eBay buyer saying item I sold is broken

[ItsClemFandangoCanYouHearMe]

I sold a coffee machine on eBay to a buyer who collected. It was rarely used but pretty new hence the sale.

I made a coffee to check it worked fine, which it did, and then cleaned it thoroughly by running the cycle and cleaning the exterior. Perfect.

This was collected with no problems but 3 weeks later the buyer is saying it's broken and she has paid £50 to have it fixed but there was NOTHING wrong with it.

How do I handle this? It was in perfect order when it left me and I still haven't had the funds released by PayPal and I was relying on that for something else.

I think you’ve caused yourself a headache by taking PayPal for a collected item. Should’ve been cash in hand.
I’d contact PayPal ASAP.

eBay usually covers the buyer for a 14 day money back guarantee period. You should be ok. Tell them it was working when it was sold and you’re not issuing a refund nearly a month later. If she raises a dispute then state the same on eBay

What does the buyer want? A refund ? I'd want to have the item back at least, before issuing that.
(Ignore the repair fees- that's not your problem).
eBay will issue a refund anyway if the buyer opens a return case and you ignore it. So best to pre-empt all this and ring eBay yourself.
You can't report the buyer for abusing the returns policy afterwards but that doesn't really help with you the money side. Sorry.
Take cash for pick up items only in future.

It's not 14 days, it's 28 days for a refund.
I've had a similar situation recently after years on eBay with no issues.

*you can report the buyer for abusing..🤦‍♀️

Definitely contact eBay - she may have form for doing this. The fact that she apparently chose to pay £50 to fix it rather than contact you to say it was broken sounds dodgy in itself. I mean, who buys something from eBay, thinks 'oh, it's not working: I'll get it fixed then ask the seller to reimburse me'. Dodgy as hell.

A colleague was trying to tell me something about an eBay returns scam based on Royal Mail only keep tracking to postcodes and not door numbers. I can’t remember exact details but I think The disputed item is returned but is just an empty cardboard box and is sent to your postcode but not with your door number. A neighbour gets a partially addressed empty box which presumably they bin, and you don’t receive it. Then when you complain about not returned goods, a signature for empty box to your postcode is demonstrated. So you lose the cash and the item. I might have got that wrong but would not want postal return in this case....

Thanks for all your input! Stupid to use PayPal I know. It been so long since I sold anything on eBay and never gone a collection so didn't think. No response yet. I've said it was working fine and I don't see the issue, plus she paid about £100 less than it was worth even used! I've sent a link to the instructions and left it at that for now. I'll wait to see if there's any response before I contact eBay in case she decides to go for the refund. I had 100% score as well