I'd say report it, but I believe I read that Amazon doesn't bother with returns for incorrect shipments. Probably costs them more to keep up with them than it's worth, and they supposedly never resell returned items. They all go to third parties for pennies on the dollar.
Ethical dilemma
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Amazon is legally compelled to allow you to keep anything they accidentally ship to you.
It's not them "being nice" it's the law. They would of course rather re-enter the item into inventory if the unit price is above a certain trivial amount, but they can't.
Otherwise, companies could ship you any random crap they want, and demand you return it at your own expense, or attempt to charge you for it. Hence, as a blanket rule to prevent potential abuse, if they ship something you didn't order, it's yours, free.
It's not them "being nice" it's the law. They would of course rather re-enter the item into inventory if the unit price is above a certain trivial amount, but they can't.
Otherwise, companies could ship you any random crap they want, and demand you return it at your own expense, or attempt to charge you for it. Hence, as a blanket rule to prevent potential abuse, if they ship something you didn't order, it's yours, free.
What law is this? Law or not they can still ask for it back.
It's this law: Unsolicited Merchandise
That keeps companies from sending you random items and then billing you for them.
But if you *did* order something from Amazon but just received the wrong thing and/or too much, that might be a grey area.
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Well I think it is pretty clear that the right thing to do would be to send it back. I can't say i would but it is definitely the right thing.
Unordered Merchandise | Consumer Information
Legal or not, Amazon will NEVER ask for anything back. Never. Never ever. Never ever ever.
Also, I see vague references around the Internet to even "Amazon asking for it back" to be worthy of a $16,000 FTC fine.
If you want more info on the exact laws at play, feel free to contact a trade/merchant lawyer. I'm sure a more precise answer exists, but IANAL.
And if it was legal for them to, don't you think a company as ruthless as Amazon would?
Return shipping costs have to be as low for Amazon as any retailer in the country. So why wouldn't they pay $10 to return a $100 item?
Seeing as they don't, again, ever ask for a return of an unordered product, clearly their legal department has decided this is a dangerous thing for them to do.
So long story short, yes, it does appear to be "illegal" (or at least a finable offense) to ask for unordered products back from the end customer.
Hence Amazon WILL NOT ACCEPT RETURNS FOR UNORDERED ITEMS.
While I commend folks here for having a "positive moral code" I wouldn't lose any sleep about Amazon being out a few bucks for an error they made.
I'm not saying one should defraud corporations simply because they can, but as the consumer here, you've made no mistake, Amazon has, so they are the ones who pay for it.
Pretty simple IMHO.
msinger
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Here's to hoping Amazon accidentally sends me a Phantom 4 then 
This is getting more OT as far as Phantoms are concerned, but to those who say Amazon NEVER accepts returns for unordered items, I agree in general, but never is a big word.
Just last week I ordered a stainless steel water bottle. But instead of the water bottle they delivered some blades, tiny batteries, and a charger for some sort of small helicopter. Which is interesting because I'm obviously into helicopters, but I have no idea what these parts were for.
I went to the Orders section of Amazon.com, found the water bottle order, and clicked "Wrong item shipped." Their system immediately asked me how I'd like my refund and how I'd like to return the incorrect items. I picked UPS pre-paid label, so I printed a UPS label onto paper and taped it onto the box.
Now the only thing unusual about this order was it had free Prime Shipping but the item was "Fulfilled by Amazon", I guess it isn't their own inventory and they just act as the middle man. Maybe that can make a difference on returns.
Just last week I ordered a stainless steel water bottle. But instead of the water bottle they delivered some blades, tiny batteries, and a charger for some sort of small helicopter. Which is interesting because I'm obviously into helicopters, but I have no idea what these parts were for.
I went to the Orders section of Amazon.com, found the water bottle order, and clicked "Wrong item shipped." Their system immediately asked me how I'd like my refund and how I'd like to return the incorrect items. I picked UPS pre-paid label, so I printed a UPS label onto paper and taped it onto the box.
Now the only thing unusual about this order was it had free Prime Shipping but the item was "Fulfilled by Amazon", I guess it isn't their own inventory and they just act as the middle man. Maybe that can make a difference on returns.
Well as some of you professed, they told me to keep it. They asked me to give them a good review and said to keep it. I gave them the review and now have an extra charger. I guess if I wanted to cheat them I could have sent the extra one back for a refund and had just one for free. That's not fair either. Wound up doing the right thing as I expected to do from the start. Now I have an extra charger with nothing to do with it.
Uh..I wish they would ship me a P4 and say "oops! Just keep it".
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Alright, I had signed up to this forum after buying my phantom 3 professional. I'm a newbie, I usually never post to forums. But after reading all this last thread you folks are the real thing. Kind considerate and thoughtful. Thank you for making my decision to be part of this community an easy one.
Semper Fi
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Welcome to the forum. Yes pilots are great. Should have seen the response when they thought my bird was stolen.
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I'm guessing you were never a Cub Scout. The old SEAL idiom is: if there's ever a question, there is no question.
Okay, so just to throw a rant in here:
While it is rather heartening to witness the rather strong (and I personally believe, rightly guided) moral compasses of many of the members here...
It's also important to note, corporations have no morality, nor do they deserve any from you.
<Crazy-Edge-Case-Example>
If Amazon figured out a legal way to run you over with a truck for money, they'd do it.
In fact, they'd have their techs working on the ideal tire tread that "crushes humans without getting their carcasses stuck to the wheels". Blood and bone resistant rubber and all that.
