partial Refund for Unauthorised Purchase

[toomanycarrots]

Hi,

I sold an item on eBay recently and posted it shortly afterwards. However, several hours later, I received an email from eBay stating that the sale had been canceled because of unauthorised access to the buyer's account. The item had already shipped at this point. Having received the item back after it was returned by the buyer, I want to offer a partial refund excluding the original postage cost so I do not take any loss myself. I contacted the buyer on eBay, who said that the payment was unauthorised but not made directly with PayPal. If the buyer has no Paypal account, there is no way to claim buyer protection without making one, which the buyer seemingly refuses to do. As such, there doesn't seem to be a way to claim seller protection either.

What would be the best course of action in this scenario? The message I received from PayPal after asking them about this didn't directly say I had to offer a full refund.

[Teslafan101]

I am afraid in this case,since item was returned to you,you have to issue a full refund!

[kernowlass · Accepted solution]

@toomanycarrots 

If they paid as a 'guest buyer' then they could do a chargeback via their card issuer for a full refund if you refuse a full refund OR they can phone customer services and they will open a claim for them............they can still do so without a paypal account and have buyer protection.