Question regarding paypal e-cheque

mummy4monsters

Hi all, I'm hoping some of you experienced ebayers out there could spare a minute to give me a bit of advice. I've sold an item via buy it now, the buyer has sent an e-cheque, not expected to clear untill 23rd of March. The buyer has sent me a message asking for the item to be be sent asap and seems to be in rather a hurry to receive it. I know the advice from paypal is not to send items untill the payment is cleared, however this buyer is not a newbie, has high feedback score (as buyer & seller) and I'm worried that if I don't send the item out untill the funds have cleared he'll give me a low rating for the detailed seller rating or leave a neg as has happened to a friend of mine recently. What would you do? Value of the item is £18. Thanks in advance.

LillythePink

Have you asked about why it was sent by e-cheque?

we have had this in the past when your card has expired for example and before you know it, anything else purchased is being settled by e-chq and yes it takes ages to clear!

do what you feel comfortable with - it's not a high value item (depending on your circumstances) and as you say they do have high feedback - is it all pos?

mummy4monsters

Hi Lilly, thanks for reply, I never would have though of that so thanks. They have 99.8% pos, one neg. I say have a high feedback ratin,g it's just over 1000, don't know if everyone would class that a high. Thanks again :-)

hermum

Have you contacted them to let them know that it's an echeque & expected clearance date as they may not have noticed the email. They may prefer to pay via bank transfer, & cancel the e-cheque, if they can, or trust you to refund when it clears.
I wouldn't be sending it without it clearing.
Feedback as a buyer can only be positive.

mummy4monsters

hermum wrote: »

Have you contacted them to let them know that it's an echeque & expected clearance date as they may not have noticed the email. They may prefer to pay via bank transfer, & cancel the e-cheque, if they can, or trust you to refund when it clears.
I wouldn't be sending it without it clearing.
Feedback as a buyer can only be positive.

Thank you, makes sense, I'll send them a message and ask. I get so panicky about these DSR's!

lovinituk

If they have negative feedback, they must be a seller themselves so should know all about echeques. If you make them aware they paid by an echeque and they still insist on it being dispatched before it clears then I would be very wary.

botanical

An e-cheque is a proper PayPal payment and it's not allowed to be refused for an eBay transaction
PayPal advise not to send any items before e-cheque has cleared for a very good reason. Sending goods before funds have cleared negates the statutory protection for the transaction. Therefore it's essential to write a polite note to the buyer something like 'PayPal have informed me that because payment was made by e-cheque, I must wait until payment has cleared before dispatching the item. As soon as payment has cleared I will send your item to you'
There's another good reason not to send the item before the echeque has cleared- to be blunt-protection from scams.
Look, a lot of buyers don't actually realize their purchase is by echeque (they may not have enough funds in their PayPal account and it takes time to come from their bank etc), but some do and try to use the delay time.
On eBay protect yourself first. Feedback isn't the best guide. People have different ID's etc