Bank Transfer - is it a safe option

paulofessex

Alas a buyers e-cheque payment has failed, l'm guessing it means they have insufficent funds.
I was wondering if the buyer did have funds what protection would l have as the seller if they paid by bank transfer. Could a buyer reverse payment etc.

Many thanks

theonlywayisup

Any form of payment from paypal for goods carries the same level of protection once it says ok to send. Irrespective of how the buyer funds it.

A bank transfer is perfectly safe for a seller, afaik it cannot be recalled once the day has closed. Ie receive it 9am Monday and it clears as unrecallable overnight.

pitkin2020

As a seller a bank transfer is 100% safe, once its in your account its clear and isn't reversible just like if you paid it in over the counter, the buyer has zero protection though. If the buyer is happy to pay by bank transfer then its all good.

If your talking about a paypal bank transfer then its no different to any other paypal payment.

You'll get some along shortly moaning about how your taking away the buyers protection but if your a decent seller it won't matter because even if there is a problem you should try to resolve it as it could have impact on your DSR's and FB if it was sold through ebay. Banks were around long before paypal!!

theonlywayisup

pitkin2020 wrote: »

As a seller a bank transfer is 100% safe, once its in your account its clear and isn't reversible just like if you paid it in over the counter, the buyer has zero protection though. If the buyer is happy to pay by bank transfer then its all good.

If your talking about a paypal bank transfer then its no different to any other paypal payment.

You'll get some along shortly moaning about how your taking away the buyers protection but if your a decent seller it won't matter because even if there is a problem you should try to resolve it as it could have impact on your DSR's and FB if it was sold through ebay. Banks were around long before paypal!!

BT with HSBC don't clear until the next day. I would imagine other banks are similar. I have recalled back a payment send by BT - I did so on the same day it was sent and was no problem at all. There were a couple of threads on here some time ago with similar situations following an eBay sale, where the buyer collected having paid by BT, the seller rang his bank and the money was in, the buyer left with the goods and then the money was reversed.

Naf

Bank transfers can be reversed. I know, I've done it while working in one...

Dave101t

before they have cleared.

Naf

And after.

noelphobic

a BACS payment can normally only be recalled at the latest the day before it has credited the beneficiary account. A Faster Payment cannot be recalled. If the payment was fraudulent then that could be a different story.

Crowqueen

pitkin2020 wrote: »

As a seller a bank transfer is 100% safe, once its in your account its clear and isn't reversible just like if you paid it in over the counter, the buyer has zero protection though. If the buyer is happy to pay by bank transfer then its all good.

If your talking about a paypal bank transfer then its no different to any other paypal payment.

You'll get some along shortly moaning about how your taking away the buyers protection but if your a decent seller it won't matter because even if there is a problem you should try to resolve it as it could have impact on your DSR's and FB if it was sold through ebay. Banks were around long before paypal!!

Here.

Buyers DO NOT know who are the good people and who are the scammers, never work on the assumption that because you're honest the buyer should do as you ask if it means giving up their protection. Put yourself in the buyer's shoes once in a while and stop trying to be clever.

As long as the buyer is happy to pay by BT you're fine to request it. It is a widespread form of payment on the continent.

You can't insist on it, however.

lawrie28

If they do, then make sure that it is a Bank Transfer that hits your account.

Once someone has your bank details, they can walk into a branch of that bank and pay a cheque into your account, which will appear as a credit. If you are expecting a BT, then you would assume this is it.

As it is a cheque payment, it can then bounce, be cancelled, or have been stolen from the start and then be debited from your account.

Crowqueen

lawrie28 wrote: »

If they do, then make sure that it is a Bank Transfer that hits your account.

Once someone has your bank details, they can walk into a branch of that bank and pay a cheque into your account, which will appear as a credit. If you are expecting a BT, then you would assume this is it.

As it is a cheque payment, it can then bounce, be cancelled, or have been stolen from the start and then be debited from your account.

So what? Paypal payments can be claimed back in disputes, chargebacks can happen for a long time for fraudulent reasons after the transaction and so on.

Once a cheque has been six days in your account without problem, the money is yours to keep without problem even if the cheque is dodgy. That's actually safer than good old Paypal.

Please stop scaremongering. All types of payment have their risks, all types of payment are safe if handled. Cheque payment is probably the easiest way of making a "bank transfer", I did it for an expensive item I bought a number of years ago off eBay, and all was fine.