r/Ebay•
ok-frame-9003

Would you leave negative feedback after accepting a partial refund in this situation?

I bought a used book on eBay for $20.

The written listing description and the "Item Specifics" section specifically listed the measurements and ISBN of the edition I wanted, but I received a different edition with a different ISBN and different dimensions.

To be fair to the seller, one of the listing photos did show the ISBN of the book I actually received. I didn’t notice that at the time because I was going by the written description and Item Specifics, which were both incorrect.

I didn’t want that size/edition, so I requested a return. The seller responded that the size and different ISBN shouldn’t matter because the content was the same, and pointed out that one of the photos showed the ISBN.

I didn’t respond to that, but several hours later he offered me a $5 partial refund. At that point I was tired of dealing with a $20 transaction, so I replied that I’d take the $5 “to be done with this and move on so I can buy the book I was originally looking for.”

I still left negative feedback explaining that the written description identified the wrong edition, that the seller initially denied the return, that he eventually offered a partial refund, and that it also took him 7 days to ship the item.

Now the seller has told me I’m “incredibly petty and unreasonable” and wants me to revise the feedback. His position is essentially that I complained about a size difference on a $20 book with identical content, one of the photos showed the ISBN of the edition I received, he gave me a partial refund to accommodate me, and it was unreasonable to accept the refund and still leave negative feedback.

I’m genuinely torn now. On one hand, the $5 refund was offered as a compromise and I accepted it, so I can understand why he might feel the issue was resolved. On the other hand, I accepted it mostly because the amount involved wasn’t worth spending more time arguing over, and I still felt the overall buying experience was poor.

As a seller myself, if I had listed the wrong ISBN and dimensions, I would have accepted the return and apologized rather than telling the buyer that the difference shouldn’t matter. That’s ultimately why I left negative feedback.

Would you leave the negative feedback, change it to neutral/positive, or revise/remove it because I accepted the partial refund?

Posted Sep 25, 2026, 11:06 PM UTC

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