Annoying eBay experience - cosmetics

[CoolToned]

Very annoyed. I bought a Shiseido foundation from an eBay seller in the US. When it arrived, I compared it to the bottle I bought in the Shiseido counter (we do not have the shade here that's why I purchased from eBay) and it seemed non-authentic. I sent a request for return, complete with pictures comparing the two.

Seller accepted the return and assured me that they will reimburse the return postage. eBay assured me several times that I will get my refund for the item, original postage and return postage. I posted the item from AU to NY. The item reached the seller

Today I found out I will not get a refund, not even for the original item which I sent back, unopened, and is now with the seller to resell.

Does this sound weird to you? I am very annoyed!

Can you open a dispute with PayPal

PayPal directed me to eBay. I appealed and I'm waiting for the reply. It just sounds so ridiculous.

What reason have they given you? That makes no sense. If you followed the process to create a return request, it should automatically guide you to a refund. The seller has x amount of days to refund you and if not ebay would investigate why they haven't or automatically refund you. At the end of the day, you will have the messages between you and the seller if this is the case. They accepted a return. If it was a buy it now, you also have more rights than an auction. Its nonsense.

I wonder if they are claiming that you opened it. If that is the case, unfortunately it is their word against yours. However, in my experience ebay tends to fall on the side of the customer so I don't see how this is the case.

Yes, it's a Buy It Now. I also posted the item back the next day after I received it. I also uploaded pictures of the item for comparison. I do not know what their basis is for deciding in favour of the seller, because I did not get a message from eBay and I just found out through the eBay portal.

I talked to eBay AU customer service and according to the person I talked to, she will have to review this case further because she also cannot see a reason why this was decided on the seller's favour. Apparently it was eBay US who made the decision.

Apparently the reason for the decision is also not in the eBay system that's why even the person I was talking to was perplexed why it was decided like that.