Accepting a check or MO on EBAY ??
Mickey71
Posts: 4,254 ✭✭✭✭
Is it simply give them your address and wait until it clears to ship the card? How about tax? EBAY does all of the tax?? Am I overthinking??
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Ebay sellers page is probably your best source. I don't know if they can actually ban those types of payments, but they strongly discourage it at a minimum I am sure.
Personally, I would never accept checks from anyone unless there was a compelling reason to do so AND there was a clearing period agreed upon. Too easy for fraud there any more and if you are selling, just more room for buyer abuse "seller took forever to send my item. wah! "(Buy I won't admit it is because they were waiting for my check to clear)..
M.O.s should be fine. If you accept a check, make sure the check clears.
I have not told this story is a long time, but this question made me think about it. I have to retell it here, just for fun.
Many years back, I was selling some extra unwanted sports collectible stuff on ebay. This was well before modern feedback rules and paypal.
I had a Dwight Gooden poster that was one of several things up for sale. In my listing, I was VERY CLEAR in that I only accepted USPS or bank drawn MOs (or cash if you were willing to take the risk). No personal checks! PERIOD!
A bidder ends up winning the Gooden poster. I don't recall if that was the only bid or if they had to beat someone, but they won it all the same. I sent my invoice notice in a timely manner and again, clearly stated that I only accept MOs, as checks were still relatively widely used on ebay at that time for those willing to accept them. I had gotten burned by a seller who refunded my money with a check on a deal gone bad and the check bounced, leaving me with no item, no money and a bounced check fee with my bank! So I vowed from that moment forward, never again for anyone or any reason.
I immediately get a reply asking if I would accept a check. WTF!?
I reply no, sorry, I don't accept personal checks. Than, we started a mostly polite back and forth about how this person is related to Gooden and that they were not able to get out easily to get a money order. They did all their business via personal checks. It would really help them if I would bend my own rule for them and just accept their check this one time, pretty please and so on. After repeating myself numerous times that I would not take the check, I decided to end the conversation as I was obviously not getting it in this person's head that NO CHECKS was a firm policy.
My memory is stretched a little here, but I am fairly certain that you could file a NPB alert back then, and if so, I certainly did that. I also left the buyer a negative feedback for not paying for the item they won (yes, this was back when sellers could leave negative feedback still). Of course this spiteful woman left me an unwarranted negative feedback in return, Call it how you see it, but I had a clear policy, stated it numerous times and gave them ample time to handle the transaction the proper way. I protected myself with the NPB and left appropriate feedback to warn other people that this person apparently felt like they didn't have to comply with others' rules and got to make up their own rules when it suited them. It actually might have been my first negative on ebay now that I think about it again and although I have been 99% buyer and have grown to care very little about the barely functional feedback system these days, it really bothered me then.
I did wonder if this person really was a relative of Gooden, but I kind of doubt it. Probably just part of the story to help me feel more comfortable with her so I would take her personal check. Ah, the old days of ebay...the wild west!
If your buyer doesn't want to use Paypal they can always go into any CVS/Walgreens/Walmart/Target and buy a $5 prepaid debit card loaded with the total that they're spending then at Checkout type in the card's numbers. If they're going to spend money on a money order what's a couple dollars more for a prepaid card and no need to wait for the mail to arrive.
Eric
Erikthredd’s MJ Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/publishedset/395035
Erikthredd’s Nike Air Jordan Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/basketball/key-card-sets/nike-poster-cards-michael-jordan-1985-1992/alltimeset/408486
I too bought and sometimes sold on eBay back in the dark ages.
PEOPLE, as long as you wait until it clears the issuers bank it will be fine. If there's a branch in your area, you can take it there and it can be cashed on the spot. I know this is not always possible.
mrmopar, I had one similar, I finally just took the check to the bank and deposited it and waited a week to ship. It was irritating, but worked out fine.
No one has mentioned anything regarding his question about the Tax. That one has me curious as well. As a buyer, when I check out, it automatically adds the tax. But as I understand it, the seller never sees that part of my payment. If I were to pay by CK/MO, would I be sending the entire amount to the seller? Thanks to anyone that has any insight into this.