re: Ebay - Does it really take 10 days for a check to clear?

TommyB

This seems to be the policy for every seller, but in this day and age, does it really take that long?

Tom

fcloud

I think by law it must process in three days, however, this does not allow time for bad checks.

Russ

Tom,

Depending on the bank, it can take longer. But, it can also be quicker. There is also the difficulty for the depositor of actually knowing when the funds are good.

I think the ten day period may also have to do with some notification policies or regulations in the banking industry. Not sure on that, though.

Russ, NCNE

CarlWohlforth

My bank says 3 days for an in state check and up to 10 for an out of state check. I have no way of knowing until I actually see the cash hit the account; usually in less than 10 days...

MacCoin

sometime I think it takes 10 day for a money order to clear

rkfish

My bank credits my account the next day.......but......if the check is bad
you may receive notification by mail until 10 days later......or more.

itsnotjustme

I've only had one check bounce on me. I had already mailed merchandise to the buyer... I rec'd notice perhaps 12-13 calendar days after the check arrived.

mbcoin

Hey Tom
Hows it going.
Just figured I would add my 2 cents. I ship when I get payment and that includes checks. Only had 1 bad check in 5 years for a mere 30 bucks. I think it's worth shipping ASAP.
Take care
Mike

ldhair

I feel it will be a little different from bank to bank. I get about one bad check per month. I can see it online in 8 to 10 days. It comes in the mail in 12 to 14 days. It takes way too long with my bank.

boz

I lost a 1oz. gold eagle, $369. My bank also puts the money in the next day. 12 days later, after shipping, I get a letter from them letting me know the check was no good. I now wait 14 days to ship.

tompkins

Check clearance, funds availability, and when you positively KNOW a check has cleared are three different things. My bank (which also happens to be my employer, but, if anything, they treat us worse than they treat normal customers) after having had an account for about 20 years, appears to have changed their policy so that checks I deposit are available immediately. It used to be that they put a hold on my overdraft credit line in the amount of the check, but they don't even do that anymore! For example, I could conceivably have zero available credit; make a deposit in an ATM, and immediately, at the same ATM, before my deposit is even verified, withdraw cash. It is not an issue of when the check clears (or is even received), but it is a decision based on customer service and customer retention. Back to the original question, I have arely had a check take more than about 3 days to clear anywhere in the country. BUT, if I deposit a check does NOT clear, it is typically at least two weeks before I know---my wife receives far too many bad checks each year (she owns and manages apartments), and she finds it may take as much as four weeks (usually closer to 1-1/2 or 2 weeks) to know that a check bounced. There is typically no positive feedback to your bank, when a deposited check has cleared. I believe there is a process available to get feedback for large checks, but you never know when a small check is cleared----the banks' funds availability policies are based on a combination of their past experiences; customer service; and the amount of risk they are willing to take.

So I have no idea why eBay sellers routinely pick ten days. Even if your bank makes your funds available in three days or five days or ten days; if the check is returned unpaid after that time, your account will be debited---once a seller mails an item, he no longer has recourse. The banking system is designed to move funds when everything goes correctly. Undoing an error (such as non sufifcient funds) becomes a manual process (some one loks at the numbers on the back of the check to figure out where to return it; and once it physically gets there, some one else (in your bank) looks at it a gain to figure out whose account this bad check was deposited to and then to reverse it. So the time consuming manual process of this reversal coupled with the lack of any positive notification that a check is good leads to a lot of uncertainty as to when you can safely assume you have the money for keeps.

Pete

boz

I've had 4 or 5 others that failed to clear but were made good by communicating with the buyer. But the hassel and the $26 my bank also charges me for the bounced check has made me start to consider not taking personal checks at all. I have run a few auctions that I listed only as money order payment accepted. Got all kinds of bad remarks, such as "I've paid all my auctions with PC's and thats the only way I'll pay." HOW HARD IS IT TO GO TO THE NEAREST DRUGSTORE, BANK OR PARTY STORE AND BUY A MONEY ORDER FOR LESS THAN $1.00?

kranky

For me getting a money order is a pain. Twice I have had people complain that they can't cash the money orders I sent (one from a convenience store, one from a grocery store) and returned them asking for Postal money orders. I can only get to the post office on Saturday mornings, and sometimes I have to work and can't even make it then.

So I will offer my personal check, explaining that it might be two or three weeks before I could get a postal money order in their hands, and tell them to wait as long as they want for it to clear - just let me know how long they are going to wait. If they want to wait three weeks to be sure the check is good, that's fine. If that's what it takes to make them comfortable taking my check, it's worth it to me.

