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?

[momcqueen]

Accept the return and send a return label. If you get back another item, you can cross the bridge when you come to it. You kept a serial number?