This is all well and good to talk about not refunding…I agree that you should be able to keep the deposit, IF you told her up front that it was non-refundable…Whether it is LEGAL or not is another issue…I don’t think you have to be worried about being taken to court…That is highly unlikely as it would be small claims and most people would not follow through - unless of course they have paid you fully and you haven’t sent the item…you can’t keep the dolls and the dollars if you did not state clearly that it was non refundable…(and even if you are allowed to keep some deposit, it would be what the person deciding the case considers fair and justifiable) .In any business, if it did become an issue, you have the burden of proof that you made it clear about the non refundable deposit and proof that they understood and agreed…I have owned several businesses both here in Oz and in the USA and we had to have a SIGNATURE from the people showing that they realized that a portion of their layby payment was non-refundable or we had to return the full amount.
In this situation, you have to consider if Paypal is involved as well…Just understand that no matter whether YOU say non refundable or not…if a buyer pushes it and a payment was made through paypal, unless you have proof that you shipped and they received the item, you will most likely be sowing to the wind and will reap the whirlwind if you do not refund them or send the dolls…meaning that you could end up in a dispute and Paypal will lock down your account and funds until they make a decision. Most institutions unless it’s a clear cut case in the sellers favour will rule on behalf of the buyer especially if they have sent you money and you did not send them anything…They do not care about your “Non-refundable” conversation - their interest is that you are paid for something and the buyer received it…Just realize that a person can file that they paid for something and that even though they received it they are not happy because it is not what they wanted and they can still file a dispute and receive a refund once they prove they returned the item to you…(especially this lady who can send proof of her emails to you that she was not happy with the item ) All you do is give yourself unnecessary stress and cause your business to come to a screaming halt because your account will be locked down till they sort it out…Even if you do not have the funds, they are able to extract them from your bank account or whatever other sources are attached to your account…
Like Ludmila said as well, it is hard for us to help without any photos…if you uploaded them to send to her, they should be on your computer and you can post them here like you have done the others above…maybe we can have a look and help you a bit once we see them to give you some advice about how maybe you can fix the dolls to suit her taste more without a lot of extra cost…
To say this is a ‘custom order’ problem only and curse custom orders is really a bit silly as there are many ladies that list their dolls with photos and still have unhappy customers because the ladies don’t like it once they get it or whatever the reason…When you deal with the public, you are always going to have to deal with these issues - custom order or not…the only negative about a custom is that you may have had to reborn a kit you wouldn’t have particularly chosen to do but you still have other avenues to sell the dolls if the buyer backs out so personally, to save yourself lots if hassle, I would try to appease her (and if you will post your photos we will try and help you with that) or refund her because eventually you will probably have to do one or the other in the end anyway and you are just prolonging your own stress…
Baby Maisie. She is so little. 
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