How to respond to upset eBay buyer?

[MilkyTaroMochi]

I sold a Mystery Mini figure to someone on eBay some days ago, and had checked the pony to make sure she was wrapped properly. I saw I got a message from her, saying that the pony arrived with her tail broken, among other things.

Here is the message that she sent me:

Spoiler

just received my Applejack and I'm sorry to say this, but the Funko Mystery Mini figures seem to be of very poor quality. Applejack's tail fell off the second I got it out of the package. I bought two other Funko Mystery Mini figures from other sellers and the tails are also very poorly attached and will probably fall off soon too. I think there should be a warning that these figures are extremely fragile and not intended to be played with. I will try to glue the tail back on, hope it works, or my little girl is going to be very sad.

So I am not exactly sure on how to respond back to her. I've mailed off MMs to people before and they would arrive fine with no issues. So I assume it was the post office's fault for the tail being broken. I know in my listing, I did state that it was from the Funko Mystery Mini series, but I guess from this point forward, I will have to be blunt and state that it's not exactly a toy.

The part I bolded really is getting to me because part of me is thinking "If she had issues with the other figures, when why did she buy mine?" And another part of "customer who didn't really/exactly know what she was buying and assumed all MLP merchandise are meant for kids" ( in this case, an MLP figure that isn't meant to be played with like a regular brushable MLP toy. )
I normally don't do refunds, but I dunno if I should at least do a partial refund for this situation, especially if (from the sound of it) she was going to keep it and try to glue the tail back on.

Any and all help is appreciated. I have a feeling that regardless of what i do, I'll likely get my first neutral/negative feedback because of what happened. 

[Chaosette]

I think if you apologize to her,  get on her level and be really understanding of how she's probably just venting about the fact that she thought these were toys and they werent, and offer a partial refund she wouldn't give you negative feedback. She doesn't seem angry with you in particular, just frustrated with the situation of all of the ponies. If you come off as the most understanding/sympathetic of all the sellers, she will probably give you a positive ratings.
That's my read of the situation but I could be totally wrong.

[MilkyTaroMochi]

I think if you apologize to her,  get on her level and be really understanding of how she's probably just venting about the fact that she thought these were toys and they werent, and offer a partial refund she wouldn't give you negative feedback. She doesn't seem angry with you in particular, just frustrated with the situation of all of the ponies. If you come off as the most understanding/sympathetic of all the sellers, she will probably give you a positive ratings.
That's my read of the situation but I could be totally wrong.

I understand. I was thinking about offering a partial refund for the situation and how I am sorry that AJ 's tail fell off when she took her out. 
I can understand her frustration, and I wasn't sure if I should say anything more about her situation since I fear she may take it the wrong way (like if I was insulting her when I was actually being sympathetic).

[Chaosette]

I think if you apologize to her,  get on her level and be really understanding of how she's probably just venting about the fact that she thought these were toys and they werent, and offer a partial refund she wouldn't give you negative feedback. She doesn't seem angry with you in particular, just frustrated with the situation of all of the ponies. If you come off as the most understanding/sympathetic of all the sellers, she will probably give you a positive ratings.
That's my read of the situation but I could be totally wrong.

I understand. I was thinking about offering a partial refund for the situation and how I am sorry that AJ 's tail fell off when she took her out. 
I can understand her frustration, and I wasn't sure if I should say anything more about her situation since I fear she may take it the wrong way (like if I was insulting her when I was actually being sympathetic).

That's totally legit. I really hope this works out for you!  Keep us posted.

[MilkyTaroMochi]

I think if you apologize to her,  get on her level and be really understanding of how she's probably just venting about the fact that she thought these were toys and they werent, and offer a partial refund she wouldn't give you negative feedback. She doesn't seem angry with you in particular, just frustrated with the situation of all of the ponies. If you come off as the most understanding/sympathetic of all the sellers, she will probably give you a positive ratings.
That's my read of the situation but I could be totally wrong.

I understand. I was thinking about offering a partial refund for the situation and how I am sorry that AJ 's tail fell off when she took her out. 
I can understand her frustration, and I wasn't sure if I should say anything more about her situation since I fear she may take it the wrong way (like if I was insulting her when I was actually being sympathetic).

That's totally legit. I really hope this works out for you!  Keep us posted.

Thank you so much! I shall definately keep everyone posted and i do hope it works out well. I've had perfect feedback on eBay since 2012 (when I first made the account), and I don't want to lose it, you know?

Here is what I had replied back to her, and i hope it made sense (i get nervous about messages like this):

Spoiler

Hello! I am sorry to hear that happened with Applejack.
I can understand your frustration about the Funko figures, and that you just wanted something that your daughter can play with without having to worry about it breaking.  In the future, should I ever list/sell any Mystery Minis, I will make a note to add how fragile they are/can be (and are not meant for regular play).
If you'd like, I am willing to offer you a partial refund for what happened. Please do let me know what you think.

