Charles, first of all, recognize that eBay itself doesn't have a "return policy", they're just a venue, and they don't tell individual sellers what their policy should be. Each seller is free to create his own policy on this kind of thing.

Second, I find the way you phrase your question to be quite interesting, and misleading.

You say the description was "a set of 3 chips, $1/$5/$25, in a plastic holder", which sure sounds like chips in a holder. You also say there was no picture.

I looked up the auction, and the description actually says "one 25.00 ,one 5.00 and one 2.50 .mounted in Plastic , this is a great collectors item". There was a photo (25.jpg) with the auction, but being hosted on AOL, it might not have been working at the time you placed your bid.

To me, the description is a dead giveaway that the "collectors item" was some sort of display piece "mounted in plastic", rather than 3 loose chips. The seller refers to it as a great (singular) item. People buy these gift shop souvenirs all the time, then sell them on eBay when they get back home and realize what a dumb purchase it was.

Clearly, you read the description and assumed it was three loose chips and a plastic holder, and you know what happens when you "assume". There also was a photo, it just wasn't working at the time you bid, probably. That "broken image" box is a giveaway that a photo was there, you could have right clicked on it to get it to come up, or emailed the seller and asked him to email it to you before you bid. "Caveat Emptor".

I think this is a common misunderstanding, with no one really at fault. I think both parties deserve positive feedback, or possibly no feedback if you have a resentment against him, but neutral or negative feedback? That would be silly, these things happen, and both of you have perfect feedback records. Why spoil them when neither of you was out of line?

I think you're lucky to have been able to return it at all, for a refund of the purchase price. If I were the seller, I would not refund on the item at all, but then, if I were the seller, the description would have been clear, and the photo would have been working.

Now, as you say, the post office charged $7.20 to transport the item back and forth, so that's dead money, the "rake" so to speak.

The question is who should pay for that? My opinion? The seller, if he misrepresented the item, and I can't see where he did. The buyer should absorb the loss, if the buyer is having "buyer's remorse", or if the buyer failed to ask appropriate questions before bidding.

If he is willing to split the difference with you, as a show of good faith, or in the name of good customer service, then I think he deserves a big thank you and positive feedback.