How do I refund a buyer.

[cascade]

Buyer bought an item, which took two weeks for e cheque to clear. I posted the item the next day. seven days past and buyer contacts me to say item has not arrived.I reply saying give it a couple more days if it still hasnt come in the post email me.

Well 2 days have passed now she has opened up a dispute which has now put a hold on the money.

I am more than happy to refund but I cant due to the hold.
How do I refund in this situation?
I have not been ebaying long and this has never happened to me before, how long should you wait for an item to turn up before you put in a dispute?

You can refund the held payment. Go to the transaction in PayPal, click on it, scroll to the bottom and press refund.

Ask them to kindly wait till Monday and you will refund then if it has not arrived, point out that due to the adverse weather conditions it could have been held up.

Then ask them to complete a mutual withdrawal i.e so you can recover your final value fees

Yes I did kindly ask them to wait a few more days due to weather and instead of emailing me she put in a dispute and now the money is being held. Ive tried clicking on the transaction but the refund does not come up. It just states the money is being held ready for charge back.