Is it legal..

[jtgamer321]

This is currently happening to my friend. He found a pretty expensive item online on craigslist. The person is going to ship it without payment, and there has been no exact agreement although he did offer a price he is not as willing to pay anymore, but the seller has not mentioned the exact amount he wants (if her were to take the lower offer or the higher offer). The item has been shipped. Assuming the seller does ship the item to my friend, he wants to know if he is obligated by law to pay for it. The two states involved are Ohio (receiving stated) and Texas (sending state). He has not signed anything, or anything of that matter, only made offers via email, on an email address that has a made up name. The only thing the distant shipper knows is his real address.

 

[PJ Weber]

If there is no 'agreed on' price, the transaction isn't

Assuming the seller does ship the item to my friend, he wants to know if he is obligated by law to pay for it.

He can always refuse the shipment

 

[outonbail]

This is currently happening to my friend. He found a pretty expensive item online on craigslist. The person is going to ship it without payment, and there has been no exact agreement although he did offer a price he is not as willing to pay anymore, but the seller has not mentioned the exact amount he wants (if her were to take the lower offer or the higher offer). The item has been shipped. Assuming the seller does ship the item to my friend, he wants to know if he is obligated by law to pay for it. The two states involved are Ohio (receiving stated) and Texas (sending state). He has not signed anything, or anything of that matter, only made offers via email, on an email address that has a made up name. The only thing the distant shipper knows is his real address.

This has got to be some sort of scam. No one sends a "pretty expensive" item to someone they don't know or have never met without first being paid for the item.

Don't be surprised if someone claiming to be the shipper comes knocking on his door asking for a substantial amount of money for freight, insurance and handling charges, IN CASH!

They do this hoping your friend will be so delighted to have received this item by paying only the freight charges for it, that by the time he realizes he just paid hundreds of dollars for an empty box or worthless imitation of the item he's expecting, the shipper is long gone and so is his money.

This is a scam!

 

[heightsgirl]

By any chance, is this "item" a car?

I've seen a lot of vehicles listed on Craigslist and the only thing required to pay is for shipping. One seller went so far as to say his son was killed in Iraq and he wanted to unload the car (the picture showed a nice BMW) for freight charges only. It's a big scam and Craigslist removes those postings with one notification.

Tell your friend not to give them any money when they knock on his door with a C.O.D.