Postal order for ebay item? Help!

antoniarose_2

A week and a half ago I sold an item on ebay for £54. The buyer has not yet paid and has today informed me their paypal 'is not working' and can they send a postal order.

Having never even heard of a postal order until today, I am very confused. How does this work? How do i get my money and when do i post the item?

Also, when will I get the money? Obviously it's been almost two weeks and I expected to be able to have the money in my bank by now.

Thanks for your help!

hermum

You get two types of postal orders, crossed, which works the same as a cheque & you need to put into your bank account, the other is uncrossed & you can cash it in the post office.
I would ask your buyer to pay via bank transfer, they don't need any more info on you than is on a cheque, is quick & free.

Obviously_the_best

Postal orders are way better than PayPal, as the buyer pays all the fees, and they can't get a refund without you issuing it, so no PayPal interfering, postal orders can just be cashed (I think, check PO web) for no cost at a post office! I never turn down the offer of payment that's not PayPal

Crowqueen

Yes, postal orders are fine. When dealing with them, they don't bounce, so you don't necessarily have to wait for them to clear, though in some other respects they behave like cheques in the banking system so funds will be deposited into your account in roughly the same time as it takes for cheques to show up.

I'd usually pay by electronic means as I'm often on the other side of the OTB's equation and I value the protection Paypal or other electronic systems can provide, but as a seller I never turn down a method of payment that I can freely exchange. Having dealt virtually exclusively in cash dollars in registered envelopes when I first started on eBay (dollars being easier than pounds or euro for international purchases and sales since they still come in $1 notes), being too shy of non-electronic payments can act to the detriment of your selling life. It's less usual to get a non-electronic payment now but in 2006 a PO cashier told me that eBay had saved the postal order from being axed!

However, you have all the same responsibilities to your buyer should anything go wrong with the item (e.g. non-receipt or damage in the post) so make sure you send the item Special Delivery (for an item of that value you need the protection).

lightisfading

Ask them for an uncrossed postal order - this can be cashed at any PO (take ID with you). The buyer pays the fees upfront when they buy it.

a 'crossed' postal order has to be paid into a bank acct and takes time to clear like a cheque.

Crowqueen

lightisfading wrote: »

Ask them for an uncrossed postal order - this can be cashed at any PO (take ID with you). The buyer pays the fees upfront when they buy it.

a 'crossed' postal order has to be paid into a bank acct and takes time to clear like a cheque.

Since the main issue with waiting for cheques to clear is to make sure they don't bounce, it doesn't make a lot of difference.

When you bank any cheque, funds are usually posted to your account by the following working day so you can actually draw on them at that point. The rest of the clearance period is waiting to see whether the cheque is good - that is not necessary with a PO.

soolin

Crowqueen wrote: »

Since the main issue with waiting for cheques to clear is to make sure they don't bounce, it doesn't make a lot of difference.

When you bank any cheque, funds are usually posted to your account by the following working day so you can actually draw on them at that point. The rest of the clearance period is waiting to see whether the cheque is good - that is not necessary with a PO.

Actually due to fraudulent or stopped postal orders a crossed PO shoul dbe treated the same as a cheque- ie not cleared against fraud until day 6.

Normally on th every rare occasion I get crossed postal orders I tend to ship on receipt as people expect the service to be the same as if using paypal. However for £54 I think I probably would wait to make sure it was good before I shipped.