Buyer paid by echeque. Any tips for protecting myself as seller?

sam.4000

This is the first time I have been paid with an echeque. Item was sold for less that £10 including P&P. I know I need to wait till the money has cleared into my paypal account and then I can post it.
I plan to send item recorded delivery (I know this does not always track).
Has anyone any tips to ensure I do not get a chargeback or anything else I need to be aware of with the buyer paying with an echeque?

Thank you in advance

martindow

I would contact your buyer to say it is an echeque and you need to wait for it to come through. They possibly have no idea that their payment has not gone through as normal. Echeques happen for reasons such as cards funding the Ebay account being out of date but they also seem to occur randonly for no obvious reason.

macfly

You're not going to get a chargeback for a tenner. In some cases I've sent the goods straight away and never been turned over.

sam.4000

Thank you, did a little research of my own last night as had little knowledge of echeques and all I've ever seen about them is bad news. Will wait till the payment has cleared and will send item.

alfiesmum

When I get an echeque payment I send this to the buyer, sometimes they are not aware that the payment has gone through as an echeque and may get a bit impatient for their item

Thank you for your bids.
Paypal have advised us that your payment was via an echeque. This is similar to a normal cheque in that is has a clearing time. Once Paypal advise us the echeque has cleared we will email you to say we have dispatched your order.
If you want to check on the estimated clearing time (5-20 days) you can log in directly to your Paypal account and view the transaction, it will give an estimation of clearance.
If there is anything we can help with in the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Best wishes,

kavics17

Sometimes for some reason paypal only lets me pay by echeque, this happened 3 times in 2010. It wasn't my fault, there was just no other option on my page to pay but I got always the same email from sellers,saying that they will post the item once the cheque came through. As long as the seller communicates, I'm happy with it, if I could have, I wouldn't have paid by echeque but there was no other option. Just tell buyer that you will send it once it cleared, and no need to use recorded if it's not valuable,just get certificate of posting.

terra_ferma

alfiesmum wrote: »

When I get an echeque payment I send this to the buyer, sometimes they are not aware that the payment has gone through as an echeque and may get a bit impatient for their item

Thank you for your bids.
Paypal have advised us that your payment was via an echeque. This is similar to a normal cheque in that is has a clearing time. Once Paypal advise us the echeque has cleared we will email you to say we have dispatched your order.
If you want to check on the estimated clearing time (5-20 days) you can log in directly to your Paypal account and view the transaction, it will give an estimation of clearance.
If there is anything we can help with in the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Best wishes,

5-20 days? paypal's estimate has always been 7 days for the ones I got, can they actually take up to 20 days?
In my template I say up to a week.

chancesare_2

terra_ferma wrote: »

5-20 days? paypal's estimate has always been 7 days for the ones I got, can they actually take up to 20 days?
In my template I say up to a week.

I say up to 7 working days....

My payment has been sent as an eCheque. What is this?


Question : Answer : PayPal's eCheque feature allows you to transfer money directly from your bank account to another user's PayPal account. eCheques differ from Instant Bank Transfers, as they are not instant payments.

With eCheque payments, your bank account will be debited when the transaction is initiated. However, the recipient will typically receive the funds 5 - 7 working days later.

To make an Instant Bank Transfer you must have an up-to-date credit or debit card registered to your PayPal account, as well as your bank account. This will be used as a back-up funding source in case the bank transfer fails.

sam.4000

Thank you all for your advice. I have already made contact with the buyer. The only reason I am planning to use recorded delivery is that they are a new and have no feedback and I just use it to cover myself.