Returning Unordered Merchandise

[Jabberwocky Dragons]

There was a recent BOI thread about an order sent to the wrong customer who initially refused to return it, even at the sellers expense. The general consensus was it was legal for her to do so, even if morally wrong. I am curious about the legality of it and thought this would be a better place than the BOI for thoughts on it.

If my employer overpays me or the ATM gives me more money than I inputted, I am almost 100% positive that I am legally responsible for returning the excess money. I know I have seen court cases where the IRS over refunds somebody's tax refund and demands the balance back (always in the legal right too).

While the IRS is the government and thus it can be argued they play to a different rulebook, banks and businesses are not... so what exactly is the difference between merchandise worth a certain monetary value and outright money. Why would accidently gotten merchandise be legal to keep and money illegal? Any thoughts?

 

[Dennis Hultman]

There was a recent BOI thread about an order sent to the wrong customer who initially refused to return it, even at the sellers expense. The general consensus was it was legal for her to do so, even if morally wrong. I am curious about the legality of it and thought this would be a better place than the BOI for thoughts on it.

If my employer overpays me or the ATM gives me more money than I inputted, I am almost 100% positive that I am legally responsible for returning the excess money. I know I have seen court cases where the IRS over refunds somebody's tax refund and demands the balance back (always in the legal right too).

While the IRS is the government and thus it can be argued they play to a different rulebook, banks and businesses are not... so what exactly is the difference between merchandise worth a certain monetary value and outright money. Why would accidently gotten merchandise be legal to keep and money illegal? Any thoughts?

Yes, some thoughts. I haven't taken the time to actually look up the statue but receiving unordered merchandise by mail was specifically target by legislation many years ago.

The problem was that companies would send out unordered merchandise then demand payment. Federal legislation then targeted that specific act.

So if you are ever sent anything by mail that you never ordered, legally you don't have to pay for it. The law as I recall it had nothing to do with wrong merchandise sent or mistakes between a actual customer of your company but with unsolicited products that were sent to you without your consent. Sometimes by a company you never heard of.

 

[Plethora Of Pythons LLC]

Dennis, if I remember that law correctly, it applies to merchandise sent through the mail. If it is sent FedEx, it is not sent through the mail, so would the federal regulation still apply? I guess I need to go look that up.

Here is the postal services take on unsolicited merchandise:

https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/investigations/MailFraud/fraudschemes/othertypes/UnsolicitedFraud.aspx

 

[Plethora Of Pythons LLC]

Here is the wording, directly from the US Code:

3009. Mailing of unordered merchandise

(a) Except for (1) free samples clearly and conspicuously marked as such, and (2) merchandise mailed by a charitable organization soliciting contributions, the mailing of unordered merchandise or of communications prohibited by subsection (c) of this section constitutes an unfair method of competition and an unfair trade practice in violation of section 45(a)(1) of title 15.

(b) Any merchandise mailed in violation of subsection (a) of this section, or within the exceptions contained therein, may be treated as a gift by the recipient, who shall have the right to retain, use, discard, or dispose of it in any manner he sees fit without any obligation whatsoever to the sender. All such merchandise shall have attached to it a clear and conspicuous statement informing the recipient that he may treat the merchandise as a gift to him and has the right to retain, use, discard, or dispose of it in any manner he sees fit without any obligation whatsoever to the sender.

(c) No mailer of any merchandise mailed in violation of subsection (a) of this section, or within the exceptions contained therein, shall mail to any recipient of such merchandise a bill for such merchandise or any dunning communications.

(d) For the purposes of this section, “unordered merchandise” means merchandise mailed without the prior expressed request or consent of the recipient.

(Pub. L. 91–375, Aug. 12, 1970, 84 Stat. 749.)

I don't see anywhere if this applies to FedEx or UPS. So, at this point I'm not sure.

 

[Dennis Hultman]

Correct "by mail" I meant the postal system.

 

[Dennis Hultman]

Doing a quick look up it is in the US code and Postal code so that would cover all carriers (UPS, FedEx, ETC). Would it not? I'm not really sure.

But that is strictly for fraud and never ordered merchandise not mistakes.

Some States have different rules that apply for "mistakes".

Taken from Georgia.
http://consumer.georgia.gov/consumer-topics/unordered-merchandise

It is a different matter if the mailing you received was due to a mistake by the company. In these circumstances, Georgia law regarding “unjust enrichment” obligates you to return the item paid for by another customer. The company, however, will have to pay postage and handling or make arrangements to pick it up.

 

[Jabberwocky Dragons]

"unjust enrichment"... that's the term I was looking for and couldn't come up with. The legality on this could get messy quickly going state by state assuming it has a Federal pass from the above statue (ex: buyer's in GA, seller's in a non-covered state).

That's interesting about the mail order gift scam.