buyers payment method not acceptable ??

mishkanorman

Someone i know who has an ebay account has received a postal order as payment for one of their recent sales, when they took it into the PO they were advised that it cannot be cashed as it has been handwritten, when they investigate it on the system using only the reference numbers it doesnt appear to exist

They contacted the buyer explaining the situation and were told that as the buyer has used this hundreds of times before as a payment method and never had a problem, tough.

so what happens now, technically they havent received payment as they cant obtain the cash, should they do a NPB ??

(We looked at the royal mail site and it clearly states on there they have to be printed now)


mishka

CIS

Are postal orders now printed ?, if so is the postal order an older one that they've had for a while and only just written it out ?, they should still be valid.

I would try it at another post office .

frivolous_fay

If the royal mail site says they have to be printed... it's likely true

I'd print out that page and send it to the buyer along with their postal order. If they still have the counterfoils they may be able to get their money back.

Keep in contact with the buyer - if they show no signs of paying with a current postal order or some other acceptable method, open a dispute.

Sugar_Coated_Owl

Hmmm that seems a little strange. A friend from work got me a postal order recently (new type) and was asked who to make it payable as they can now print the name. However, she didn't know who I wanted it for so the PO lady said no worries you can still handwrite them. I sent it off and it wasn't a problem.

Maybe they've changed the rules.

mishkanorman

You can hand write the payee but not the amounts, apparently.

They would take it to another PO but they live in the middle of no where and dont drive, the nearest PO is a £5 train journey !


mishka

Stuart_P

i have had loads sent to me for payment - some are printed. some are hand written. some are blank. when presented at my bank? all good. sometimes they ask me to fill in the blanks. sometimes blanks just remain blanks. never had a problem

Mikeyorks

mishkanorman wrote:

(We looked at the royal mail site and it clearly states on there they have to be printed now)


mishka

You don't make it clear what is handwritten? If it's other than the payee .... it's a fake. And your friend should be contacting the local Police .. not an alternative PO.

http://www.postoffice.co.uk/portal/po/content2?catId=19400177&mediaId=19900224

mishkanorman

All of it is handwritten ie the values AND the payee, the PO they went to advised that it was a fake, the buyer says otherwise.

StuartP, it used to be the case that it didnt matter but after introducing new counterfitting prevention methods they stopped accepting the hand written ones.

mishka

Stuart_P

mishkanorman wrote:

StuartP, it used to be the case that it didnt matter but after introducing new counterfitting prevention methods they stopped accepting the hand written ones.

mishka

my post only refers to the 'name' part of the postal order. all other parts are printed. sorry for any confusion

essexhoney

From what i was told because of the change the only thing that can be handwritten now is the payee's name. Old postal orders are no longer accepted by banks or post offices full stop.

I was told that by my bank and my post office

Mikeyorks

mishkanorman wrote:

All of it is handwritten ie the values AND the payee, the PO they went to advised that it was a fake, the buyer says otherwise.
mishka

Then it has to be fake / stolen. The new PO system prints them / does the accounting / audit trail / receipt.
The PO your friend took it to should have alerted the PO fraud people - and taken the matter out of her hands. Unless they recognised the base document is clearly forged and not of PO origin. The trace facility your friend's PO has access to will only trace 'issued' POs. It won't have access to Serial numbers on unissued POs?

The buyer would say it's good? But I suppose there's a remote possibility he got it from a small local PO where the machine had broken and the little old lady / gent behind the counter tore one off the continuous stationery and hand wrote it?

Nothing in the buyer's feedback to indicate any suspicions in the past, I assume? If so ..Police. If not .. you could go with the low % possibility his local PO have messed up .. and send the PO back as it's not negotiable via Bank or PO as it stands?