Am having a mare of a time with this buyer. Help!

[thismousebites]

For some reason I seem to be having a lot of snags with my buyers atm, and one in particular.
She won an item off me so I sent it. she then opened a case against me (would have been nice if she'd just messaged me first, but anyway), she claims the item is not as described. Demanded an immediate refund. I politely informed her that she would have to return the item, then I would refund her.
Then she sends me another message saying that she feels I am being very unreasonable to expect her to pay return postage. I again explain politely that I will of course refund return postage, but she has to return the item first.
That was a week ago. Item still not arrived back and now she's starting hassling me. I got half a dozen messages from her last night claiming I was being a "really nasty person" & "do not ignore me" ( I don't think I was).
I kept calm (up till midnight) then turned my internet off.
I have no idea how to handle this woman anymore. What's the next step with regards to Ebay? Will this affect my account?

well the not as described case is opened automatically when she chooses the option to contact you so that isn't her being unreasonable

but the rest, you are right, no refund until item has been returned. If poss escalate the case in the resolution centre, you can do this 8 days after case opened, then if she doesn't return tracked then she won't get a refund. I would expect her to leave a neg though. You can also report each of her messages to ebay too. Just scroll down each one and hit report.

But I thought neither the seller or buyer could leave feedback if a case is opened.

no the only time a buyer can't leave feedback is when a non payer case has been closed against them.

oh great, this pyscho is going to rip me to shreds.

well if she does leave feedback you can leave a calm, measured response. It is only a red dot on a website, and if she mentions refunds or paypal or a case ebay will remove it. Don't let her bully you into refunding before the item has been returned. After all you could refund let her keep it and she could still leave a neg.

what is her feedback left for others like?

I don't know. Can I read that? Didn't know I could.

read what - feedback left for others? click on her feedback number and you can view her own feedback, scroll down and you can click on feedback left for others.

Oh dear. Have just read the feedback she leaves for others.......this will not end well.
She seems to have an issue with postage charges on lots of items from different sellers. she also has a few lost in post issues.

well if she has opened a not as described case she cannot now claim not received.

No but I can see my 100% going for a burton.

Feel free to give us a link so we can put her on our BBLs, too!

She sounds like a nutter. Please don't worry. Everyone gets stung once in a while - everyone will know it was her, not you.

I second not refunding a bean till she returns the item, which of course, she won't do.

Ebay and paypal won't refund her either until she returns it tracked.

I'd just disengage, or be like a broken record.

btw are we allowed to share ids of these horrendous buyers or is that not allowed? At least we could warn each other! I do not want that lipstick woman (see other thread) buying from me!

I don't think MN has a policy against name&shame. It's a major no-no on Ebay fora, though.

I have tried the ebay community forum and it was crazy. Seemed to be just people having arguments! I gave up. Well I haven't got that many but I don't mind telling who I have blocked.

Well it's all been sorted, sort of.
Crazy buyer escalated to customer care and Ebay refunded her initial payment and postage, but not her return postage.
They said they found me not to blame and that this decision would not affect my seller rating, but they have not aksed me to refund buyer, they have done so themselves.
I found this very strange. Why would they find me not at fault but refund her out of their own money?
Anyway, the day they informed me of this the buyer sent me another message. She was basically gloating about her refund. I ever so sweetly pointed out to her that I was not out of pocket and that she was down £3.00 return postage. I also informed her that the item had eventually arrived in the post that very day, so I would be relisting asap thankyou very much. I also advised her to be a bit more polite to other sellers in future, and more patient.
Her reply was, as expected, quite snippy.

Has she left feedback yet? Make sure you add her to your blocked bidder list.