bankers draft?

nabiha87

sorry for being so dense but i only ever pay via paypal so was wondering how i would pay via bankers draft, or cashiers check? i have a large amount to pay for an item you see so would rather not diminish my paypal funds.

i have no idea what either of these are! thank you in advance x

soolin

If you are buying something expensive then please reconsider and don't use method of payment that is not secure for you.

There is no need to keep a paypal balance, in fact I clean mine out every day (or when I get to £50 whichever is first) 'just in case'. If you clean out your paypal account and then always fund purchases using paypal backed by a credit card, that way you can fall back on your credit card if paypal don't help in a dispute.

If you pay by bankers draft or a cashiers cheque you have virtually no comeback if the seller doesn't come up with the goods.

Soo

Omertron

A bankers draft will also cost you about £10 on top of the value you want the BD for.

nabiha87

ah, i see. thanks for the help guys.

i'll clear my account out i think, and if i need to raise my limit for sending later, i can just get verified. will pay by paypal cos it is safer

cheers x x

Contains_Mild_Peril

Can someone tell me what exactly a Banker's Draft is? I don't take card-funded Paypal payments, but state in my payment instructions that international payments should be by Paypal unless otherwise arranged. I now have a customer in Italy who has bought something, didn't notice the Paypal option wasn't available, and wants to arrange an international banker's draft. Would this cost me anything to accept? Should I ask her to pay via Paypal even if it means transferring money into her Paypal account first and waiting for it to clear?

viccig

Can someone tell me what exactly a Banker's Draft is? I don't take card-funded Paypal payments, but state in my payment instructions that international payments should be by Paypal unless otherwise arranged. I now have a customer in Italy who has bought something, didn't notice the Paypal option wasn't available, and wants to arrange an international banker's draft. Would this cost me anything to accept? Should I ask her to pay via Paypal even if it means transferring money into her Paypal account first and waiting for it to clear?

I would accept an international draft, ask the buyer if they can send a sterling draft and you should be able to pay it into your bank account with no problems, do wait untill you have the cleared funds in your account before sending the item.

frivolous_fay

A banker's draft is 'cleared funds', essentially a piece of paper that's as good as cash. Your bank provides it, hence the fee. Building society cheques are pretty much the same deal.

I've heard it said recently that there are a lot of fake banker's drafts these days but I don't take large payments so I've never seen a genuine one outside work

soolin

Banker's draft used to be cleared funds but it is more common nowadays for banks to treat them like any cheque and not allow cash to be drawn against them until they have gone through the basic clearing system. If in doubt it is always wroth checking with your specific bank and branch to see what they say.

Soo

frivolous_fay

Interesting to know... I should let my company know, they might want to stop taking £30k bankers' drafts on delivery of goods

viccig

Yep Banker Drafts are meant to be as good as cash, but as Soo says banks now tend to put them through the clearing system regardless as forgeries do happen.

RichardClark

I am being deliberately vague

A common scam a while ago was to find someone on eBay selling a car (say) for about £5000. Send an international bankers draft for 10K to cover the car & shipping to (say) Africa. With a request to send the balance back to the buyer

The couterfeight draft would arrive & clear at your bank, you would send the car and the refund, TWO months later when the draft was presented to the originating bank for clearance it would be rejected.

The seller would end up with no car & considerably in debt to the bank


Richard