Buyer returned - item missing

[Prizepudding]

Had a post previously regarding a buyer who wanted to return a toy as not described, he stated items was discoloured which was not stated in description however it was mentioned in the listing. All by the by but item has finally been returned 3 weeks later and one of the items is missing. It's playmobil and it's one of the accessories that has been taken. The cynic in me says he has done this on purpose, his ebay Id indicates he is a playmobil shop. How do I deal with this please? Just refund or contact and complain, if so what is the likely outcome.

Don't refund until all parts are returned.

Have contacted him and he claims he never opened the bag of accessories and sent back exactly as sent, total lie! Now what do I do, it's going to be a case of his word against mine.

and he sent it back tracked? There really is nothing you can do but refund.

Was there a picture on the listing that shows a bit or tiny bit of the missing item?
I would call his bluff anyway you can ...how annoying..

It is all in the picture, he claims he didn't open the bag but my argument would be it is his responsibility to check all items were there and stated that they were missing as part of the reason to return. I've called his bluff but he is telling me feel free to report me, he knows I am not going to get anywhere, very annoying. Can you open a case for this or is it just report buyer?

I would report him for misuse of e-bay money back gaurentee for starters even if it is your word against his,check his feedback and see if he has any other suspicious returns ?
Did you send tracked when you first posted ? If you did the weight will be on the receipt so check the weight of the items you received back and you may find a difference (if its only a very light piece you may have problems though)

Best you can do is report him but not much will happen. Sadly I think these one person's word against another's cases usually end in buyer getting the refund. Might be best to just refund and be done with it. If he did take the piece he's an arse and how very un-festive of him. Is it possible you may be mistaken about whether it was in there or could it have fallen out of the bag at some point? If he is a dealer then condition may be important to him but he should have read description, however maybe he did miss that bit about fading? Xmas ebaying is abit fraught at times.

Unless it was a lot of money involved - refund and move on - it really isn't worth the hassle and hopefully karma will bite his ass if he stole a toy!!