Closing return request with the best outcome

[teenieem]

We have posted one fragile item, well packed at our very best but item boken on arrival.

Buyer opened a "Return Request". We replied the buyer with a good explanation.

Buyer kindly accepted to receive the item cost only; not postage fees. Therefore we only need to reimburse the part payment.
Our question is, without effecting any Seller's Performance, which is the best way process to follow from now on?

To credit the part payment to the buyer,
1. We can try logging in Paypal, go to that payment and make the part payment to the buyer back. By doing so, we will gain the credit of item fees from ebay but we are afraid this will end up being an alert to ebay to penalise us as a "return" on our Seller Performance (one bad stroke)
2. There is a little button on the "Return Request" for the part payment. Should we make the payment as part of the actions of the "Return Request"? We will end up receiving the same bad stroke on our record
3. Or simply get their bank details and deposit into the item fees?
4. At this stage, who will close the "Return Request? Are we responsible to? There is also a deadline to act this upon.

Thank you very much in advance.

[teenieem]

Sorry, not sure our font are appearing in bold. We tried clicking the "B" button but could not change the font. Apologies to you all.

[digital*ghost]

Well, to be honest standard practice is to issue a full refund to a buyer in cases like this, and I think you've found a particularly rare one (rare buyer, I mean) if they are agreeable to a partial refund. Obviously I'm not privy to whatever explanation you offered the buyer, and I'm not trying to be judgemental, just that it is the standard position that most buyers (and eBay as well) will take in such circumstances, except of course where the item is still of use and retains some value (which may be the case here). 

That being said, you will need to use the partial refund option in the dispute - I haven't done this myself yet as a seller, but if you proceed with that option, I believe the buyer is then sent an update where they are given the chance to accept or deny the partial refund amount. If accepted, I'm not sure if the refund is automatically issued, or whether you have to action it manually. I'm also not too sure what happens if the partial refund amount is rejected, but if it has been negotiated beforehand and the buyer has already indicated the solution is acceptable, that shouldn't be a problem. 

Refunding via PayPal doesn't credit you with any eBay fees, in fact the best chance of that happening is submitting any refunds via the eBay dispute console. You're also more likely to get seller defects for sending refunds directly via PayPal than through eBay initiated options. 

The request will usually close automatically once a formal solution has been actioned, so if you send an offer of a partial refund and the buyer accepts it, once the refund is issued (via eBay) the case should close.  

[teenieem]

Thank you, digital*ghost. If so, we will simply choose a partial refund option on the "Return Request".