Buyer wants to pay with a cheque.

frivolous_fay

ormus wrote:

and you havent had one go wrong, yet!

No, have you?

digerati

ormus wrote:

cash and a postal order are the only really safe ways of accepting payment. all the others have a possible problem.

but dont get paranoid, ive taken cheques many many times over my woking life and had very very few problems. esp for small amounts.

its really annoying to discover that a bank can claw back payment after a cheque clears though. that should not be allowed.

Bank transfer (or deposit) is much, much safer and faster than cheque or postal order. No chance of any claw back which with cheques can occur many months later though they are rare.

Bank transfers use the same information printed on cheques but with an electronic rather than physical signature, and provided the account holder acts responsibly, online banking is much safer than sending pieces of paper through the post. If customers want to send me a cheque, I give them my account details and ask them to deposit it at my bank's nearest branch to save time. The faster I get paid the faster - I'll ship their item. :-)

soolin

I have never had a bank transfer go wrong, but don't get many at all really. Neither have I ever had problems with paypal despite probably 4000+ transactions. Howevr I have had problems with postal orders, cash (people supposedly bunging it in the post and it never arriving) and cheques. Only last month one of the large phone cash back companies reversed a cheque on me 3 working days after it showed as cleared for funds and 7 working days after being paid in..(grrr, still cross about that) and I've had other cheques reversed after 5 weeks.

However, I still accept cheques as I think I've just been unlucky with them and I do get a very small percentage of people still choose to use them.

ormus

frivolous_fay wrote:

No, have you?

no i havent, but they can and do. its very rare but its happened.
i repeat, the ONLY safe way, is to take cash or a postal order.


ps.
we are talking degress of safety here. cash and PO are safe.
transfers less so, cheques less so, paypal even less so, and so on.

Sugar_Coated_Owl

I don't understand how a bank transfer can actually go wrong

smartie1976

ormus wrote:

no i havent, but they can and do. its very rare but its happened.
i repeat, the ONLY safe way, is to take cash or a postal order.

Apart from the fake postal orders and notes that go around.

Nothing is 100%.
Chose your method and don't worry about it.

smsmasters

Anyway, I accepted the cheque, deposited it, once cleared I sent out the item. No problems Lucky I got a good buyer.

poppy_f1

i sold a old pc on ebay and the buyer sent a check, a quick email to her to advise i wouldnt be sending the pc til the check had cleared was fine with her, she understood, i took a chance since she was a newbie at the time, and all went fine

humancoin

zappahey wrote: »

Has the world truly become so paranoid that the simple acceptance of a cheque is now seen to be akin to handing your wallet to a passing stranger?

Woah! I'm glad someone said it!

Come on, there are some ebay scammers, but just be sensible. i.e. look at their feedback (in terms of is it from proper items bought and sold, not .99p auctions or the like), and wait until cheque clears with the bank, then send the stuff to them.

Good to see you had not problems!