Sent two bought items to the wrong person, delayed getting them back and the wrong person sold them.

[ermay5]

I, the seller, mailed two items intended for buyer 1  to buyer 2; also mailed one item intended for buyer 2 to buyer 1.  buyer 1 returned its mis-mailed item.  buyer 2 admitted to seller of having the two mis-mailed items.  I , for no good reason,  contacted buyer 2 and said I would arrange to how he should return the items to me.  I waited for a few weeks be for contacting buyer 2 to get the items back.  Buyer 2 messaged me that he reasoned that I had waited too long and thus did not want the items returned sold he sold them.  But he cannot get them back, so he says.  Buyer 1 is very upset and believes I kept the two items and sold them to someone else.   Do I have the right to forward Buyer 2's message to me to Buyer 1 without Buyer 2's permission?

[ten_o_nine]

 Do I have the right to forward Buyer 2's message to me to Buyer 1 without Buyer 2's permission?

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Hmmm, what's that going to do?

Buyers expect the product not a message to you from buyer 1 or 2.

[simply-the-best-for-you]

No, you shouldn't send another buyer's communication to your first buyer.  I'm not even sure you can (via eBay).  However, both buyers would have rec'd communication from eBay when you shipped your items, so there is proof to them already that you shipped something.  Unfortunately, this type of mix-up occurs to most of us once.  It's usually cleared up much faster & if you're lucky, all parties cooperate. 

It's too bad one of your buyers was a bit of a jerk, but they did nothing wrong technically speaking.  If you receive something unsolicited, you can do whatever you want with it.   What I don't understand is why it took you weeks to reach out to buyer 2?   Most of these are found out within a few days of shipping, when 1 or both parties contact you to say they got the wrong thing.   Why did you wait so long & why do you say "for no good reason" you contacted them.  It would make sense to contact them in order to try & fix the situation & it would have made sense to do it much sooner.  

At this point, you really have no choice.  Apologize again to buyer 1, refer them to the email to show that you had in fact shipped it, but are human & accidentally mixed up the labels.  Apologize again & maybe offer a steep discount to something else in your store, since it was your mistake.  The good news is that it usually does not happen to the same seller again b/c you'll learn to put in some processes that eliminate the possibilty 🙂  But most of us have to learn this lesson by doing it. 

[kensgiftshop]

Refund buyer 1 and move on

Not much you can do about buyer 2.

[reallynicestamps]

In my years in mail order, going back to the 1970s, if the buyer is sent something they did not order, it's a gift.

They can dispose of it how they will.

You made two errors.
Buyer One returned the mis-mailed order . I will assume you apologized, paid for return shipping and refunded.

Buyer Two did not return the two mis-mailed orders. It doesn't sound as if your "contact" included a Return Shipping Label to make correcting YOUR mistake easy. You also do not mention any refund for the item they did order but did not receive.

All the problems here are your responsibility.

[simply-the-best-for-you]

I assumed they already refunded b/c of their FB.   Obviously, if OP didn't refund, they need to do that & yes, always send a free label to both parties.  

Also, don't ask the 2 parties to send it to each other.  While that sounds great in theory b/c it's quicker, can't tell you how many times I've read about that going wrong.  Have both parties ship the items back to you (assuming they're willing) & then YOU correctly resend both. 

[johnrj1226]

Agree the OP messed up - they  just  need to refund  pay any  returned label - then just move on - either way the seller earned two red hickies on his seller performances ratings 

Well the internet wasn't introduced until 1993 - no public tracking  system available 'til  at least that time frame.  Personally sent cash (coins & folding $) for mail ordered items back in the 1950s - never an issue but it  was slow - used 3 cent postage stamps available at most  local drug stores and dropped mail in a local mail box  or put the red flag up on  rural mail box.

[reallynicestamps]

We had an online stamp auction before there was an eBay.

Remember apanet?