Funny thing is, almost every time I've told someone to hold the shipment for as long as they want to be comfortable taking my check, they've shipped it right away after receiving the check.

cointagious

to expand on tompkins explanation, depending on the amount of the check, the bank upon which it drawn has, by bank regs, a specified amount of time to notify the submitting (depositing) bank as to whether the check will clear. I've heard of small $$$ checks being returned after as long as a month. suprisingly, those drafts that are cash advances on your credit card NEVER clear until the credit card bill is paid! Many folks confuse the fact that banks are required to give you access to deposited checks after x amount of days with having them actually clearing.

in our own ebay experiences, we even had a postal money order charged back after two weeks because it was stolen and have also experienced forged money orders. in none of the cases did law enforcement, including postal inspectors, pursue the offenders because of minimal dollar amounts.

sinin1

It routinely takes 10-14 days for bounced checks to return to depositor if from a different federal reserve bank district. The reason being is at present, they still need to be mailed all the way back to depositor - takes 2-4 steps along the way.

If you don't like waiting 2 weeks then spend a buck for a money order or send cash.

tompkins

<< <i>and the $26 my bank also charges me >>

That's an interesting point. the policy on returned check fees varies greatly. Most banks charge $20-$30 if you write a bad check. But the charge for depositiing a bad check varies widely---many charge the same fee they would charge if you wrote a bad check. My wife actually has an account at Washington Mutual and uses it to deposit the rent checks she receives specifically bacuase they have a very small charge if a deposited check bounces --- they only charge $5.00. My point: if you deposit a lot of checks, some are going to bounce. Use that fee as a criterion in selecting a bank. (By the way, that is NOT the Bank I work for. Wew charge a large fee ($20 or more, as I recall) if a deposited item is returned.)

Pete

wayneherndon

Checks clear much faster than 10 days. But it can take a lot longer for them to bounce. In fact 10 business days is often not enough for bounced checks. Sometimes your bank, rather than let you know that you've gotten an NSF check back will represent the check. When this happens and it goes throught he cycle twice, then 10 days is rarely enough.

The good news is most people are honest. We average less than one bad check per year of the intentional kind (on volume of a few thousand checks). There's usually two or three of the accidental ones every year. The kind that the horror stricken customer has realized they've inadventently overdrafted and let us know even before we get the check back. Fortunately, the intentional bad ones often smell a little weird for one reason or another and if the hairs pr!ck up on your neck, that is the one to hold.

Here's an interesting story with some valuable info that will buy you a few extra days if you end up shipping too soon. This happened to me three or four years ago. I had a customer respond to a CW or NN ad and seed me a check for about $150 worth of coins. The ad said add adequate postage and this cat added a generous $50 (weird point number one). He then said no UPS shipping although his shipping address was a street address. It was something like 1234 Street Name #123. It was in NYC so I assumed it was an apartment. It was all just a slight bit odd so it was one I elected to hold. I held it 10 business days. Then on the tenth day, I put it in the outgoing mail although we hadn't picked up the mail for that day yet (thus 9 business days of mail). It went off to the PO and while there the incoming mail was picked up. It was several hours later that I went through the incoming mail and there was that checked returned NSF.

I called my local postmaster at home to see if the package would still be at the PO. She told me the truck picked everything up about an hour earlier and there would be no way to get it out of the truck. So, I then called the New York PO and asked to speak to the carrier who had the route this address was on. I was told that this address given was actually the street address of the PO and that what I though was an apartment number would likely be interpreted as a box number. Then I knew I'd been scammed. This guy had a PO box and had figured out how to right the number to look like a street address.

I explained the situation to the person on the phone and asked that they intercept the package and return it to me. I described the package in detail and asked them to put a little note on the back side of the PO box so the stuffing it couldn't miss it. To wrap up a long story, this apparently happens enough that there is a PO procedure for it. They intercepted the package but I had some forms I had to fill out and send them before they would return it to me. I got the goods back (as well as the refund of overpaid postage I had included).

Another trick I've caught onto is that a lot of scammers like to rent boxes at Mail Boxes, etc. or a similar location. Then they have the appearance of a street address but actually can remain quite anonymous and simply not reappear at the box after they get goods from several sellers. If you're suspicious, you can check the address on www.anywho.com and see who it is registered to. If MBE comes up, make real sure it's cleared before you ship.

WH

TheCoinGod

I just call up the bank listed on the check and ask if the checking account exists and tell them the amount, They respond with whether or not the check will pass. Pretty Easy.

~Wilson

maddox

I simply don't take personal checks, you can call me with a credit card, process it thru paypal or send a M.O or bank draft. There are so many electronic options in this day and age.

I have never had a complaint about the "No personal checks"

dakra

One of the banks I did my banking with had a policy that it would take 10-14 days for an out of state check to clear. I generally state in my auctions that a check must clear prior to sending the package but usually send it right after I deposit the check.

-Dave