if a member says an item was damaged and if i don't respond right away and or give them refund they will leave neg feedback is that wrong?

[2947kim]

if a member says an item is damaged and if i don't respond right away or give refund they will give me a negative feedback is that manipulation or extortion? I gave them refund right away without seeing it as i felt rushed to do something and didn't want to risk bad feedback,  this person has only a 12 feedback

[dmil8030]

In a case like this, the number of feedback the person has does not really matter.  It does, however, indicate that the person is new and does not know there are feedback guidelines, to say nothing of knowing what those rules are.

There are certain circumstances under which a person can indeed threated to leave negative feedback.  I have not seen your correspondence with this other member, but you decide where the person's comments fit:

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/policies/feedback-extortion.html

Usually, a buyer is required to return a damaged item for a refund of item price + original shipping fee.  You can request to have your items sent back, and if the problem really is the fault of the item or poor packaging, the decent thing to do is refund the return shipping fee although you will not be forced to do that.  Section 4 of the following link explains about how the Not as Described process works:

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/buy/item-not-received.html

[scifan57]

If you don't refund your buyer,you risk having an item not as described dispute opened against you. Tell your buyer that you will send a refund as soon as you receive the returned item. It's always better if you can settle these problems before they get to the dispute stage.

[femmefan1946]

Keep it calm and professional. Offer a full refund when the item has been returned.

An honest buyer will do this, although most will grumble about the high cost of Delivery Confirmed shipping.

Some buyers will offer pictures - this can be acceptable if the item is truly trashed and unusable. Up to you, of course.

The one thing to look out for is a demand for a Partial Refund. These are usually scams. If it is good enough to keep it is good enough to pay for.

And if the damage was unnoticed by you , or was caused by your poor packing, you ethically should be refunding the return shipping too. Sorry.