Knives, Nerds, USPS, and Insurance. Opinions Wanted.

[BluegrassBrian]

Apologies for the length (lol)..

I’ve gone back and forth in my head whether to post about this. I’ve got some time this morning so here we are. Granted, it doesn’t involve any business on BF, but I’d like to share and get some opinions/feedback.

The backstory:
December 2025- I ordered a $1k+ knife from an e-retailer (a small e-shop selling mostly custom/midtechs). I’d rather keep this impersonal and not name the store.
As one should expect from USPS in December- the parcel was held up for a while. I even posted about it here.
Eventually it shook loose and arrived here in Louisville. It went Out For Delivery… but was never delivered.



Luckily for the seller, he had the forethought to purchase third party insurance! So within a week of USPS confirming the parcel was “lost”, both he and I were made whole.
End of story, I thought.

Fast forward to last week (early March 2026).
I was talking to a knife pal about USPS. I mentioned they’ve always been great for me, save for the one instance.
To illustrate, I tracked the package to see if it was still showing undelivered.
Boy was I surprised to see this…




Ahem, now.. if I had known it was sitting in a store room waiting to be claimed…
Anyway.

So I inform the seller that our friend the phantom custom knife was headed back his way. He was surprised of course.. and we agreed I’d have priority to buy the knife again.

So here’s where it gets murky for me.

This is essentially a “free knife”, and it could have (should have?) just as easily been delivered to me.

I hoped/expected the seller to see it my way- we got lucky so let’s split the difference.. I’ll give you $4-500 for it, and we both prosper.
After all, I assume $4-500 would be more than his original margin for profit on the sale anyway.

Before we could even engage in such talk, he said “I need to reach out to the insurance people tomorrow morning. Will let you know as soon as I can relist it for ya”

Contacting the insurance company was not on my list of things to do, but maybe im the bad guy?

So, BF, do you think contacting the insurance company about a 3 month old settled claim is the right thing to do? Is that what you’d do?
Am I wrong/stupid/immoral for expecting him to offer it to me for a deal?

At this point I’m pretty much “over” the knife. The whole “usps losing it” ordeal soured me on it somewhat, and I’ve got other things going.

 

[SharpBits]

Contacting the insurance company is the correct thing to do. They paid out on a knife that was lost or stolen, only to find out it was neither. That knife is not free.

 

[Blues]

SharpBits is correct.

Insurance is there to cover the loss. If the item is recovered undamaged, then they should recoup the money which they had paid out, and neither the OP nor the seller would have suffered any financial loss. It's like starting over from scratch.

 

[DennisM]

A person's integrity (doing the right thing even when no one is looking) is sometimes swayed when dealing with a large company that is making bank when 99% of insurance purchases are not used. I think that same person's integrity is different when dealing direct with a person/foe/equal where he would absolutely do the the right thing (do unto others what you would want done to you).

Would the insurance company have offered you anything above the insured amount in punitive damage? Nope!!! All that said, my take on it in this circumstance would side with you - ie convenience integrity just like the insurance company.

 

[annr]

Contacting the insurance company is the correct thing to do. They paid out on a knife that was lost or stolen, only to find out it was neither. That knife is not free.

Agree. That would be insurance fraud—illegal.

My dad’s house was robbed. He put in a claim for items he thought went missing. 2 years later he located a camera he thought had been stolen. He rang the insurance company and returned the payout.

He also contacts people if they undercharge or overpay him and makes things correct—even when it is not in his favor. Called honest.

 

[kreole]

Yeah, they should contact the insurance company. Most likely it's in the terms and conditions.

Regardless, the knife is the seller's to do as he or she will. They don't owe you a discount.

 

[annr]

Additional consideration for OP: filing a claim can raise the policy holder’s premium and/or result in policy cancelation.

So, this scheme, apart from being illegal, is also against the seller’s business interests and his future customers’ as he may have to raise rates to cover his overhead.

 

[SharpBits]

True. All costs get passed on to the end customer. No such thing as free. Someone always pays.

 

[Armithius]

I'm honestly confused as to why you feel you're entitled to ask for 50% off on a knife that was lost by the USPS. That's a pretty hefty discount for a situation that was completely out of the seller's control. Honestly, offering you first dibs on it when it gets returned is more than they were required to do. There's no way you should be getting a "free knife" for a third party's error, after insurance has made everyone whole. That's incredibly dishonest, in my opinion.

 

[SimplyMinded]

I suspect that seeing as how they insure packages that the third party insurer keeps track of this sort of thing and the seller will get a letter asking for the money back.
They paid him, he paid you. He's getting the knife back. They've never dealt with you. He's on the hook for $1k. If it were a $50 claim they likely wouldn't bother but a grand?
Be glad you got your money back. You aren't owed anything else. There"s no profit to be made- only insurance fraud charges if caught and insurance companies will prosecute, especially where it"s an open and shut case.
Of course the seller will gladly resell it to you- he's on the hook for $1k now and I doubt he has the original grand you sent him lying around.
The insurance company has the tracking number and computers that probably check them daily.

 

[BluegrassBrian]

Well case closed- I’m the bad guy.