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Man Buys Safe for $122, Finds $26,000 Inside

WMCTV

A Bartlett, Tennessee man found thousands of dollars inside an item he bought on eBay.

James Labrecque sold an old safe on eBay for $122.93.

“I made a mistake, you know, that’s what it boils down to,” said Labrecque. “And it cost me dearly.”

Labrecque, an eBay user for more than 15 years, said he did not have the combination to the safe and believed it to be just another item to turn around.

“I thought it was empty,” he said. “I shook it and I didn’t feel anything inside of it, so I figured, well, maybe it’s just a locked safe, you know. So I put it on eBay.”

Labrecque lives in California. The person who bought the safe lives in Bartlett. Upon receipt, the buyer brought the safe to a welder, who cut it open.

Inside the safe was $26,000 in cash.

The buyer gave Labrecque a positive review and shared the news.

“I feel like the stupidest idiot in the world,” said Labrecque. “I told my friend, I won the stupidest idiot in the world award the other day, you know. I gave away a safe with $26,000 in it.”

In a contentious e-mail chain Labrecque provided to Action News 5, he asked for a cut of the cash. The buyer declined, citing Labrecque’s seller policy that states, “What you see is what you get, no returns, and no money back.”

Labrecque said this is different.

“That’s a chunk of change, you know. That’s life-altering money,” he said. “I mean, if I was in that situation and I found that kind of money and I bought it from someone, I’d say, ‘Here man, I found this money. I’ll give you half of it.’”

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19 Comments

  • Michal

    if people studied lesson 1 of JLI Money Matters they would have a different understanding of the law and what “mekach Taot” means.

    “A sale is a COMPLETE understanding of the object for sale”

    I LOVED that class!

  • to 1

    so does that mean the original owner didn’t understand the object and should get part or the opposite-it’s assumed he knew the object and shouldn’t get any? please explain

    ps-jli rox my sox

  • lucky ebay buyer

    it seems like the original owner of the safe wasnt the owner of the $
    i highly doubt that hed forget that there was that amount in the safe
    it sounds like the original owner somehow got his hands on the safe and didnt have any clue that there was something inside-he was just trying to get rid of it
    almost like a yosef moker shabbos story

  • shocked!

    sickkkk its actually stealing! he should give back the money if hes a god fearing jew!!!1

  • just mentshlichkeit needed

    the buyer is really silly for sharing the news with the seller if he did not plan to share any of the money. what exactly did he want to accomplish by telling him the news. it is ok to keep the money if he wouldn’t have told him anything.

  • Dummy-s

    actually it’s not stealing. ebay power sellers sell whatever they can get their hands on. It was not the sellers money. That’s why they always have a “untested” or “not guaranteed working” sale final. here the seller is the loser. sorry dudes! he maintains zero right to the cash!

  • he totally does not need to give it back

    the seller did not even know about it cuz it wasnt his either!

  • vrevreverw

    the man bought a safe, not the money. if you buy a house and find diamonds inside, you have to return the diamond because you didnt buy the diamonds, just the house.

  • Meir Green

    It’s not stealing, because the seller knew there might be something inside it (although he assumed there wasn’t), and his policy states “no returns” (the deal is final). He took the risk. The money wasn’t his because he never knew about it.
    However, it was onaas devarim for the buyer to rub it in the seller’s face!

    Meir Green

  • Cute Story....

    The Jerusalem Talmud, in the tractate of Bava Metzia tells a story of the great sage Rabbi Shimon ben Shetach, a humble dry goods merchant, who’s gracious and fair dealings with his gentile neighbors were well known. Once, his pupils presented him with a donkey which they had purchased from an Arab. Under the neck of the animal they found a purse containing an expensive pearl, whereupon they joyously told their master that he might now cease toiling since the proceeds from the jewel would make him wealthy. Rabbi Shimon, however, replied that the Arab had sold them the donkey only, and not the pearl; and he returned the gem to the Arab, who exclaimed, “Praised be the God of Shimon ben Shetach!”

  • AA

    #6: read the article – the buyer is in Bartlett, Tennessee. I doubt there are many Jews, “[G]od fearing” or not, there.