• Posted 12/19/2024.
    =====================

    I am still waiting on my developer to finish up on the Classifieds Control Panel so I can use it to encourage members into becoming paying members. Google Adsense has become a real burden on the viewing of this site, but honestly it is the ONLY source of income now that keeps it afloat. I tried offering disabling the ads being viewed by paying members, but apparently that is not enough incentive. Quite frankly, Google Adsense has dropped down to where it barely brings in enough daily to match even a single paid member per day. But it still gets the bills paid. But at what cost?

    So even without the classifieds control panel being complete, I believe I am going to have to disable those Google ads completely and likely disable some options here that have been free since going to the new platform. Like classified ad bumping, member name changes, and anything else I can use to encourage this site to be supported by the members instead of the Google Adsense ads.

    But there is risk involved. I will not pay out of pocket for very long during this last ditch experimental effort. If I find that the membership does not want to support this site with memberships, then I cannot support your being able to post your classified ads here for free. No, I am not intending to start charging for your posting ads here. I will just shut the site down and that will be it. I will be done with FaunaClassifieds. I certainly don't need this, and can live the rest of my life just fine without it. If I see that no one else really wants it to survive neither, then so be it. It goes away and you all can just go elsewhere to advertise your animals and merchandise.

    Not sure when this will take place, and I don't intend to give any further warning concerning the disabling of the Google Adsense. Just as there probably won't be any warning if I decide to close down this site. You will just come here and there will be some sort of message that the site is gone, and you have a nice day.

    I have been trying to make a go of this site for a very long time. And quite frankly, I am just tired of trying. I had hoped that enough people would be willing to help me help you all have a free outlet to offer your stuff for sale. But every year I see less and less people coming to this site, much less supporting it financially. That is fine. I tried. I retired the SerpenCo business about 14 years ago, so retiring out of this business completely is not that big if a step for me, nor will it be especially painful to do. When I was in Thailand, I did not check in here for three weeks. I didn't miss it even a little bit. So if you all want it to remain, it will be in your hands. I really don't care either way.

    =====================
    Some people have indicated that finding the method to contribute is rather difficult. And I have to admit, that it is not all that obvious. So to help, here is a thread to help as a quide. How to become a contributing member of FaunaClassifieds.

    And for the record, I will be shutting down the Google Adsense ads on January 1, 2025.
  • Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

Returning Unordered Merchandise

Jabberwocky Dragons

Jabberwocky Dragons

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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?
 
Jabberwocky Dragons said:
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?
Click to expand...

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.
 
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.)
Click to expand...

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