[jacksonpt]

I've got a guy intersted in the hollowpoint. Everything seems cool, but with all the scam alerts, I'm a little paranoid. Since I'm the seller and I have the frame, don't I have the advantage? Can't I just wait until I have his cash in my hand (not a check or whatever) before I ship the frame to avoid any real problems?

Am I missing anything here?

 

[stosh]

I've got a guy intersted in the hollowpoint. Everything seems cool, but with all the scam alerts, I'm a little paranoid. Since I'm the seller and I have the frame, don't I have the advantage? Can't I just wait until I have his cash in my hand (not a check or whatever) before I ship the frame to avoid any real problems?

Am I missing anything here?

yes

You're not using paypal?

 

[berkshire_rider]

Paypal or USPS money order only. Don't ship until the cash is on hand, or has been deposited.

 

[jacksonpt]

The guy says he's in puerto rico, and wants to pay via USPS money order.

 

[zod]

Money Order is fine.....it's 100% safe.

 

[berkshire_rider]

The guy says he's in puerto rico, and wants to pay via USPS money order.

Tell him to send it. After you get it and the local USPS cashes it for you, ship him the frame.

 

[douglas]

1)receive money order
2)go to bank
3)ship

 

[binary visions]

Money Order is fine.....it's 100% safe.

Correction (or clarification, rather)... USPS money order is safe, because they require the cash in hand before they will issue the M.O.

Bank money orders are not.

Paypal is easy and safe, though...

 

[stosh]

Jackson, everybody worries about this crap but as long as you have the money in hand what's the big deal? Did he/she want to work something different?

 

[Slugman]

The way a lot of the scams work is that they send bogus checks and want you to send the frame right away. They are hoping to get the items before the bank figures out that it's a fake check.

Ask your bank how long until the check clears the buyers bank - and then check your account after that time to make sure the funds make it into your account.

What happens is the bank may credit your account the $$ before it clears the buyers bank. If the check is a fake or the buyer has insufficient funds - the bank will take the money back. So if you had already shipped the frame, you lose the $ and the frame.

The real obvious scams are the ones where they pay you more than the item is worth, and then you send them the balance by Western Union.

I have no experience with USPS money orders - but from what I've heard they are pretty safe.

 

[berkshire_rider]

I have no experience with USPS money orders - but from what I've heard they are pretty safe.

The only payments I take are Paypal or USPS money order's for Ebay stuff. The USPS option is very safe, and helps out a lot, because not everyone has or wants a paypal account. Don't want to miss out on a sale because I only accepted a certain kind of payment.

 

[PonySoldier]

Postal Money orders are like cash, they have to be purchased with cash. Paypal is pretty Bullet-proof. Just don't ship the frame until you are satisfied you 've been paid. Only accept payment for price+shipping and don't refund a penny to them.

 

[binary visions]

I have no experience with USPS money orders - but from what I've heard they are pretty safe.

Well, the deal with USPS money orders is that USPS requires cash in hand in order to issue it: they won't issue them in exchange for checks or credit cards or anything but cash.

So, since the person who got the money order in the first place paid cash for it, when you go to cash the M.O., you're getting your money from the post office, not from a person who could forge a check or a bank a million miles away that will take a week to figure out that they've been duped.

 

[Slugman]

The only payments I take are Paypal or USPS money order's for Ebay stuff. The USPS option is very safe, and helps out a lot, because not everyone has or wants a paypal account. Don't want to miss out on a sale because I only accepted a certain kind of payment.

How are the USPS money orders different than any other MO? All money orders require you to have the cash before it is issued... so if people are able to fake bank MO, why not USPS MO? How would I, or the bank teller, know it was a fake?

I know I could take it to the post office and get my answer right away - but what if I deposited it into my bank - aren't I still vulnerable to the same type of scam?

Personally I take any payment they want to give me… I just do not ship until I have confirmation of the funds hitting my account – NOT just my bank crediting my account.

EDIT - Almost any form of payment - no personal checks...

 

[McGRP01]

The only payments I take are Paypal or USPS money order's

You must not have gotten the personal check I just sent you! :devil:

 

[jacksonpt]

Cool - thanks for the info everyone.

I figured that since I was the seller I had the upper hand. And I'm smart enough to know not to send anything until I have cash in my hand.

 

[binary visions]

How are the USPS money orders different than any other MO? All money orders require you to have the cash before it is issued... so if people are able to fake bank MO, why not USPS MO? How would I, or the bank teller, know it was a fake?

I know I could take it to the post office and get my answer right away - but what if I deposited it into my bank - aren't I still vulnerable to the same type of scam?

You can go into your bank and they will issue you a money order, based on the money you have in your account at the time. However, if you were to have outstanding charges against your account, or you pulled all your money out the minute you walked out of the bank, the money order will "bounce" just like a check. At least, that's how my bank works. The deduction doesn't happen on the spot - I don't really know when it happens, actually.

A USPS money order requires cash. So, USPS has been paid for the money order in cash (i.e. they can't be scammed out of the money after the fact), and guarantees that you will get the money when you cash it - since they've been compensated, why would you be subject to a scam? Even if you deposited the USPS money order in your bank account, USPS still guarantees the money.

If you're talking about forging a money order from a bank vs. the post office, well, USPS money orders are consistant across all post offices so either it looks real or it doesn't - and they sure as hell look hard to forge. Bank money orders are designed by the bank, like checks, and there is no benchmark for it looking "real".

 

[zod]

I work for a bank and that is not how bank issued money orders work. Once a money order is issued it is as good as cash, just like a USPS money order. That is the whole point in a money order.

 

[Slugman]

I work for a bank and that is not how bank issued money orders work. Once a money order is issued it is as good as cash, just like a USPS money order. That is the whole point in a money order.

That's what I thought... becasue I always fill out a withdrawl slip for the value of the MO + fee.

All MO are supposed to be based on cash...

 

[binary visions]

I work for a bank and that is not how bank issued money orders work. Once a money order is issued it is as good as cash, just like a USPS money order. That is the whole point in a money order.

Well, perhaps that's not how they're supposed to work, but my bank funds are available after I write a money order for my withdrawal...



Is my bank the only one that does this?

 

[zod]

The transaction simply has not shown up yet binary.......the money is as good as gone. The Money Order once issued cannot and will not bounce because it is essential CASH...........if anything would happen where your account would end up too short to fund the MO then YOU would be the one owing the bank money.....not the recepient.

 

[binary visions]

The transaction simply has not shown up yet binary.......the money is as good as gone. The Money Order once issued cannot and will not bounce because it is essential CASH...........if anything would happen where your account would end up too short to fund the MO then YOU would be the one owing the bank money.....not the recepient.

Well, my original throught was just that: the transaction hasn't gone through. However, all of my other withdrawals show up immediately on the ATM - if I withdraw cash through a withdrawal slip, the funds show up as unavailable within 10 minutes.

The money order doesn't do that. If I took all the money out, sure the bank would still "take" the money, and tell me I had a negative XXX amount of money in my account... But would the recipient of the M.O. still get their money? Doesn't the M.O. have to come back to my bank first, and since they haven't been paid...

 

[zod]

But would the recipient of the M.O. still get their money? Doesn't the M.O. have to come back to my bank first, and since they haven't been paid...

Yes, the recipient would still get there money. When one bank deposits a MO from another bank the funds from that MO are withdrawn from an account belonging to initial corporation......not your personal account.

 

[binary visions]

Yes, the recipient would still get there money. When one bank deposits a MO from another bank the funds from that MO are withdrawn from an account belonging to initial corporation......not your personal account.

Cool.. learn something new every day