Refunding an item that was 'significantly not as described'

[tobyonekenobe]

I sold a laptop on eBay last week and mistakingly mislabled the HDD as an SSD (I honestly thought it was). The buyer has since raised a 'Significantly not as described' case with PayPal, asking for a partial refund of £40 to buy an SSD to replace the HDD and a new battery which she claims is dead. I know for a fact that the battery is fine and I also know that £40 won't even come close to buying an SSD (of the same capacity) so I'm not sure why she's only asking for £40.

I realise it was my mistake for mislabeling the HDD but I don't consider it to be a 'significant' error. It was an old laptop and thinking about it, an SSD wouldn't give any appreciable improvement in performance. It's highly unlikely that it was the deciding factor in her decision to purchase it either. However, I accept that it was 'not as described' so I would have been happy to offer her £20 as a gesture of good will.

I don't think she's trying to scam me. She has a valid case for 'not as described' but I'm not prepared to give her £40 when we all know she's not going to use it for what she says she is. I have told her through the messaging system in the Dispute Resolution Centre that I will give her a full refund if she returns it, but I've not heard back from her.

What are the next steps? If she doesn't reply, is the dispute automatically escalated to a claim? If so, will PayPal look at our conversation and see that I've told her to return it for a full refund and just tell her to do that? This is the first time I've ever had someone raise a dispute against me (I'm more a buyer than a seller).

[kernowlass]

@tobyonekenobe

You and she have 20 days to come to an agreement but she can escalate it to a claim before that if she wants to and then paypal will decide and yes they can see the comments as long as its a paypal and not an ebay dispute.

Once escalated paypal don't deal in part refunds, if you have not come to an agreement AND paypal rule in her favour then she will have to return the item back to you before you have to provide a full refund.

Tell her that that is what may happen if paypal rule in her favour AND she may have to pay for the return at her own expense and then she may be more agreeable to a deal.

I often find giving the buyer a phone call sorts things out more quickly. You can get her phone number via advanced search on ebay > contact member > fill in the details and they will email you her phone number.