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@elcheapo.123 wrote:

Perhaps you didn't read replies. They did not agree to send money, only to refund the total once the goods arrived. I advised them of the postage cost prior to returning. Why would I not take the agreement from the  seller as actual ? That arrangement was seen by ebay, but doubtful that an actual person read any of that. 

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You really believe that a Chinese seller is going to reimburse you for the postage costs that you incurred? I don't think there's enough space for the number of eye rolls I want to put here.

Replies have been helpful - it's you who chose to send an item back at a massive cost to a random seller who didn't send you the right goods in the first place, and it's you who didn't follow procedure which I specifically showed you from Ebays guidelines which was to get the money upfront - not negotiate.

Ebay is completely aware the there are very few sellers who will ever follow through on a promise to reimburse after the fact, which is exactly why they have that wording. You can choose to do things exactly the way you want to and not heed any advice, but in the end, you are the one with no refund and no way to get any additional postage back from the seller. You  have no idea if the address they gave you was even valid and the seller often claims they never received it, even if the tracking says otherwise. Again, Ebay has no way to make the seller pay for anything extra, so maybe the package will be sent back to you if it can't be delivered.

Had you stuck to procedure, you would have received a refund and been able to do what you liked with the goods. 

Your trust in sellers is misplaced if you think that all of them will "do the right thing". Many will only do what they are obliged to and not an inch more.