E-bay has refunded buyer, I didn't even know there was a problem!

[HeeBeeGeebies]

I sold a pair of baby leggings on ebay a couple of weeks ago. I was just going through my paypal account and saw that there was a refund payment, I checked and apparently a case was open against me because an item was "not as described" and they buyer has been refunded.

I never had any direct messages from the buyer, they opened a case without contacting me first and didn't notice the messages from ebay (my fault I know). Buyer has been refunded as the leggings weren't described as 3/4 length (they're not, they were full length on my DS). When I checked the case, it said "You have received the item back, the buyer has been refunded. The case is closed." I haven't received them back though.

Where do I stand? I don't mind giving a refund but I want the item back. I know not receiving and replying to the messages on time is sort of my fault, I use the iphone ebay app and there must have been an issue with the notifications. It's happened before.

Any advice would be appreciated!

[SandyDilbert]

you need to speak to ebay - the buyer will have provided tracking proving delivery for them to have got the refund. You would have been notified via ebay messages a case had been opened & escalated.

[lljkk]

So you did get Ebay messages in your email account which you noticed but you didn't read them??

You can appeal saying that item has NOT been delivered back. May have to google how to appeal. In meantime it may turn up. Ebay refunded an item on my behalf 24 hours before I received it back, too.

[HeeBeeGeebies]

Thanks for the replies. I didn't get any emails from eBay nor did I get notifications from the eBay app when they sent me messages regarding the case. Annoying, although obviously not the fault of the buyer and if I had got the messages I would have dealt with it straightaway.

I have started an appeal and stated that I haven't received anything back from the buyer, hoping that the item is on it's way back. If I lose the money and don't receive the money back I think this will be the last time I use eBay as it seems to be more hassle than it's worth.

[lljkk]

That's scarey. :-(