Look forward to hearing back from you soon!

I do appreciate that she messaged me first instead of " neutral/negative feedback first, message later".

[Chaosette]

I think that message is fantastic

[LadyMoondancer]

That was a great reply to her!

[Galactica]

Well it's true that the Funko ponies are not considered "toys" - doesn't it say something like that on the packaging (or maybe that's just for the big ones) - but that is stupid of her to expect you to put that in your auction- you are not funko, you are a random person selling on ebay.

Your response sounds great-  poor thing, how were you to know the tail would come out- this was an unopened pony right?  What the heck did the lady expect?

Anyway- the tail issue is incredibly easy to fix with a dot of super glue.  She is being ridiculous. I hope she doesn't ding you- people can be such jerks sometimes.

[MilkyTaroMochi]

Thank you, everyone!
The Applejack was opened, BUT only to see what pony was inside the black bag in the first place (and I had noted that in the description). 
AJ's tail was fine when I mailed her out to the buyer, so it must have broken on the way to her via post office people (or she broke it herself, but I want to give her the benefit of the doubt since I know my first MM had a broken tail right inside the cardboard box/black bag). I had wrapped a good/safe amount of bubble wrap around the pony itself, along with the ["broken down/apart"] box that the pony originally came in. So AJ had double protection - I try to put extra bubble wrap around anything I mail out, just in case. Especially an out-of-box figure like this.
If she hadn't mentioned her other figure purchases, I could understand exactly the tail-breaking situation - no matter how safe you wrap something, stuff happens. Plus Funko does have some QC issues. 

I guess for some, a "figure" of a popular kids character automatically means "toy". When it comes to collectables, I never list them as a toy unless it really is a toy meant to kids to play with (such as the Blind Bags, brushables, Happy Meal toys, ect.).

She did respond back:

That's ok, I don't want a refund. I just wanted to let you know about the fragility of the figures.
Thanks!

So, I guess I am okay now? She didn't leave any feedback on me yet, but I will keep an eye on it regardless. I am not sure on how to react/respond to that lady part of her message, though.  ^^'

[lunar_scythe]

I'm pretty curious to know just what she was doing with that pony, haha!  I knock mine off the shelf at least once a month, and they are fine...

[MilkyTaroMochi]

I'm pretty curious to know just what she was doing with that pony, haha!  I knock mine off the shelf at least once a month, and they are fine...

I am guessing she is letting her daughter play with them (or intended to, going by her mention of buying other MMs from sellers). 

[Galactica]

Thank you, everyone!
The Applejack was opened, BUT only to see what pony was inside the black bag in the first place (and I had noted that in the description). 
AJ's tail was fine when I mailed her out to the buyer, so it must have broken on the way to her via post office people (or she broke it herself, but I want to give her the benefit of the doubt since I know my first MM had a broken tail right inside the cardboard box/black bag). I had wrapped a good/safe amount of bubble wrap around the pony itself, along with the ["broken down/apart"] box that the pony originally came in. So AJ had double protection - I try to put extra bubble wrap around anything I mail out, just in case. Especially an out-of-box figure like this.
If she hadn't mentioned her other figure purchases, I could understand exactly the tail-breaking situation - no matter how safe you wrap something, stuff happens. Plus Funko does have some QC issues. 

I guess for some, a "figure" of a popular kids character automatically means "toy". When it comes to collectables, I never list them as a toy unless it really is a toy meant to kids to play with (such as the Blind Bags, brushables, Happy Meal toys, ect.).

She did respond back:

That's ok, I don't want a refund. I just wanted to let you know about the fragility of the figures.
Thanks!

So, I guess I am okay now? She didn't leave any feedback on me yet, but I will keep an eye on it regardless. I am not sure on how to react/respond to that lady part of her message, though.  ^^'

I think you are fine now-  I wouldn't be surprised if you don't get feedback though, even when people take the time to thank me for their item, they only leave feedback 1/7 times it seems- it's really weird...

And I actually do know what she's talking about- I had a batch of mystery minis where the tails kept falling out.  They weren't handled roughly- I think they just weren't glued very well. VERY easy fix though.

[Ringlets]

You handled it really well in your message       I don't think there is anything else you need to do and I wouldn't worry too much about the feedback either - she may or may not leave any. If she doesn't want to do a refund /partial/return etc , she just wanted to let you know (and have a bit of a vent about this happening before), and she doesn't come across as sounding upset/angry , then everything should be ok now. You did offer to make things right already. I think how you respond makes all the difference when you get a buyer like this