Question about item subjective condition

[jasonncohen]

Hello, I sold a $350+tax cashmere sweater for $44 on eBay.

I listed the item as pre-owned, and in the description I wrote good overall condition, 6.5/10 with some minor defects. I inspected the sweater closely and saw no holes, tears, stains. There was some piling.

Before listing, I asked for a second opinion in-person, and they said the sweater looked fine overall and agreed with my item description.

I listed the item with the option "Returns accepted in 14 days. Buyer pays return shipping". I had a buyer who purchased it. Before shipping the sweater, I reached out to the buyer and asked if they had any questions or concerns about the sweater before I shipped out. They said no.

The buyer received the sweater, messaged me saying the sweater is ragged and garbage and has piling everywhere. Although I did not necessarily agree, I just told him he can return the sweater and I'll refund him the money. He refused to ship back the item because it is expensive and told me if I do not pay return shipping he will just throw it in the garbage. He opened a case with eBay saying that "The item arrived damaged".

I would like any thoughts or opinions how to fairly deal with this and if I did anything wrong.

[flipistics]

You have two choices. Refund the buyer without requiring them to return the item, or send them a return label.  Handling it any other way, especially with a difficult customer, will likely result in you losing the case, the money, the item, and taking a hit on both your account and your feedback.

If you send them the label and they don't return the item, then they were probably trying to scam you, nothing further happens and you keep the money. If they send the same item back, then report them to eBay for lying about the return reason. If they send a different item back, report them to both eBay and the applicable postal authorities for postal fraud.

Unfortunately this kind of thing happens on occasion.  Deal with it calmly and professionally. Try to keep it in perspective. It could be a lot worse. Try hanging out near the return line at a store like Walmart for awhile. It will make you really thankful that it happens as infrequently as it does on eBay.

Also, I'd suggest not grading items. Take really good pictures and describe it clearly. Let people make up their own minds about exact condition because grading is subjective.