Buyer wants to pay with a cheque.

smsmasters

The cost of the item I am selling is £30 and the buyer has offered to pay with a cheque, his/her feedback is 100% since 2004 which seems legit to me.

Is it safe accepting payments with a cheque? What should I watch out for? I usually only accept paypal payments.

pingua

Wait for cheque to clear before sending item??????? Ask for postal order. There was a good e-bay thread the other day - is this too good to be true or similar. Seller looked legit but was not!!!!!
Sorry can't find it for you.

Stuart_P

why wouldn't it be safe??

jo1967

Give the cheque a good week to clear. I have accepted cheques in the past & so far so good.

krisskross

I paid for an item by cheque at the sellers request. Item took ages to arrive and was faulty. Seller refuses to do anything. I have opened an Ebay dispute but think it would have been much easier if I had been able to pay with Paypal. Think I will be very cautious about paying by cheque in future.But of course in my case it was the other way round. Surely from a sellers point of view as long as you allow time for the cheque to clear there should be no problem.

hostie

By accepting a cheque you will have to give them your full name and address. That means they will have personal information about you. Maybe they have your email address too. It isn't too difficult to find out mother's maiden names, schools etc these days so by accepting a cheque you are compromising your privacy slightly in terms of identity fraud. Having said all that I would probably accept. Maybe get it made out to your partner or sent to your parents address?

nightswimmer

smsmasters wrote:

The cost of the item I am selling is £30 and the buyer has offered to pay with a cheque, his/her feedback is 100% since 2004 which seems legit to me.

It's not just the percentage that counts. Check the number of transactions they have made, some of the feedback left and what they have been buying.

Is it safe accepting payments with a cheque? What should I watch out for? I usually only accept paypal payments.

When the cheque arrives, make sure the details are right (right date, right amount, that the name & signature matches the printed name on the cheque).

As others have said, wait for it to clear. This usually takes between 4-10 days. If you have online banking, the amount will show up in your account as soon as you deposit it. This *doesn't* mean that it has cleared though.

Also, be aware that cheques can be cancelled even after they have cleared.

Unfortunately, all forms of payment have their negatives. I accept cheques and so far have never had a problem (*touch wood* :doh:), others haven't been as lucky.

nightswimmer

hostie wrote:

By accepting a cheque you will have to give them your full name and address.

Which they can get from eBay anyway.

pennylane99

hostie wrote:

By accepting a cheque you will have to give them your full name and address. That means they will have personal information about you. Maybe they have your email address too. It isn't too difficult to find out mother's maiden names, schools etc these days so by accepting a cheque you are compromising your privacy slightly in terms of identity fraud. Having said all that I would probably accept. Maybe get it made out to your partner or sent to your parents address?

you can already get the persons name, address etc easily from Ebay, (request contact details button) and the seller can get yours....

Mark7799

nightswimmer wrote:

When the cheque arrives, make sure the details are right (right date, right amount, that the name & signature matches the printed name on the cheque).

Sorry to be pedantic but you can't cheque the signature matches anything.

soolin

Whilst I dislike cheques and have had a few reversed long after clearing for funds, realistically they are probably quite safe especially for such a small amount.

Also, if cheque payment was offered in the auction there is very little you can do to refuse one now.