As well as "scream minimizers" that use acoustic noise cancellation technology to silence the victims being run over.
And of course advanced data analytics to determine which direction humans tend to break (left or right) when running away from a massive "human crusher 5000".
</Crazy-Edge-Case-Example>
Point is, unlike individuals, corporations are beholden to a simple guiding principle, which is even indoctrinated within the law(s) that governs them: "maximize profit".
If polluting a lake costs less (in environmental cleanup, public relations, lawsuits, fines, etc) than it costs to dispose of waste through a "proper channel" you can be **** sure someone is going to do it.
It's a sad, but true fact of the corporate capitalist mentality.
And I can hear you already, "well XXX company has a moral conscious and doesn't engage in that sort of behavior". No. XXX company has decided that their positive PR is worth more in terms of profit than engaging in the otherwise "negatively perceived behavior".
Look at organic food for example... Yes, I personally think it's morally better to eat a chicken that hasn't lived its entire life in a tiny little metal box. Whole Foods thinks so too, right? Wrong.
Whole Foods has calculated that *I* think it's worth paying more for a "cruelty free" chicken. Therefore, they provide "cruelty free" chicken to me at a higher price point, and they make more profit. If they were just selling regular chicken, they'd have to compete with Costco, Market Basket, Stop & Shop, etc... and they would not make as much profit at that price point and competitive model. Plus, I get to tell all my friends that "oh, this chicken is from Whole Foods" making myself feel better in front of my friends. I'm purchasing that "feeling" from Whole Foods too.
Anyway.. to wrap up this rant... morality is great when dealing with other people, like your friends, your family, and even your colleagues. I'd even go so far as to say that morality and respect are a requirement for interacting with all other people, regardless of their personal beliefs/positions. Here in Boston, we had a massive man-hunt and shoot-em-up tracking down the Marathon Bombers. But when we caught the remaining brother, do we execute him in the street? No. We take him to a hospital, provide him the very best medical care, and treat him (as a criminal) but with some manner of respect and morality. Even with our enemies, human-to-human interactions demand morality and respect.
However, and this is quite a big however, corporations do not operate with any sort of morality, and every time you treat Microsoft or Google or Amazon like you would a human, they laugh. Because to them, you're just another piece of their profit...
To steal words from another:
"That's capitalism doll, morality comes excluded".
Basically, point is, if I found a wallet in the street, I'll return it without touching a single cent.
If I find a million dollars of Google's money in my bank account, I'm keeping it.
While it is rather heartening to witness the rather strong (and I personally believe, rightly guided) moral compasses of many of the members here...
It's also important to note, corporations have no morality, nor do they deserve any from you.
<Crazy-Edge-Case-Example>
If Amazon figured out a legal way to run you over with a truck for money, they'd do it.
In fact, they'd have their techs working on the ideal tire tread that "crushes humans without getting their carcasses stuck to the wheels". Blood and bone resistant rubber and all that.
As well as "scream minimizers" that use acoustic noise cancellation technology to silence the victims being run over.
And of course advanced data analytics to determine which direction humans tend to break (left or right) when running away from a massive "human crusher 5000".
</Crazy-Edge-Case-Example>
Point is, unlike individuals, corporations are beholden to a simple guiding principle, which is even indoctrinated within the law(s) that governs them: "maximize profit".
If polluting a lake costs less (in environmental cleanup, public relations, lawsuits, fines, etc) than it costs to dispose of waste through a "proper channel" you can be **** sure someone is going to do it.
It's a sad, but true fact of the corporate capitalist mentality.
And I can hear you already, "well XXX company has a moral conscious and doesn't engage in that sort of behavior". No. XXX company has decided that their positive PR is worth more in terms of profit than engaging in the otherwise "negatively perceived behavior".
Look at organic food for example... Yes, I personally think it's morally better to eat a chicken that hasn't lived its entire life in a tiny little metal box. Whole Foods thinks so too, right? Wrong.
Whole Foods has calculated that *I* think it's worth paying more for a "cruelty free" chicken. Therefore, they provide "cruelty free" chicken to me at a higher price point, and they make more profit. If they were just selling regular chicken, they'd have to compete with Costco, Market Basket, Stop & Shop, etc... and they would not make as much profit at that price point and competitive model. Plus, I get to tell all my friends that "oh, this chicken is from Whole Foods" making myself feel better in front of my friends. I'm purchasing that "feeling" from Whole Foods too.
Anyway.. to wrap up this rant... morality is great when dealing with other people, like your friends, your family, and even your colleagues. I'd even go so far as to say that morality and respect are a requirement for interacting with all other people, regardless of their personal beliefs/positions. Here in Boston, we had a massive man-hunt and shoot-em-up tracking down the Marathon Bombers. But when we caught the remaining brother, do we execute him in the street? No. We take him to a hospital, provide him the very best medical care, and treat him (as a criminal) but with some manner of respect and morality. Even with our enemies, human-to-human interactions demand morality and respect.
However, and this is quite a big however, corporations do not operate with any sort of morality, and every time you treat Microsoft or Google or Amazon like you would a human, they laugh. Because to them, you're just another piece of their profit...
To steal words from another:
"That's capitalism doll, morality comes excluded".
Basically, point is, if I found a wallet in the street, I'll return it without touching a single cent.
If I find a million dollars of Google's money in my bank account, I'm keeping it.
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