buyer initiated questionable return, citing defect, wants full $$$ back,best course of action?

[audiovideotogo]

It was a dvd recorder, which he told ebay had one of it's 2 inputs not working. So he wants to return it and get the postage refunded. I have to 13 feb to choose one of the resolutions

RED FLAGS?:

- he has his own 'brick and mortar' electronics store, judging from his user name; so he is a local reseller of the product type I sold him

-he is cagey, did not communicate about item problem specifics, at all, to this seller, instead to ebay directly. Yet earlier, before shipping, he quickly replied to a note I sent him about the  now disputed item.

It is possible, but i never heard about ,dead inputs  on dvd recorders before,  internet search results of this was vague to  say the least

- months earlier, another electronics store/repair type, similarly tight lipped,'go direct to ebay' buyer, also disputed a player as 'broken', asked for  partial refund, but later relented and cancelled 'amicably'. I'm fairly certain  that THAT was a scammer, who thought sellers were favored over buyers.

I'm doing fairly well in sales compared to earlier periods, with a new niche to exploit, so now want to  come out of this situation without getting totally scammed if possible.

I did mention the mail fraud concern I have to this buyer, ( without directly implying it) no reply of course.

surely not all the options are 'rollover' 'butter him up', ' it's hopeless' etc?

[femmefan1946]

@audiovideotogo 

..they also have an 'F' and 3 unresolved strikes ( 5 in total) from the BBB.

We were members of the Better Business Bureau for many years before we retired.

It's good public relations for any business, because most people have no idea what the BBB is.

Which is  a franchised business, set up by local businesses to encourage trust in the customer.

All they offer is mediation-- and that job is because they pre-date government backed services like Small Claims Court which can enforce judgements.

The other reports on their websites are opinions, like eBay's feedback system or Yelp reviews. Unhappy customers are more likely to leave an opinion than a happy one.

We had top ratings in our small field from the BBB, but basically they were a good place to advertise our services to the tranche of the public who would use them for references.

[audiovideotogo]

only reason I mentioned the BBB besides the 3 unresolved complaints he got,  is because it showed up about 4 entries down in his store google search, so this buyer has exposure he does not want.....this is why I'm wary of customers who have their own businesses and are constantly on the look for low cost inventory. As for the customer feedback, he had plenty of glowing five star reviews on Google Reviews, from customers more excited than successful kidney transplant patients....at least with ebay product reviews, they have the 'verified purchase' indication if somebody wonders about  THEIR  legitimacy