eBay Return Question (From the Seller's Perspective) 1 1

[USCMitch]

I'm not a high volume eBay seller by any means, typically only selling things that no longer fit my collection and such so forgive my ignorance on this (3-5 things a year).
Situation: 
I recently listed and sold a Sandman 1 CGC 9.4. As I was prepping it for shipping I noticed a crack across the bottom back of the case (1"-2") that was still firmly in place. I messaged the buyer, provided pictures, etc. We came to the agreement that I would issue a partial refund of $30 to accommodate re-holdering if that's what they chose to do. Great! Shipped the book, double-boxed USPS Priority Mail. Before it has even arrived, the buyer initiates a return request as "Arrived Damaged". His explanation explains that since he would have to pay the $25 CGC Membership cost to submit the re-holder, he no longer wants the book. In all honesty, I will probably just take the return, but if I wanted to fight it, would I have any likelihood of success? 
Again, there is almost zero chance of me fighting it as it's typically not worth it, but the fact that they didn't even wait, claimed it "Arrived Damaged" and are backing out after they got a fairly bargained for agreement, all sort of grinds my gears.

Thoughts?

[Lightning55]

You could reject the return request.  The buyer agreed to accept it in its cracked condition, and presumably you have eBay messages between the 2 of you confirming this.  It will arrive damaged, but that is now the current status of its "description" due to the messaged agreement.

This will create and adversarial situation.  The buyer could me "motivated" to make sure it is far more damaged than originally sent.  Now you have a return of a potentially damaged comic.

The buyer could also react to this by putting in a claim with his credit card company, or if PayPal was used, that it arrived damaged, and they are not privy to the eBay conversation.  That action will usually trump everything. 

A possible route to follow would be to go along with it (begrudgingly), and have the buyer refuse the shipment, not accept it, not open it.  Since it's Priority, the post office will return it at no fee.  You will be out the initial shipping, have to relist it, but that's about the best you are going to do.

If it lands with the buyer, is opened, and he wants to send it back, you will also be responsible for return shipping.  Double the damage.

[USCMitch]

Yeah, that's kind of what I figured - the range of options that I "could" do would be limited by what is "advisable" to do. 
We ended up settling. I gave another partial refund for $25 and he was happy. I probably left a lot on the table, but I would have had to get it re-holdered myself to avoid repeating the issue in the future, so I guess it's a draw.

[Lightning55]

I was going to add that "extra $25" option, but I didn't know any of the numbers of the transaction. 

And it will be more for either of you to get it re-holdered.  It's $15 for the re-holder, a $5 admin fee, outgoing shipping $15, return shipping $15, so it is at least $50.  The only way it is cheaper per re-holder is if you have a bunch to do.