Did You Buy a Mimic Recently? HELP NEEDED... UPDATE :)

[Stormy31685]

Okay, so the Buyer never came forward, but here is the story:

I purchased a lot of ponies from eBay, and everything arrived just fine.  To my surprise, there was a Mimic in the lot when I opened the box.  It was not pictured, but some of the ponies in the pictures had been cut off, so I figured maybe I just got lucky.

I got everything cleaned up and listed and after I listed her, I get an email from the original seller of the lot.  Almost 2 weeks had gone by since our transaction, and she emails me and asks me if I received a "lime green pony," of course claiming it to be a mistake and telling me she sold it to someone else and had been looking for it.

I did a little research and saw that she did sell a Mimic weeks ago.   

I have already handled the situation but I am curious to know, what would you do in my position?



(Original Message: 

Hi Everyone!

      There is a story to this, but I cannot tell it yet.  However, I am looking for someone who would have recently purchased a Mimic.  I have this person's name and address, but I cannot post it, so I am hoping she will come forward (if she is on here).  Your seller would have been someone from Georgia, and you live in West Allis, Wisconsin. 

If this is you, or you know this buyer and have information about how I can contact her, please contact me as soon as possible.  Thank you!

Once this is cleared, I can and will post details about this as it may turn into a cautionary tale...)

[Ringlets]

I hope this all works out ok Stormy - you can PM me or Ponylady with the details if you need to. In the meantime I'll give this a for you

[CoonhoundBetty]

ooh, a pony mystery! 

[lovesbabysquirmy]

Oh dear... I hope the mods can help you with this...

[Stormy31685]

Thank you everyone!  No need to worry, and it is not really something a Mod can help with.  I will give this another day or so to see if she can come forward.

Then I will tell the story...

[Stormy31685]

Bumping for update

[Galactica]

I haven't bought a Mimic recently, but I have had sellers do this by accident. Once, a REALLY pricey custom plush pony.  She sent me a second - it should have gone to someone else.

What I have done is send the item on to the real owner, after the seller gives me the shipping charge.  A pain in the rear, but everyone makes mistakes sometimes.

I might also point out that it is probably a stretch to believe that all pony collectors regularly frequent the Arena...

[bluerose9978]

It shouldn't have taken the seller 2 weeks to contact you if they realized they mistakenly mailed someone an extra pony. If I had been them I would have emailed all my buyers ASAP to ask if they had gotten the pony by mistake.

Since there was a 2 week lapse, to me, that makes it your pony and the seller can buy it back in your auction. I don't know, kind of a slippery slope. It is kind of suspicious to me that all of a sudden you have the pony listed and the seller gets around to contacting you. When exactly did their auction end?

[Em_L._Pea_Customs]

I personally think that the honest thing to do would be to either send it back to the seller or forward it on to their buyer (with the seller paying all shipping costs obviously). 

Two weeks is a bit of time, but we are talking about the busy holiday season and sometimes it takes buyers/sellers a little longer during the last two weeks/first week of the year.  The seller might have been contacting other buyers and was waiting to hear back and then realized it might have gone to you.  I would try to put my self in the seller's position and do what I would hope someone would do for me when dealing with a high ticket pony mistake. 

If the pony HAD been pictured in your auction, then it would obviously been yours legally. 

Edit: for grammar

[MLPWhitney]

I agree with sweet Cookhuman. I think the "right" thing to do for good karma would have been to forward Mimic to the rightful buyer (at the sellers' cost of course). God forbid one of your pink Sprinkles got mailed to the wrong person (granted, you wouldnt wait 2 weeks, but still!), i know you'd be grateful if the buyer was understanding.

However, if Mimic randomly showed up in a lot I purchased and the seller never contacted me, you can be sure as heck I wouldnt say a word! I would have just assumed, like you, that it didnt make the photos in the listing!

[LadyMoondancer]

I'd send it to the other buyer, or back to the seller.  I understand how disappointing it would be, but IMO that would be the right thing to do.

[Ringlets]

Thanks for letting us know the story Stormy    Its disappointing to have to part with what could have been an amazing surprise gift - and I agree that if it had been pictured in the lot then it would be yours without question. If there was no trace of the seller actually selling a Mimic to someone else then the situation might be a bit different too.....
 but as it is, knowing that the seller really did sell a Mimic to someone else ( do check that the someone else has not left feedback for a Mimic BTW - just incase the seller had more than 1   )   the right thing to do would be to send it back to the seller (the seller made the mistake so they should pay for the shipping costs).
 It may be that the seller sent the wrong pony out to the original buyer and there was some sort of mix up (maybe due to lots of sales or being busy ion other ways over the holiday) , and that the seller really has been contacting other buyers since to find out who she/he accidently shipped it to. The time lapse could be also be due to the buyer perhaps being international , or due to the holiday season and they may not have found out mimic was missing until recently and contacted the seller.
I've had the wrong pony shipped to me on ebay - thankfully the real buyer was also an Arena member I know and we had no issues getting the right pony to the right person.   If the seller really did mess up in this case, then she is very fortunate to have accidently sent it to you- an honest person - rather than to someone who turned out to be unscrupulous .

[Stormy31685]

Thank you everyone for your replies!  I can say (as was stated prior) that my decision was made prior to posting this thread, and I did send the pony to it's rightful owner.  I would never have done any differently.

I did not, however, send the pony back to the seller.  I asked for the buyer's address and forwarded it.  This seller, however, completely ignored my request for shipping money which I found disappointing and somewhat rude.

Anyhow, it was all in good fun I suppose to post this as a "what would you do?" thing.  Thank you all for your responses!

[bluerose9978]

It is more than rude that the seller ignored your request for shipping money to send to the correct buyer. If I had been them, I'd be bending over backwards to do everything possible to be accommodating to you since you are helping them out big-time!!!

However, they may have thought you were going to squeeze them for some more money and still not send the pony, which is why they may have acted that way. But it is their responsibility to pay the shipping and not yours. It is their screwup, not yours.

[CoonhoundBetty]

I can't believe the seller wouldn't reimburse you for shipping, rude!!

I hope this means that you have major pony karma brewing