To not return something that turned up 3 months later in the post?

[justaperson]

I ordered something in June - it didn't arrive so I messaged the seller and they sent another one, all sorted.

Today the original item appeared. I contacted the seller asking if they would like me to return it - the cost of the item was maybe around £10 and I think they are probably a small-ish business if that makes a difference. They said they'd like it returned but won't provide a returns label or pay for the postage.

AIBU to think I don't want to shell out nearly £4 plus the hassle of going to the post office to send it back as I'll be out of pocket?

Can you not write the sender address on the packet and do the return to sender thing they said. Then tell them you've done that. If it gets to the. Great, if not you've done what you can.

Sadly the costs of royal mail mistakes have to be sucked up by small businesses. It's not reasonable to expect your customer to pay £4 to return an item worth £10 that got delayed in the post.

They have already paid postage twice. You now own two items that you’ve only paid once for.

You make it sound like the first time was a favour. They paid postage because the OP had bought a product from them. Was there no delivery charge? If not, that was the company’s decision. They weren’t forced into sending out an item - they offered it for sale and the OP bought it.

The OP having two items when she only paid for one isn’t necessarily a bonus for her. What if it’s something of which you only need one (like one copy of a book)? What if it was an item of summer clothing? An identical item of seasonal clothing when that season has passed is pretty useless.

You know have the original so send one back.

The OP has offered to do exactly that. It’s paying the costs that’s the issue.

@Feelingconfused2020

Can you not write the sender address on the packet and do the return to sender thing they said. Then tell them you've done that. If it gets to the. Great, if not you've done what you can.

Sadly the costs of royal mail mistakes have to be sucked up by small businesses. It's not reasonable to expect your customer to pay £4 to return an item worth £10 that got delayed in the post.

I will do this and just drop it in the pillar box, then I've done what they asked. If they're willing to chance it being lost using "return to sender" instead of sending a postage label then they're obviously not that fussed if it makes it back or not!

For those saying I don't really care about small businesses that's harsh, it wasn't my fault it was lost in the post and I've tried to put the situation right as best I can so they can salvage something from the situation.

I would just keep it. sending it back will only incur them more costs for a relatively cheap item, could you donate to charity shop?

‘Return to sender’ is really unreliable, they don’t just automatically redirect it to the sender address, it gets sent to a big warehouse and has to be processed and it can take weeks or months to even get to it.

The best thing you can do is address it to them, with no stamp or just a single second class stamp and just stick it in the post box, it will make its way to their local sorting office and they will get a note posted to them saying they have a parcel with postage to pay.

(I have a neighbor who is a postie and this is the advice he gave me)

@JollyAndBright

‘Return to sender’ is really unreliable, they don’t just automatically redirect it to the sender address, it gets sent to a big warehouse and has to be processed and it can take weeks or months to even get to it.

The best thing you can do is address it to them, with no stamp or just a single second class stamp and just stick it in the post box, it will make its way to their local sorting office and they will get a note posted to them saying they have a parcel with postage to pay.

(I have a neighbor who is a postie and this is the advice he gave me)

Thanks that's useful to know - I'll do that then instead.

If they didn’t claim it back on Royal Mail the first time then it’s entirely their own problem, I don’t even send £5 items on eBay without some sort of tracking/compensation package.