postal orders

soolin

Well I think it is finally time fo rme to start limiting my payment options on ebay. At the moment I am offering eveything from paypal, cheques, postal orders and bank transfers. I'm already fed up with cheques having just had one reversed out of my account after being cleared for funds for nearly two months, now I have just had my third postal order go astray in the post in less than three months.

The previous two were for very small items and I just sent them out anyway. The buyers had sent the postal orders uncrossed and didn't know whether they had the receipt or anything to claim back from the post office and I just didn't want the hassle. This one is for a slightly higher amount, still not a lot but again when i asked the buyer about the postal order she has apparently just put the whole thing into an envelope for me with no covering letter and no payee and uncrossed.

I've suggested to her that we wait a few more days, it was only sent 8 days ago and the post is very bad at the moment. However she is not likely to want the item anymore as it seems possible it was a Christmas gift.

I will of course be complaining to the post office again, but in the previous two instances they told me that they weren't liable for uncrossed postal orders with no payee sent through the post as it is effectively 'cash'.

I think in future I will start putting 'no postal orders' in my auctions.

Soo

VH

I only accept Paypal now due to similar problems. Despite all the horror stories about Paypal, cheques especially are much more prone to fraud, and there is always the classic "cheque's in the post / cheque got lost" excuse for non-payers.

I am however considering adding some newer ways to pay as well, for example NoChex, and direct transfer into a bank account.

Does anyone have any experience with using any of these more unusual methods of payment and if so can you recommend them?

soolin

I Have offered both nochex and bank transfers on my auctions. I gave up with nochex as no one really used it and i used to get stuck with a payment in the account which I couldn't draw out without incurring a charge.

I still offer bank transfers and get a few a month, they are OK if you have only a few going through, but if you sell lots of things the same it can get confusing as not all banks allow the sender to add a reference name or number.

What I usually do is if someone completes check out and says they are paying by cheque I e mail them again thanking them for completing check out and suggesting that a bank transfer is cheaper for them as it saves them having to buy a stamp. It's also 'cleared' for funds as soon as it hits my account.

I still prefer paypal though, sold something this morning and have just got back from taking it to the post office, yet I'm still waiting for two cheques and the (lost?) postal order to arrive from over a week ago.

Soo

wirm

I only accept postal orders or cheques. to be honest I don't like paypal, just to the fact that they charge me for receiving payments. :-/

I have never had any hassle from the Postal Service about payments not arriving.

its up to the buyers to make sure that the payment reaching me!

I have a rule that the buyer has ten working days for the payment to reach me, if not i start action against them, its the only fair way! :-/

gatita

I have just purchased an item on Ebay, but the seller does not accept Paypal. The option of cheque and postal order especially at this time of the year doesn't seem such a good idea to me. My question is, is it easy to do a bank transfer, and how do I go about it, and can I do it online?
I would appreciate any advice please Thank you

Dan29

Yes if you do your banking online you can make the transfer to their bank account - all you need is their name, sortcode and account number.

soolin

As previous response mentions this is very easy. One word of warning though at this time of year there are so many 'bank holidays' that if you have a different bank than the seller it will take a while to show up. If you made a transfer today online it would need 4 working days to clear which is not until the 4th of January.

This is because There are only 3 working days next week and the following Monday is also a bank holiday.

It is still quicker though than sending a cheque.

Soo

ROBDOLPHIN66

With regard to bank transfers - it is also possible to receive them from people in Europe (which is not possible with cheques without impossibly high charges). I was told by one buyer that it is free to send inter-EU bank transfers, I do not know whether this is true or not, but I have never been charged for one.
Rob

cattie

I only accept Paypal now due to similar problems. Despite all the horror stories about Paypal, cheques especially are much more prone to fraud, and there is always the classic "cheque's in the post / cheque got lost" excuse for non-payers.

I am however considering adding some newer ways to pay as well, for example NoChex, and direct transfer into a bank account.

Does anyone have any experience with using any of these more unusual methods of payment and if so can you recommend them?

If nochex is offered by an Ebay seller I will usually choose this payment method.
It's been sometime since I've sold anything on Ebay, but when I was an active seller I welcomed nochex payments & would be happy to do so in the future. My experiences of using it have only been good.

mich_city

Only one experience of using nochex.. and it wasn't a good one.. so I wouldn't use them again..

To be fair it wasn't for an ebay transaction, but a purchase from a website that turned out to be a con.. I lost £83 on it.. nochex didn't want to know I just got contact the seller, even though I had tried and got no response..etc etc..
My C/C company wouldn't refund as it was made through a 'wire transfer' company and not direct to seller..

Thats my experience of using them, sure its not the same for all payments made thru their service..

Jonni2bad

I'm a big fan of Bank Transfers - very quick, especially if through same bank, and perfectly safe to give out your bank account details.

I've really gone off cheques lately, not least because of horror stories about returns. I always request 7 working days for clearance, but most buyers don't bother to read terms, and then email me with "where's my item" type moans after 5 days or so!

I recently signed up to Nochex, but only so that I could keep credit/debit card payments seperate from PayPal - that way I only get charged for credit card receipts through Nochex, and can specify the equivalent amount as a surcharge (which is ok by eBay) and thus meaning all Paypal receipts are free.

Having said that, I encountered a strange problem with Nochex telling a custmomer I wasn't fully registered, even though I was, and he got scared off thinking it was some kind of con! I lost about £30 in that deal, and the Customer Services at Nochex were absolutley useless. Any more of that and I'll give them the elbow!