just sold a phone to a person with only 4 feedbacks

blinko

just sold a phone to a person with only 4 feedbacks and now they have told me that they are going to be paying by cheque but in someone elses name ?? i was just wodnering if this is ok and also is there a minimum time limit etc that i should wait for the cheque to clear before i send the item out.

eg i have heard of claims where the buyer sends a cheque out etc lets the funds clear and then claims that the cheque was stolen and gets the money back

thanks

rchddap1

Personnally I'd be a little wary. I'd want to be certain that they are a genuine buyer (and not a scam artist) before sending off the phone.

trigger_mike

Just tell them the phone will be only sent out once cheque funds have cleared, or pay by paypal or postal order or quicker delivery, then at least you have covered yourself, also remend them that we are coming to the christmas hoildays so the post and bank are a bit slower due to hoildays etc.

soolin

blinko wrote:

just sold a phone to a person with only 4 feedbacks and now they have told me that they are going to be paying by cheque but in someone elses name ?? i was just wodnering if this is ok and also is there a minimum time limit etc that i should wait for the cheque to clear before i send the item out.

eg i have heard of claims where the buyer sends a cheque out etc lets the funds clear and then claims that the cheque was stolen and gets the money back

thanks

Cheques can be problematic but if you double check everything you should be fine. When you get the cheque make sure everything is OK, check that words and figures match, the date is OK and all things like that. I had a cheque reversed out of my account after 6 weeks once because the words and figured didn't match.

After 4 working days, or whatver your bank claim is the normal clearing time, phone the bank and get them to confirm on their recorded phone line that the cheque is clear totally. Usually they will just confirm a cheque is cleared for funds, which is not the same as cleared against fraud.

Lastly when you send the phone make sure you send it special delivery, you are then covered against loss in the post.

Soo

blinko

thanks so what do you think i should do if the cheque comes through the post and its not in the name of the person who i sold the item to ? just wondering have you guiys ever heard of that scam where people claim there cheque book has been stolen and then the bank take the money out of your account.

rchddap1

My suggestion would be .... if you are at all worried about it say no to the buyer because of 'fraud' concerns and ask them to pay by a different method, eg, paypal or postal order.

shamiel

I will be wary of this, read somewhere of this scam happening on ebay. Make sure that the cheque has cleared or insist on payment by paypal only

wigginsmum

Do be careful - in the financial industry, this is known as third party payment and is a red light for moneylaundering alerts. I appreciate Ebay is very different, but personally I wouldn't touch this kind of payment.

Jules

soolin

wigginsmum wrote:

Do be careful - in the financial industry, this is known as third party payment and is a red light for moneylaundering alerts. I appreciate Ebay is very different, but personally I wouldn't touch this kind of payment.

Jules

The problem is of course that as a buyer it is possible to remain anonymous on ebay, so you wouldn't know whether your cheque was from a third party or not. One of my buying accounts is in a name that I use for one of my jobs, however while I am known by that name it isn't my 'real' name, so on the rare occasions i used to pay by cheque for something the cheque had a different surname to my ebay id.

Soo

fsdss

sound familiar
my 14yr old neighbour has just bought a phone off ebay for his mum using his friends ebay a/c, he came round to me on sat asking if i would write him a cheque and offered me the money to do this.
it may even be as simple as that

Malestrom

Make sure you write down the phone's IMEI number before despatching it. This prevents a buyer claiming its faulty and sending you back their own broken identical model phone. Even better if you can take a picture of the IMEI number with your username in the picture.

As for the cheque in a different name, I wouldn't be happy to accept that.