A "friend," emailed me in a panic and asked me to go to his old house, and get his things, because his former roomates were threatening to get rid of them. He sent a check, which covered shipping some of the boxes (which I purchased and packed) but there were still two boxes left which needed to be shipped. He told me that in exchange for helping, my boyfriend would receive his old (old) TV, but when we arrived there, the roommates refused to hand it over.

I gave my friend a deadline of 9/25 to send more money, or I would get rid of the items, via Goodwill. The quote I sended him included the cost of shipping supplies, and the cost of sending the two leftover boxes. Also left behind was a used martial arts practice bag, which is valued at $279.00 new. I told him if he wanted that mailed, he had to do the research on the dimensions and get an estimate on shipping them, plus add on the cost of boxes to the money he would send. The amount he owed for packaging and shipping was about $120.00.

He sent me back a nasty email, that I was threatening him, and insinuated that I was trying to make money off the shipping process - by cheating him. He also drastically underestimated the time, energy and effort it took to coordinate with the old roommates, pack the boxes, repack the boxes because his instructions were wrong, etc. I also gave him the option (begged him) to have someone else take over the items and further shipping.

By 9/28, I had not heard from him, and sent an email. He said he was working on getting the money, and almost had half of it. He said if he had to lose the martial arts bag, he would live with that. I sent him a response that the things had to be out of my apartment by the following weekend (which was 10/5).

After 10/5, I sold the martial arts bag, for $85.00. In a subsequent email, my "friend," stated he was still working on getting the money together, and I told him I'd sold the bag. I also gave him a final deadline of 10/13.

He threw a total fit that I'd sold the bag, and I offered to contribute $42.50 to the shipping, but only if he sent the rest of the money, including packaging costs, etc.

Following that, he started threatening that I had stolen his things, and if I didn't ship them to him immediately, he was going to take me to small claims court - and he was going to slander me professionally.

Since I'd given him a reasonable deadline for arranging to ship his items, which he didn't meet - did I have a legal right to sell them? Are they considered abandoned at that point?

As far as his further items - what should I do with them if he doesn't meet the deadline of 10/13?