Item arrived unclean and torn - WWYD?

[Blowitout]

Hello, I have never had reason to complain about buying or selling on ebay before, but my time was bound to come...
I bought a princess dress for my daughter through Buy it Now. Unfortunately due to the postage increases the seller was caught out and paid 3 x quoted postage just to send it to me. It arrived today but it doesn't look as though it has been washed (food stains that look as though they might come out in the wash) and there is a huge tear down the back. I am not very handy with a needle and thread but I could probably repair this. If I had seen it in a shop in this condition I would not have paid £10 for it. However if I complain to the seller and have to send it back, it will cost over half as much again to post it so really not worth it.

WWYD please?

I'd send it back. You may get stiffed for return postage if they won't cover that cost, but they will get stiffed with neg f/back in return so they are daft. Check what Collectplus would cost you to return it.

How was it described, do they have wiggle room by saying it was advertised as "well worn & used" or somesuch?

I recently had this and opened a case with eBay after seller ignored me. eBay issued me with a pre pay label to post back and refunded my money once tracking confirmed item had arrived. Some people just take this piss, described item as hardly used and it was filthy, I wouldn't have sent to a charity shop in that condition!

It was described as "only worn a couple of times" and "excellent condition".

nervous-interesting. I had to pay return postage recently. Bought a bundle which was yuck, had to use royal mail too as I don't have a printer

Jelly - I think I seller agrees to refund then you have to pay postage but if they just ignore you as they did with me, eBay will intervene. in my case postage was double the price of the item so not sure if that made a difference?

Open a dispute and ask for partial refund? Enough to get it sewn up?

If they ignore your emails and continue to ignore communications after you have opened a case then in my experience eBay will refund you the whole amount without you having to return the item.
I was quite surprised when this happened to me as I expected to have to return an item (damaged pair of trousers) but luckily I had all my money back then put the trousers in the charity bag.

I second rusmums's suggestion of opening a dispute and asking for a partial refund; I bought a sports bra for £10 a year or so ago, it was described as brand new but had make up stains all over it. I thought the stains would probably wash out so I requested a £5 partial refund, which I got.