Payments for expensive items ?
Allen
Posts: 7,165 ✭✭✭
I sold an item for over $5K on ebay and the guy sent me an official check. I thought I would be able to cash it and ship the item, but my bank and most others require a 5 day hold. Is there no form of payment (other than paypal) that can be cashed without a long hold? I don't want to use paypal on large transaction because of the fees and fear of getting screwed. So what is the best forms of payment to accept on high end items and what sort of payment terms should I use in the listing? Any input is appreciated.
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Comments
Wire transfers are another way, but these are not very popular in the US as most people percieve them as scams.
Wait it out and you can even send an email to the buyer saying, "Thanks very much for the prompt payment. I will ship it out as soon as the check clears."
Congrats on your big ticket sell Allen!
<< <i>I usually go the USPS money order route. I just sent 3 for $800 each to a guy not too long ago. The seller saves some PP fees, cashable at the PO with no hold, not easily faked, and only about $1 each for the buyer, not too bad in my opinion. >>
+1
USPS MONEY ORDERS are a safe bet.
Cashiers Checks (Certified bank check - although banks now treat them as money orders)
If they bank at a major bank (ie bank of america, wells fargo, etc..)you can just go to any branch of their bank and cash it
RB
Buying Vintage, all sports.
Buying Woody Hayes, Les Horvath, Vic Janowicz, and Jesse Owens autographed items
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Yup.
And, if it bounces at anytime after that, your bank will hit your account for the amount.
It is good to take a cashier's check to a branch of the bank it is drawn on. If it is good,
they will cash it. Over $2,999.99, the bank "may" fill out a "suspicious transaction form;"
these are usually NOT filed with the govt, but held at the bank. Over, $9,999.99, the
forms are filed and held by the govt. MOs/CCs can be smurfed in smaller amounts, taken
to multiple branches; govt considers this a sign of criminal intent.
USPS MOs are easiest to cash, but the clerk may/will fill out activity forms on large
cumulative totals.
AMEX travelers checks are good, too; but a hold will be placed at the depositing bank.
If they turn out to be bad, your account will be debited.
Multiple pre-paid MCs/VISAs are good too, if you don't need cash. The largest ones I
can get are for $1,000.
Bank-to-bank money is the safest for the seller. All reporting requirements apply on
these transactions. WU also, works for the seller, but buyers are skeered to use it.
spelling edit
<< <i>I usually go the USPS money order route. I just sent 3 for $800 each to a guy not too long ago. The seller saves some PP fees, cashable at the PO with no hold, not easily faked, and only about $1 each for the buyer, not too bad in my opinion. >>
i thought the max was $500 each. did they recently raise the max?
<< <i><< I usually go the USPS money order route. I just sent 3 for $800 each to a guy not too long ago. The seller saves some PP fees, cashable at the PO with no hold, not easily faked, and only about $1 each for the buyer, not too bad in my opinion. >> >>
<< <i>i thought the max was $500 each. did they recently raise the max? >>
They are available up to $1000, over $500 they cost a little more. From USPS.com :
Postal Money Orders are a safe, convenient, and economical alternative to sending cash through the mail. They can be purchased from any Post Office™ locations in the United States as well as from any rural route carrier, available up to $1,000 each. A current government-issued or state-issued picture identification is required for money order purchases of $3,000 or more in a single day. Other features include:
Domestic Money Orders
Purchase with cash, debit card, or traveler's check
Valid for an unlimited period
Can be cashed at any Post Office or can be deposited or negotiated at your financial institution
Replace damaged, lost, or stolen money orders
Fees:
$0.01 to $500.00 .......................$1.05
$500.01 to $1,000.00 ................$1.50
<< <i>I sold an item for over $5K on ebay and the guy sent me an official check. >>
An "official" check or "teller" check is NOT a certified check or a cashier's check. It's not good-as-gold.
Like was said above there are a lot of fake money orders out there.
Also there are fake USPS money orders out there, make sure you cash it before you ship.
