MEMPHIS, TN -
(WMC-TV) - UPDATE: The seller has added a new comment to his feedback page claiming that the buyer never found any money:
"He was playing a practical joke the safe was empty there wasnt any money in it."
A Bartlett 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.'"
Action News 5 tried to track down the buyer, but has not yet made contact.
Copyright 2012 WMC-TV. All rights reserved.
A Bartlett man found thousands of dollars inside an item he bought on eBay.
