It's not a stupid question at all, I am sure it is something that has come up for a lot of people.
You'll need to ask the seller.
Ebay is full of all different sellers and just like your local shopping centre, the return policies aren't all the same.
Generally speaking, a seller is under no obligation to accept any return at all unless it is mentioned in the ad. I presume you're talking change of mind returns.
Often on ebay (and other sites), if you want to return a purchase for change of mind, you have to pay the postage.
So here's where your seller would be at: They sold a number of the same items to you, they posted the package, they paid ebay and paypal fees on the sale price.
Now, you would like to return X number of them.
The seller might possibly be willing to accept a partial return, but if they do, you'll have to weigh up the cost of the items against the postage return costs, because I'd imagine the seller won't be willing to pay that. Plus the seller may deduct the fees from the refunded amount.
Plus you won't be getting the refund until after the seller receives the items, so a degree of trust is needed there.
Or the seller may just decide the whole thing is a bit of a minefield and politely decline.
You won't know till you ask, I guess.
But it is an interesting question because as far as I know, ebay is set up for sellers to make partial refunds if items are not as described, but I haven't heard much about partial change of mind returns. I'm not a seller though so not up with the latest, some of the sellers might come on later and give you a better idea.
