Thanks for getting back to clarify.

Firstly, I have to say I don't think the voucher was offered to you as compensation for a shortfall in your refund.

I know it may have occurred at the same time as you were having difficulties with your purchase but I think that is just coincidence.

Ebay regularly makes special offers to members, via messages, with invitations to sign up for ebay plus. These deals have differed over time but as I said, I received the exact same $30 voucher offer recently so I suspect it was sent to a lot of people.

One thing I have noticed (learnt) from this board though is not every member receives certain offers. Sometimes you'll hear of someone getting a message about an offer but another person doesn't get it. So even if you have friends who may not have received the offer, it doesn't mean the offer was specific to you, if that makes sense. It will probably have gone to a lot of different people, just not every single person.

The $30 shortfall in your refund then has to have some other explanation as I don't believe the $30 voucher offer was meant as a substitute.

What I would do is message the seller. Mention that you received a refund but it was $30 short of what you paid and ask them to clarify exactly how much they refunded as you are trying to work out what happened. I can only think of currency exchange problems but it does seem a large amount. It can add up though.

If you don't get any clear answers from that, I would do as imastawka suggests and contact ebay chat. I wouldn't even mention the voucher offer as I think that will just confuse the issue, just say you made a purchase that the seller cancelled but the refund you received came up $30 short, could they check it out and explain.

I'd love to hear how you get on with this. Good luck.