I have received bank checks as payment from buyers on higher dollar items($2,000-$15,000), and I have always told them I would need to deposit to my account and wait at least 7 full business days to make sure there was not an issue with it clearing. I have never had a buyer who had a problem with this. I think upfront communication is the key. Also, make sure to check out the feedback of the buyer. The little clues can help judge what type of person you are dealing with.
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VERY soon, ALL buyers will have 100% FB.
Very true, but a history research on their feedback will help uncover old issues that the new feedback system may have helped erase.
That is what I meant, more than just going based on feedback percentage. I should have been more clear.
Kinda stupid if you ask me, but.....
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Antilaundering system offers USPS real-time intelligence
Dan Verton
October 29, 2001 (Computerworld) Washington
The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has put a new system in place to help it crack down on terrorists' illicit money flow.
The Bank Secrecy Act and Anti-Money Laundering Compliance System, developed by the USPS and New York-based Information Builders Inc., is poised to become the de facto standard in suspicious-activity reporting throughout the government and the financial services industry.
Although the system isn't being used yet, USPS officials said it's ready to be put into action once Congress and other regulatory agencies finalize new regulations on reporting procedures.
Officials from the Department of Justice and the Department of the Treasury have also expressed interest in using the system.
Passed in 1970, the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) lays out detailed reporting and record-keeping requirements for banks and other financial institutions.
Undersecretary of the Treasury Jimmy Gurule, who oversees the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, which is the agency responsible for enforcing reporting procedures at financial institutions, said new regulations governing the types of reports required will be issued by next March. Gurule made that comment at last week's 13th annual Money Laundering Enforcement Seminar in Arlington, Va., which was sponsored by the American Bankers Association and the American Bar Association.
The Information Builders system ferrets out patterns that may indicate money-laundering activity and uses sophisticated drill-down, querying and reporting functions to deliver to law enforcement officials the intelligence they need to identify individuals who may be funneling money to terrorists, said officials familiar with the project.
Tracking Money Orders
It isn't a widely known fact, but the USPS currently controls 30% of the money-order market in the U.S., issuing the same type of money orders that were used by some of the terrorists who took part in the Sept. 11 attacks linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist organization. The USPS also sells other financial services, such as funds transfers and stored value cards, that will be tracked by the system once the new reporting regulations are in place, said Henry Gibson, the BSA compliance manager at the USPS.
"We can identify suspicious money orders at the point of sale, track those orders through the banking system and identify accounts through which they've passed, even after they've been deposited," said Al Gillum, a former postal inspector who now serves as an independent consultant on the system. "If the regulations had been out, and had the terrorists used USPS money orders, there's a good chance we would have identified them."
Designed in 1996 for use on a mainframe, the system is being ported to a Web-based interface to improve ease of use, according to Larry Reagan, director of Information Builders' Federal Systems Group in Washington. Depending on which agencies adopt the system, it could be used to ferret out not only terrorists who are engaged in money-laundering schemes, but also corrupt investment bankers, drug dealers and others.
More than 900 software programs support the system, and all can be reused with little or no changes required, said Reagan. Several other systems that collect data have been integrated with the system, though Reagan declined to name them for security reasons.
"The whole purpose of all this reporting is to support law enforcement," said Gillum. "We built the system to get data out of the system in a meaningful way."
<< <i>Cash can be cashed relatively quickly. >>
i heard it's just as good as money?
<< <i>Over $2,999.99, the bank "may" fill out a "suspicious transaction form;"
these are usually NOT filed with the govt, but held at the bank. Over, $9,999.99, the
forms are filed and held by the govt. MOs/CCs can be smurfed in smaller amounts, taken
to multiple branches; govt considers this a sign of criminal intent.
USPS MOs are easiest to cash, but the clerk may/will fill out activity forms on large
cumulative totals.
>>
Same number applies at USPS, not sure if it's a federal mandatory thing but it is a USPS mandatory thing. USPS does send it along the same day.