[the_fancy_fox]

In my years in mail order, going back to the 1970s, if the buyer is sent something they did not order, it's a gift.

This is incorrect. The rule of getting stuff you did not order is yours to do with as you wish comes from when companies were sending office, supplies, that had not been ordered, to businesses at random, and then billing for them. When they did not get payment they threatened to sue.  The FTC created that rule to stop this scam. 

The court actually recognizes that mistakes do happen . In this case they did order some thing, but they did not get what they ordered. It was a mistake.

Say you go to the dealership and you pay for a a cheap Chevy, when the car is delivered to you it turns out it’s a brand new Chevy Corvette. Do you think you get to keep it? Even if you sign for it? You won’t.  It’s called unjust enrichment. 

unfortunately for the OP, the only way to get this resolved would be to go to court and most ebay sales are not worth the time nor money to do so. 

[albertabrightalberta]

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@ermay5 wrote:

I, the seller, mailed two items intended for buyer 1  to buyer 2; also mailed one item intended for buyer 2 to buyer 1.  buyer 1 returned its mis-mailed item.  buyer 2 admitted to seller of having the two mis-mailed items.  I , for no good reason,  contacted buyer 2 and said I would arrange to how he should return the items to me.  I waited for a few weeks be for contacting buyer 2 to get the items back.  Buyer 2 messaged me that he reasoned that I had waited too long and thus did not want the items returned sold he sold them.  But he cannot get them back, so he says.  Buyer 1 is very upset and believes I kept the two items and sold them to someone else.   Do I have the right to forward Buyer 2's message to me to Buyer 1 without Buyer 2's permission?

---

@ermay5 

Please tell me you didn't make buyer 1 pay his own return shipping on the item he received in error! 

If buyer 1 paid return shipping for your mistake, the reason buyer 2 didn't return the items was likely because he didn't want to spend his own money to return it. 

When the buyer(s) contacted you to let you know they received the wrong items, you should have told them to open return requests, to which you would respond with prepaid shipping labels to return them. 

Then upon receipt of the returns, you would issue full refunds and learn from your mistake, one you're unlikely to make again.

[slati_2013]

 "I , for no good reason,  contacted buyer 2 and said I would arrange to how he should return the items to me.  I waited for a few weeks be for contacting buyer 2 to get the items back.  Buyer 2 messaged me that he reasoned that I had waited too long and thus did not want the items returned sold he sold them."

You clearly did not want the items back. If you did, you would have made immediate arrangements to have Buyer 2 return the items. You would have sent money via PayPal or a shipping label the same day to ask  Buyer 2 to return the items. Instead you waited a few weeks before trying to get the items back. Why? Sending Buyer's 2 message to Buyer 1 is not going to lessen their anger. You are solely to blame for what happened. Own it. Apologize and if you have a substitute, send it. 

[fab_finds4u]

The law lettiing you keep an unsolicited item diesn't apply here. They're in a solicited transaction and generally you aren't permitted  to keep an item you received in error if it was not the item you ordered.  

I suppose the seller could take the buyer to court for unjust enrichment if it's not returned  but they would need to prove  they sent a return label or the buyer refused to let UPS pick it.

[johnrj1226]

Been to three County Fairs, one Goat Roping Contest and one Texas State Prison Rodeo Championship** in Huntsville, Texas in '85 ** and ain't hear nothing about an apanet yet - but had  a course in Fortran computer programming w/those  IBM punch cards in my sophomore  year ('65) of college - not my cup of tea - got  a 2.0 barely (had to cheat).

**last  year 1986.

.

[deltilogical]

They tried to teach me PASCAL on a DEC-10 back in '84 - there was no backspace, if you made an error you had to start over again.  There was no screen, so you couldn't see what you were typing.

[johnrj1226]

Same with those IBM punch card - they helped me  expand my truck driver vocabulary - easy to do when you're half Italian - not the Island folks but the mainland - Bari..