So it finally happened, I sent the wrong item to one of my eBay buyers. I'm going to send the correct item to them of course, but would you ask for them to send the item back to you? And generally you would pay for shipping back? Or would you just send them a refund, minus shipping costs? It was a small item, just a minifigure (thank goodness) but was just wondering what people usually do.

Something that small?  I'd just eat it, personally.  I did that once with a Mixel.  It's goodwill to your customer to just own up to your mistake, and let them keep it.

Unless it's Mr. Gold.

Yeah, with such a cheap item it's best to let them just keep it, apologise and and move on. Better than getting a defect/negative for a very low value item.

Likewise what others have said.

Only wrong item I've sent before was a Mixel instead of a Mini Cooper poly. I just told the customer to keep the Mixel and that i'd ship out the correct item right away. Not worth them to get any more upset by trying to send it back and get re-reimbursed for the postage cost etc. Anything you can do to avoid Negative feedback at this point is best imo.

Luckily they did not leave me Negative/Nuetral feedback, so still at %100!

Thanks guys. That what I'll do!

I just tell them to keep the set with my compliments and either offer a full refund or send the correct item. Once I sold a set that I couldn't find in my stuffed attic (my fault) so I sent an equivalent set and a FULL refund. Since that day, this buyer has bought off me regularly outside of eBay. Honesty and customer service always pays off.