Unscrupulous ebay buyers

@audioguy85 That message sounds pretty unambiguous to me.
Aside from the obvious bummer of a no-longer-new cartridge and the headache, this is the best one could hope for, resolution-wise.
Unlike what so many others were saying, you don’t lose the $160, you aren’t unfairly penalized for having an unscrupulous buyer, and you may attempt to re-sell the now-used cartridge if you wish.
I only choose the highest % sellers on Discogs. I’ve had mostly good luck, but I’ve had my share of duds.

Nothing too bad overall except one.

This seller took my money and didn’t ship the CD until a week later. The vast majority of sellers ship the next day, but whatever, I’m a fairly forgiving sort.
I got the wrong CD. A full month after paying for it. Shipping-wise, this location was about as close as can be to Alaska (NW Oregon). I’ve had plenty of orders arrive much quicker from the East Coast and Europe.
The seller responded promptly when I messaged that the wrong CD was sent. OK.
A week goes by. Nothing. I message again, reminding that I still have heard nothing regarding my CD.
Another week goes by. The seller finally says he found the right CD and then went on to (I kid you not) blame the Jan. 6 riots for the delay. Not joking. His excuse was that “they’re like storming the capitol in Salem which is like two blocks from my house spin crazy around here.”
Wow. I am a very understanding and forgiving buyer (even if I may be picky about vinyl at times) but I had had enough. I didn’t want anything to do with this seller anymore. I didn’t care about the money or the CD. I just wanted to call this whole thing off. I just left negative feedback (which I had never done before some two dozen purchases in). This is, of course, when the seller started to finally try to do his job, which I just ignored. You’ve got my money, leave me alone. You suck.
Somehow the seller was able to expunge my negative feedback.
Cool.

@tylermunns wow, that's quite the fiasco....I've bought a few discog records, most as described, some not so much...yeah, the wording is a bit odd, but it does say I'm not responsible for any reimbursement to either buyer or eBay. I'll still keep an eye on account. 

@dill no idea where or how buyer is refunded, all i know is thus far it has not come from me! 😁

@audioguy85 

That worked out wonderfully - I had no idea this sort of outcome was even possible with eBay.  I wonder if this sort of "intervention" is reserved for cases where buyers exceed a set number of returns - assuming eBay, like many retail stores, has limits in place to dissuade habitual returners.  It would be interesting to see if this individual's account has been sanctioned.  I just can't imagine this type of resolution is sustainable for eBay.

The other possibility, I suppose, it that a different course of action is implemented when the seller refuses to accept the return (as you've done).  Still, I'd sure like to know where the refunded money is coming from.  Some type of seller reimbursement insurance, perhaps?  ;o)

Thanks for sharing your experience.  I'm glad it all worked out for you in the end.

@tds3371 Thank you. Yes, I was surprised of this outcome myself, and was also unaware of a refund without effecting my account. Any how, I'll have to now relist this cartridge, albeit now slightly used.