I escalated my case on ebay?

You can keep asking this question and it will not change the outcome....ebay will either ask him to return item (they pay for return shipping) and you have to refund or they will refund him the money and let him keep the item and you are not responsible, meaning ebay wants to keep both of you happy. Once you escalated the case (which means to ebay that you and the buyer are done talking and now ebay gets to decide) if you lose you do not get that final value fee credit back for selling the item. You said yourself in your statement that you have not touched or played the instrument since high school. Ebay does not care about all of that, you will see....do tell what happens! People vouching for you is not going to work! lol..this is what you have to deal with when dealing on ebay and selling used items....example>>I sold a pair of used jeans in excellent condition, the buyer left positive feedback and everything. Come days later she opens a case saying the jeans were damaged with holes in them. Now mind you I have pictures of the jeans, ebay does not care. they message me saying they are giving the buyer a certain amount of days to send back item with tracking, if it hasn't arrived in the timeframe they will close the case. the buyer was lying and do you think she wanted to pay for return shipping? No, the shady person doesn't want to lose money! the case was closed, but it did not matter if I had pictures, and even asked her to send pictures of the holes, ebay doesn't allow this! they will look at the pictures you posted in the listing that is it. some buyers will even switch your item with their broken one!!! you have to be very careful when dealing with used item because you have shady buyers who look for sellers that they can trick! and ebay knows this about sellers and buyers so they try to be fair in their judgment, but you there is no way that just because you can't refund money back does not mean that they won't make you!!