Sent Something By Mistake, Recourse?

I suspect I am at the mercy of a buyer here. I recently sold a hingeless album to a buyer here in the US, according to tracking it arrived yesterday. I have suddenly realized I left some stamps in it! I have messaged the buyer asking they check and offered t refund a portion of his price if he returns. I see no other recourse here.

Something like this happened a few years back, sold an album for Canada and later realized I'd overlooked removing a full set of Large Queens from one page. I went back and forth with that guy.It was apparent he'd found them and also had no intent of returning them. I wound up telling him it was on his conscience. Never heard anymore from him. All I could do was block him. He is still out there.

Really just venting here. I feel so stupid. I am sure Paypal/Ebay would not side with me, probably would interpret these stamps as a gift to the buyer. Anyone else have this happen?

Not quite the same situation, but an auction firm sent me by mistake some lots that belonged to another bidder. Once the mistake was realized, they sent me a FedEx envelope to return the wayward lots which I did immediately without question. I had no legal right to the material and presumably they would have ways to induce me to return the stuff, but in my mind it was clear that returning the material was the ethical thing to do even though they might not have had any way to identify where it went. If a private seller had done the same thing, I would still have sent the material right back without question, but that's just the way my parents raised me. Don't understand people who keep stuff that they are not entitled to, that's just a form of stealing in my view.

If the person was honest he would at least contact you and ask if you meant to give him these. But.....if you'd like to know about honesty just watch the evening news!

Peter

Contact all parties involved including ebay and paypal if they were used for the transaction. A dealer once sent my lot to someone else and their lot to me. The dealer did not respond to me about it until ebay and paypal got involved.

Neither ebay nor paypal has anything to say in this matter. Stamps were willing sent (albeit in error) to the correct buyer. It's up to the buyer to decide what to do.

I once in error sent stamps to a high bidder before receiving payment. I never did receive my money and the buyer even taunted me in feedback by bragging about what a good deal he got. There are some bad apples out there that will take advantage of mistakes. Good luck!

good advice

Stamps, I have 'friends' who can take care of this for you.

(Oh course I'm kidding.)

Stay positive; you'd be surprised how many honest people are still out there. (Especially, I would hope, among stamp collectors.)

I had an overseas seller contact me they had mis-sent two parcels to the US. Two different states. Asked each party to send the parcels to each other. We both immediately complied. Seller covered the postage. Everybody happy!

Heck, I was working 60 hours a week, mailed two stamps to one winning bidder, one was hers and one wasn't...I contacted her, she sent it back...there still are good honest stamp collectors out there..and those that aren't, good ridence

One reason I like selling stamps on ebay is that stamp people are almost always very nice and very honest. I once sent a $300 item to the wrong customer in Thailand, he immediately forwarded the item to the correct bidder and even refused my offer to pay for the postage. This has happened a couple times in the US too.

So good luck and let us know what happens.

I sold a common F-VF McKinley rotary plate block on ebay a couple of years ago. By mistake, I shipped an XF Kansas Overprint McKinley plate. Real beauty. I immediately contacted the buyer offering up a large premium for the return of the item. Never heard from the buyer again. I made a mistake and paid the price. Cost of doing business I guess. Reminder to self; be more careful next time.

Bob

My buyer is listed as living in Canada but has a PO box in Miami. He was unresponsive earlier when I contacted him on another issue.

Have a bad feeling this will wind up being a write off for me.