Ebay purchase and USPS insurance

[Carl64]

I bought something on eBay early in September. Not much, I think it was $12 plus shipping.

30 days later it had not arrived, so the seller processed an insurance claim and refunded my payment.

Today (11/30/05 if you are too lazy to look down to the right ), almost 3 months later, the item arrived postmarked 9/10/05.

What do I do with it? If the insurance payment was collected by the seller and then they refunded my money, they are still net the amount of my first payment so it doesn't make sense to send it back to them. Surely the official answer is not that I get a free knife. The post office is the one that lost money, but surely they don't want it and I have never heard of someone paying them for this purpose.

On the other hand the USPS lost money because it took them 3 $%&# months to deliver something, which doesn't sound unreasonable, but I still feel like I am not supposed to get something for free.

I suppose I should ask the seller or the post office, but I figured with all of the online shoppers here someone would already have the answer faster than I would get a response otherwise.

 

[Andrew Taylor]

USPS aren't in the loop as they are the ones at fault for taking so long.

You and the seller should be even. Let me see if I have this right... he got his money back for the lost item, you got your money back for what you had paid. You now have the knife, so ideally you pay him half of the price and you are even. More than anything else, telling the seller you now have the knife puts his mind at ease that you don't think he was lying that he sent it.

 

[Cougar Allen]

 

[Keith Montgomery]

It is USPS that owns the knife. They paid for it. I would contact them and see what they want to do.

 

[silenthunterstudios]

Edited...

Even though this is not the USPS, when I worked for UPS in their warehouse, I remember that on my first day, I saw a lot of packages fall out on the ground behind the truck when I was unloading. I asked the manager if he wanted me to get those, and he said that the drivers would pick them up before they left. That was a load of horsecrap. Those packages are probably still sitting there. I recently picked up a package at the UPS depot/store that a seller on eBay had sent to my PO Box, and while driving past the delivery side, I counted about thirty packages just driving by.

 

[Carl64]

It is USPS that owns the knife. They paid for it. I would contact them and see what they want to do.

I guess that's the plain and simple truth. They paid for it, so I called them. They answer fast by the way. Their automated menu is simple and fast, and you only need to pass on the options twice to get a live person in a few seconds.

I explained how the seller was paid for the insurance claim, so we have a knife that the seller was already paid for and that I have not paid for because I got a refund, and they told me to ask the seller what to do with it. I expected them to have a firm answer (I pay the seller and the seller pays USPS, or I give the knife to USPS, or I pay USPS the amount paid out from insurance) that involved them in some way, but they didn't want anything.

I had already e-mailed the seller early this morning and was waiting for a reply when I called USPS. They replied not long after. I should note that this seller, "idealoutdoors," always responds quickly to e-mails and was also fast and easy with the refund. Very good service from them. Anyway, they replied and said to keep it on account of the length of time.