Payment via eCheque

Malestrom

Hi,

I've just received a payment from a winning bidder via 'Pending eCheque Instant Purchase Payment'. Now the email says that funds should clear in four working days and not to send the item before then, which is fair enough. However, this is the first time i've had someone use this method of payment and i'm wondering if there is anything else I should be aware of?

I've checked my PayPal account and the eCheque is showing as Uncleared.The winning bidder has 28 positive feedbacks, member for 2 years, last purchase in Jan of this year and item cost is only a tenner so i'm no doubt being overly-careful but thought I would ask here just to make sure.

Thanks!

masonic

Tell your buyer to set up bank funding!
Just make sure it's cleared before you send the item. AFAICT, what you actually get is a funds transfer - the echeque is just a way of bridging the painfully slow process of transferring funds to the buyers paypal account in order to make the payment.

Edit: Oh yes, let your buyer know what's going on as well, as they may not realise how echeques work.

cafenervosa_2

echeques are fine, the only trouble is they seem to take forever half of the time to clear, 4 working days??....mine take more like 10!

I've only had one ever fail clearence, I went in my paypal account after waiting what seemed like forever and it said it had been cancelled. I did a NPB on the buyer and he paid via instant payment so it worked out fine.

Just don't send your goods until you have recieved notification of the clearance in your email!

Hintza

They really are a pain. To re-emphasise what has been said they normally take about 10 days to clear so keep your buyer informed otherwise they might think you have done a runner!!

Personally for small amounts I would probably post after about 5-7 days. But what is a small amount??

typing00

Yes e-cheque payment is very slow, but on the flip side, the fees are very low for you as a seller.

masonic

typing00 wrote:

Yes e-cheque payment is very slow, but on the flip side, the fees are very low for you as a seller.

If the seller has a premier paypal account, then the fees are the same.

typing00

masonic wrote:

If the seller has a premier paypal account, then the fees are the same.

Hmm, strange, I seem to recall only being charged £3.50 only for a £400 transaction on my premier paypal account?

masonic

typing00 wrote:

Hmm, strange, I seem to recall only being charged £3.50 only for a £400 transaction on my premier paypal account?

See this page for fee details. Perhaps there's something funny about echeques, but as even funds transfers attract the same fees, I can't see why.

Edit: I had a brief foray into the paypal help pages, but couldn't find anything of substance about charges for different kinds of payments (I get the impression that paypal don't want to advertise the fact that free transactions using a basic account attract a charge using a premier account). All indications are that it is a flat fee for all transactions. Can you (or anyone) confirm paying less that 3.4%+20p for an echeque with a premier account? It would be nice to think there was a point to echeques.

lapat

dont send it until it clears

bleugh

heh, lets see, it takes 10 days or so for a paypal cheque to clear,
buyer can start an item not received after 7! :-(

again, here's proof that paypal's instructions and terms are not clear, there is NO point in e-cheques, other than putting money in paypal's pocket.

it allows a buyer to purchase goods on the basis that they will be transferring money into their paypal account.

it also allows buyers to take advantage of novice sellers by paying with paypal (not that many that understand what e-cheques are), and blocking the transfer of money

end result, paypal pockets fees, buyer pockets item, seller looses item and money and fees :-(

Malestrom

Its strange because the PayPal email stated that clearance would take about 4 days and yet the expected clearance date shown on my account is 3rd November. Even taking into account the weekend thats still not four days. I've already contacted the winning bidder with an expected date of posting and the reason why as she requested this.

Thanks for all the replies.