You haven't given us much information but once the buyer has been refunded, it is unlikely that ebay will ask them to send the item to you and they certainly could not force the buyer to do that. You can contact the buyer yourself and tell them that you will pay return shipping if they will send the item back and they might or might not be willing to do so.
When a buyer wants to return an item because an item is not described, a seller can indicate that they will refund after the item is returned, refund the buyer without the item being returned or fight the not as described case by saying that they won't accept the return. If the seller loses the not as described case, then the buyer gets a refund without having to return the item as the seller had previously indicated they didn't want the return.
As far as how long it takes ebay to decide an appeal...I have no idea. What grounds did you give for appealing?