Quote:
Originally Posted by Edwolf1963
+2 .. Hey Josh, legally it comes down to this and what others have mentioned along the same lines. We can debate all day about ethics, history, proof, etc. but this is the bottom line. Legally, a contract between two parties requires both sides receive what was agreed upon. If seller is paid and buyer doesn't get what was paid for, there is breach - regardless of whatever 3rd party (in this case, USPS) didn't fulfill - - the responsibility falls to the seller until buyer receives what was contracted for.
I remember not that long ago the occasional notations from eBay sellers about not responsible for items lost/damaged, not responsible if buyer doesn't take insurance, etc. They put a stop to that some time ago. I think David noted in those cases, you can't prove delivery - you lose.
One other note - buying $200 worth of insurance (as an example) on a card you sold for that amount won't likely get you that back from USPS (or UPS for that matter) if they lose/damage. There's some limited liability on paper products, perishable as well as proof of value you must provide beyond what someone paid for it. I found that out the hard way on a watch sold to someone in Canada for $200, insured for that amount - USPS/Canada post loses it and in the end I got a check back for $45. Insult to injury - eBay still charged me the FVF @10% of the $200  |
That is not my understanding of the law in general. What do you base that on? As we discussed here recently, the general/default rule under the Uniform Commercial Code is that risk of loss passes to the buyer upon delivery of the goods to a common carrier. That said, the right thing is obviously to refund the money, and if it's an ebay transaction their own rules would apply anyhow.
http://www.net54baseball.com/showthr...hlight=carrier