Ebay & Personal Checks
 

Hi All,

I just sold my Cannondale on Ebay and the person that won it is a brand new ebay member and wants to pay by check. Should I be wary?

I have sent him a note asking him/her to sign up for paypal. If that does not work I have advised him/her that I will not ship the bike until the check has cleared both my bank and his bank.

Think that is good enough to protect myself? If not, what else can I do?

Thanks!

I would have him to send you a USPS money order. That should not be too inconvenient for the user and should protect you as much as possible.

no problem with checks,

but state in the auction you will only ship bike AFTER check clears your bank and the cash
is in your account.

I did this selling a 6000 item and it was ok with everyone who bid

I think what you've stated is both fair and safe....a USPS or Western Union money order works as well, and is easy to get.

No checks...if the party can write a check they can send a money order.

Scam

Just don't ship anything until the check clears, what's the problem?

I normally do not have any problems with check's........but I did have one bounce a few weeks ago. What I found interesting is that the person kept asking if I had sent the frame out almost every other day, and I told them that the check had to clear first. Guess my instincts were right.

I take checks for cheaper items, but for a bike I would say PayPal or money order. If he wants the bike he can drive to the post office and pay $0.75.

Scam. Just got thru dealing with a ebay scammer (goodfellas95) and have to relist my Merlin Extralight frame this Sunday ;)
A fake cashiers check can clear your bank and then it can come back as fake 2-3 weeks later and you could be screwed out of the money and bike and get in trouble for bank fraud. I think you can check the USPS money orders serial number to check if it is legit before you try to cash it. USPS money orders a harder to counterfeit. I have had scamming problems with any bike item over $500. It sucks, but it's the nature of ebay.

I don't know about Michigan but in PA writing a bad check over $200 is a felony and all you have to do to get a conviction is go to the JP and file charges. You can't even get a fishing liscense once you are convicted.

With Check21 all checks are to be cleared in 2 days. This is part of the Homeland Security Bill! So if it were me I would call the buyers bank and ask if the funds are available in the account for the check amount. If insufficent funds, no deal. If so cash and wait about 7 days to have the thing clear. Some scambay sellers require 21 days for check to clear but I think that is just a way to sit on someone's $.

I would clearly state in all future auctions that the winning bidder must pay by Paypal, no exceptions. eBay has an option that prevents people who dont have paypal from even placing a bid, which is definitely something you should consider using.

you can pay by check with paypal. it will just take him a few days for his account to be verified.

unless you said that you would accept check outside of paypal, you dont have to accept it.

Money Order or Paypal only. If you take personal checks on big ticket items you can get screwed. You can set your auction up to accept MO or paypal only. If you must take a check, let it clear first. I agree with earlier posts, getting a USPS MO is easy, so go that route.

I have yet to have a problem with a check, and as you said, I state in my auctions that I won't send the item until the check clears. That takes up to 10 business days, and is easy to check by calling the bank. By the way, the check clears the buyer's bank before it clears your bank, so you might have to explain that to an overly eager buyer.

If it doesn't sit well with you, you can always put in your auctions that you don't take checks. On my auctions that expect to bring in more than $100, I usually put that I take paypal and USPS money order (easiest to verify, and available anywhere in the US) only.

Nobody uses personal cheques anymore!! They went the way of the dinosaur years ago. Stores won't even accept them, why should you?

"I usually put that I take paypal and USPS money order "

Paypal can be a nightmare too. I dumped my Paypal account a couple years ago after having problems and finding out that it is virtually impossible to resolve any problems.

It is fascinating to read some of the stories at (http://www.paypalsucks.com/forums/) especially some of the posts from former employees of Paypal.

With a personal check your bank can verify if funds are available in the buyer's account before you try to cash it. Non USPS Money orders aren't as easy to verify, but the banks can verify money orders as easy, if they can at all.

Wow, thanks all. The buyer seems to be ok with waiting until the check clears both banks before I ship the bike. I never have had 1 problem with pay-pal so I prefer it. But, if the check thing works it is ok with me.. Just longer for the guy to get his bike :)

brand new? yes be wary.
You've taken the correct steps. Just make sure you document everything. Mail via required signature, etc.

Yep, I got screwed out of a big ticket item using Paypal. Paypal members who use a credit card through Paypal can recieve your item, and then make false claims about the product you sold then and boom, a chargeback. This totally bypasses Paypal. I had this happen to me and it was total THEFT by credit card! This happens more than you think and only takes ONCE to really screw up your Paypal account (ie: negative balance AND loss of property). I closed my Paypal account after that.

Since then, I only take USPS money orders. On smaller amounts (up to $400-$500) I can CASH the money order at the post office. On the larger amounts (up to 1,000.00) I can verify that the money order is in their system before depositing them into my bank account. If you want to take a cashiers check, you can verify that it is valid before depositing also by calling the issuing bank and talking to the teller who signed the check.

Keep in mind too that if you send a USPS money order via the US mail system and someone screws you, it is a Federal Felony (mail fraud). The post office investigates and DOES prosecute, no matter how much money is involved.

I've been sending and accepting USPS money orders on ebay for a couple years now. I've never had a bad dealing. Out of 151 transactions, all have been positive. I have one negative but I was the buyer, and the wheels I was buying would not fit my car properly, even though they were advertised as being a perfect fit so I did not pay. Other than that, I haven't had any issues as far as payment (either being the buyer or seller).

I pretty much gave up on trying to sell stuff on this site because everyone wants to use "Paypal". Everything I've ever advertised here has sold on ebay and I accepted USPS money orders only. I guess my feedback score of 99.2% is good enough there, but not here... :rolleyes:

I didn't even post up my 2008 Trek Madone 5.5 on the for sale forum here. It sold for what I wanted out of it on ebay and the guy sent me $3232.00 worth of USPS money orders. Shipped the bike out and he should have it today.

I wish this site had a "fair trade" rating for members!

Anyways, if it were me, I'd ask the ebay member to send you a USPS money. It protects you both from being scammed. Period.

Money orders are purchased, they have nothing to do with whether or not funds are available in the buyer's account ... the funds were available when the buyer purchased the money order, or the bank or post office would not have allowed the buyer to complete the purchase. This is why they are so much better (more reliable) than personal cheques.

Well, I have some more information. Seems the buyer has a Miami Beach address (According to E-bay) and he is requesting the bike be shipped to New York but does not have the Zip Code. Also, he says he cannot sign up for ebay because he is out of the country at the moment and he wants to have his friend send me a check...

I just want to get out of this deal right now. I never advertised that I would take a personal check or money order in my auction. Just wanted to use pay-pal. However, I did not specifically say that I would not accept a check or money order.

I have sent a email back to the buyer saying that if we do not do this by pay-pal I am not going to go through with the transaction. I think e-bay should back me up here as the buyer is pushing a payment type that I did not list on my auction.

"out of the country"? TOO fishy! :rolleyes:

Tell this guy to forget it and pursue a "2nd chance" offer to the next bidder, or relist.

I think a check is OK as long as the buyer understands he has to wait until it clears and the money is deposited in your account. As mentioned you can contact the bank once you receive the check to at least get an idea if there is money to cover it. Sometimes someone has a reason for sending a check, for example maybe they have a business account or private account and doesn't want their wife to know he is spending all that money. As far as I know you can't just walk into a post office with a check and get a MO on the spot. You can with a credit card but not a check I believe.