Is the kid running an ad on craigslist for the 15" wheels he is supposedly trying to sell? Or is there an ad for the 16" wheels with a new price? Or both?

I wager he stole the wheels. "Don't tell the boss..."

_

So he was selling "a customers old wheels" which belonged to the shop?
That's employee theft.

Then the customer calls and wants his property back.

And he has the nerve to want you pay for travel/remounting/etc?
That's ballsy.

Yes, yes it is. The whole thing felt like the Twilight Zone.

You're a good guy. Use it for good people. May it carry you far.

are we our brothers' keeper?

No, just his wheels!

perhaps you've set and shared an example so that others will have more to consider when dealing with their own dilemma, heck, maybe some will realize that there is a dilemma.

FWIW, I think it was a buyer's remorse thing. higher road taken is best for all.

Sellers remorse maybe, trust me I had no remorse over scoring those wheels!

Ha, that's what I get for posting after a long, long day. I meant seller's remorse. :)

The transaction was completed in a seemingly fair fashion. The moral dilemma you are facing now is just that--but you shouldn't feel obligated to return the wheels because the seller has had second thoughts.

I think the issue for me was that he said (if you believe him) that he sold wheels by mistake that were not supposed to be sold and that the owner did not want sold.

Really I just put myself in the shoes of the 930 owner and asked what would I hope the other guy did.

What's done is done and you feel good about the outcome, that's the only thing that matters now.

Whatever you decided, you have to feel right about the thing. The one bit I don't understand is why you didn't deal with the shop owner in the first place or talk to him after. Maybe you did at some point and I missed it. I would assume the wheels either still belonged to the car owner or the shop owner, not one of his employees.

So let me ask a question:
Let's suppose that the person that sold you your house comes back a year later after the price has increased and says "I made a mistake and my family says I shouldn't have sold the house because they want it"
Are you going to sell it back to him at the price you paid?

You are honorable for following your conscience but (with all due respect) gullible for believing his off the wall excuse and then letting him take advantage of you. The "proof" is in the guy asking you to pay for tire mounting after you agreed to sell back the wheels at your cost.

I chose to believe him. You may be right, this may simply be seller's remorse. There's no way for me to ever know that so I chose to act based on believing that this guy is a human being who made a mistake.

The short of it is I thought the risk of me taking advantage (although indirectly) of a 930 owner who would no longer have his OEM wheels was more than the benefit of me scoring wheels at a low price.

^^THIS^^

The dilemma is not with the seller, it's with the 930 owner, especially after the seller said to "forget about it." The reason why there was a risk of taking advantage of the 930 owner, instead of a certainty, is the questionable credibility of the seller's story. Rick, apparently, chose to believe him without any serious checking--like talking with the 930 owner directly. That is where he differed in his actions from many of us--not in returning the wheels but in not verifying that there really was an innocent victim in all of this that he could help out.

And speaking of seller's remorse, what about the sellers of the house in NY that sold a collection of paintings to the new buyers for $2500 only to discover the collection is now valued at $30 million? One painting has already sold for $500K. Google it!

A deal is done when the money and items sold are exchanged. Sellers are buyers, and buyers are sellers. If you sold them back, you may have done the right thing, or maybe not. You'll never really know. The only person you have to answer to is yourself, if you feel you made the best choice for you, then roll on and don't sweat it. Karma is a bi%$#. I suppose if I thought about losing my OEM wheels, I'd want them back! Either way, you really did nothing wrong.