Player Contacted Me About His Jersey For Sale

[Lokee]

Allright long story short I have a football jersey up on ebay from the 80's. I get an email saying that " Iam so and so and I would like to talk to you about this jersey please call me *********" So I message him back and was very nice and asked what questions he had. He insisted that I call him. I googled the number he gave me ( nothing came up so i checked the area code) and he lives in the town the player resides in. This player only played 4 or 5 seasons. Anyways so I call him and he tells me that the jersey was stolen out of his locker back in the 80's and he wants it back. I paid a decent amount for it so what do I do ? I told him I would get back to him by the end of the week and let him know. He scanned me his drivers license as proof so I know it is the said person. Now keep in mind this is like 23 years later.

Any advice ?

Thanks

[kingjammy24]

the jersey, purchased by the team, was stolen out of the team's locker room. what's his claim to it? did he pay for it? did the team give it to him after the season? if not, then it's more yours than it is his.

rudy.

[godwulf]

I would tell him that I respect and appreciate his desire to have the jersey - but since he has no legal claim to it, the best I could do would be to suggest that he either bid on it, himself, or be prepared to contact the winning bidder once the auction is over and offer to buy it from them.

[BergerKing22784]

Well I will say it before someone else

"You do not have a right to stolen property"


But yeah I would encourage him to bid if its that big of a deal to him.

[godwulf]

"You do not have a right to stolen property".

Nor do you have a legal claim on something that, in all likelihood, you never owned in the first place.

That being said, you might want to try to get eBay to somehow block this guy from getting your home address, if at all possible. He might not have heard about the O.J. verdict.

I know a guy who took some old Vida Blue jerseys to a signing, and was accused by Vida of having stolen property - claimed they'd been stolen from him back in his playing days. The guy told Vida that he knew for a fact that the guy he'd bought the jerseys from had gotten them directly from the owner of the team - so if he had a problem, he could take it up with the owner, assuming that the guy was still alive.

[PudgePollyMillerFan]

The statute of limitations expired many years ago.......I would either offer it to him in trade for another item......or pay up pal.........IMO

[allstarsplus]

The statute of limitations expired many years ago.......I would either offer it to him in trade for another item......or pay up pal.........IMO

IMHO, I would say the same that "IF" it were stolen in the 80's the statute of limitations has expired. We don't know for sure that it was stolen.

For the human side of things, you were trying to sell it anyway. I would tell the player if he is going to keep the jersey for himself that you paid $xxx for the jersey and if you want it I will sell it for what I paid for it and forego my profit.

If he tells you NO, then go ahead and sell it.

Hopefully you guys can work it out.

[RKGIBSON]

Tell him to send you a copy of the original police report where he reported them stolen.

Roger

[beantown]

Tell him to send you a copy of the original police report where he reported them stolen.

Roger

If he did file a police report, then filed an insurance claim and it was paid, he's not entitled to it....

[cjw]

I just had a similar situation that I worked through with a former WHA hockey player...but I found the item and called him. I found his team ring in a vintage clothing store and after reading his name on the side of the ring, I googled the ex-player, fond him, called him and asked if this was something he wanted to have back. He said it was stolen from him 24 years earlier and that he would want it but wanted to know what I wanted for it.

I bought it for the asking price (much less than it was worth as a piece of jewlery let alone a hockey collectable) and scanned the purchase reciept to the player and he agreed to send me check. The transaction was smooth and the rightfull owner had his ring again. I didn't profit, except to make an new acquaintance.

If he had said that he was not interested in the ring, I could have made a $500 - $1,000 on the sale. chris