eBay sellers may now issue partial refunds through eBay's online payment service, PayPal. Prior to this change, when an eBay seller wanted to issue a refund to a buyer through PayPal, they had to refund the buyer's entire payment. Now when a seller issues a refund, they will be able to select whatever amount they wish to refund, up to the total amount of the payment.

Sellers can make a full or partial refund to the buyer by logging in to their account, clicking the History tab, clicking the Details link for the appropriate payment, and clicking the Refund Payment link at the bottom of the transaction detail page. Buyers will still have to choose to accept or deny the refund within 10 days from when the refund was issued.

eBay announced the policy change on Friday and later issued a warning that when a partial refund is made, the payment status is being marked as "Unpaid" in My eBay and elsewhere on the site. eBay said it hopes to have the problem corrected within the next week.