Seller sent me wrong item, I want to keep it though. Legality?

Salvo · #1 12-05-2014

So, I purchased an item around a month ago valued around $50. The seller sent me an item worth significantly more. I am OK with what I received so I leave positive feedback. I waited and waited, did not hear anything from seller until yesterday (over a month after the purchase).

I received 2 phone calls, one from NJ and then a minute later from NY, no voicemails. Then, the NJ number texts me saying "Hello, this is XXXX from Y company. We need to contact you about a return before we get police involved. Please contact us." They then call me today from a private number and leave a voicemail, threatening to contact eb/pp/police by the end of today, and they will be calling throughout the day until I respond to them. The only response I had was "who is this?" when they texted me saying "we need to contact you immediately is important" (exact bad grammar and all...)

I talked to a lawyer after receiving the item and they cited the FTC law, where essentially I ordered an item from the company and they sent me an item I am OK with, so I have no legal obligation to return it (morals and ethics aside...). This falls under the law where a company cannot send an item to you (solicited or unsolicited) and then charge you later for it without consent. Essentially, I made a contract for them to deliver an item and they did, it is their fault the wrong item arrived but I am OK with that.

They are telling me the item has "proprietary encrypted information" for the police and is illegal for me to be in possession of. However, it was brand new/unused/sealed packaging, and when I hooked it up there is nothing on there and has absolutely 0 use (besides me). They are lying about that and threatening to contact ebay, paypal, and law enforcement by the end of today if I do not return the item.

Can anyone tell me from their own personal experiences or knowledge about this? I know this is a bad place to ask, since we are all trying to get ahead by selling online. However, this is not an individual with only a few items. They have over 100,000 items listed, a separate website, and do a gross profit in the millions (according to public information).

I found other stories online that stated I CAN keep it and there is nothing the seller can do but write it off as a loss. BestBuy sent 5 iPads to someone who ordered 1. The customer emailed BestBuy and never heard a response until consumerist.com got involved, where BB told them to keep the extras. Another story where a person ordered a new laptop and received 2, kept the other one.
Here's the BB story :: http://consumerist.com/2012/12/05/wh...buy-sent-five/

hulkman · #2 12-05-2014

How about you do the right thing and not steal from someone. If someone drops a $100 bill on the ground you don't necessarily have to tell them, but you are infact stealing $100 from them if you pick it up.

There is a person on the other side of that business who is probably just trying to support his family. Return the item back to them and ask them to send you the one you actually paid for.

* And what you are trying to say is that its ok for you to steal a little from them since they have so much.

**SaiJin** · #3 12-05-2014

Hey, do the right damn thing and contact the seller next time that he shipped the wrong item.

Right now, return the item to him and ask him to send you the right one.
Legal or not legal, do the right thing.

And DON'T post this kind of crap anymore in here.