Money Orders: The Safest way to go when Selling on EBay?

Live forum: http://forum.freeipodguide.com/viewtopic.php?t=49332

Dave82

04-12-2006 00:02:11

I am going to be selling something expensive on ebay and have started to have my doubts about paypal. The whole 5% fee aside, people inb this forum have been mentioning chargebacks a lot.

IS there anyway they can "void" a money order once it's been cashed?

What do you guys recommend?


Edit poll only let me have 5 options. I wanted to include "Other - please specify"
so just comment on what the "other" is if there is something else you recommend

fawker

04-12-2006 00:28:36

paypal, I just used it to sell my wii

Dave82

04-12-2006 00:42:46

[quote97f812a9bf="fawker"]paypal, I just used it to sell my wii[/quote97f812a9bf]

what about chargebacks?

I jsut dont know about the whole paypal thing anymore after reading some posts here. They have royally SCREWED some people.




Can i do something like accpet money orders and also paypal, but if they want to use paypla they have to add 5% to the total? Or would that not fly over so well with bidders?

h3x

04-12-2006 01:35:07

[quotecafd127615="Dave82"][quotecafd127615="fawker"]paypal, I just used it to sell my wii[/quotecafd127615]

what about chargebacks?

I jsut dont know about the whole paypal thing anymore after reading some posts here. They have royally SCREWED some people.

Can i do something like accpet money orders and also paypal, but if they want to use paypla they have to add 5% to the total? Or would that not fly over so well with bidders?[/quotecafd127615]

Because I have never seen or heard of anyone charge a fee for paying with PayPal... I'm certain it wouldn't go well with bidders.

Also, I think there's a limit to how much you can make a money order each day and not too many people want to make extra trips just to obtain another money order.

Admin

04-12-2006 09:26:59

if you read up on paypal's policies and follow them to a T you have a fighting chance of surviving a chargeback. another option is to clear the money out of your paypal account as soon as you get it and tell your bank to block ACH debits from paypal, and cancel the associated CCs. can't get blood from a rock.

Dave82

04-12-2006 09:29:23

[quote7e26fc492c="Admin"]if you read up on paypal's policies and follow them to a T you have a fighting chance of surviving a chargeback. another option is to clear the money out of your paypal account as soon as you get it and tell your bank to block ACH debits from paypal, and cancel the associated CCs. can't get blood from a rock.[/quote7e26fc492c]

I remember a post not too long ago though that mentioned clearing the money out of the paypal account and blocking it. I got the impression from the post that if you did that, paypal would report you to creditors.

[b7e26fc492c]

What about a direct bank transfer?[/b7e26fc492c]

Admin

04-12-2006 09:34:33

what do you mean direct? you have to have an ACH merchant account in order to debit someone else's bank account and believe me, those are not particularly easy to come by.

if you both happen to have the same bank, the buyer could probably xfer money into your account, but that really limits the buyer pool...

Dave82

04-12-2006 09:46:48

So basically suck it up and use paypal )

dmorris68

04-12-2006 09:48:19

Paypal. Been using it for years on eBay for both buying and selling. Never had a problem. Accept and ship only to confirmed addresses, and document everything accurately, and you shouldn't have a problem.

If you're that paranoid about it, the only 100% "safe" method of payment would be a USPS (postal) money order, which you would take the post office and cash before shipping. Anything else could potentially bounce or be reversed. But honestly that's a hassle, and I would never purchase something from an auction that only accepted M.O.'s.

Peinecone

04-12-2006 10:00:03

a lot of scam artist use fake money orders, and you won't know it until at least a week. Then you are stuck without the money, and the fees from your bank.

dmorris68

04-12-2006 10:19:58

[quote83b1524205="Peinecone"]a lot of scam artist use fake money orders, and you won't know it until at least a week. Then you are stuck without the money, and the fees from your bank.[/quote83b1524205]
True, that's why you should only accept [b83b1524205]USPS Postal[/b83b1524205] money orders, which are cashable only at the post office (banks won't take them). Unless the scammer is working with an inside USPS employee, they aren't going to be able to fake one. The PO can verify the validity of the money order (the serial number will be in their computer system) when you present it.

M.O.'s drawn on a bank are no different than checks, and can be forged & reversed.

All of my eBay auctions prefer PayPal. The only exception I note in the fine print of the auction is that I will accept a USPS M.O. and the item will ship only after I've successfully cashed it.

Dr. Doom

04-12-2006 11:09:19

It's against eBay policy to charge different handling amounts according to how the bidder pays.

I see a lot of sellers mention in their auctions that their handling fee includes 2.9% for Paypal.

What I've done in the past is to have my handling fee already include the Paypal charge, but after the auction is over, I offer the bidder a lower charge if he sends me a money order. I'm not sure if that conforms to eBay's policy, but I have done it a few times.

Dave82

04-12-2006 11:15:47

[quote753c71a295="Dr. Doom"]It's against eBay policy to charge different handling amounts according to how the bidder pays.

I see a lot of sellers mention in their auctions that their handling fee includes 2.9% for Paypal.

What I've done in the past is to have my handling fee already include the Paypal charge, but after the auction is over, I offer the bidder a lower charge if he sends me a money order. I'm not sure if that conforms to eBay's policy, but I have done it a few times.[/quote753c71a295]

That's a good idea. Can i reverse it somewhat under ebay's policy Shipping is $8.75 and then in the listing mention that if they pay via money order it will be $6.00 (number are obviously examples).

But apparently money orders can be fake. So i would rather take the paypal fees; better to be safe than sorry i guess.

THanks for all the info.

Chris

04-12-2006 12:23:51

[quote6ff40e8225="dmorris68"]
True, that's why you should only accept [b6ff40e8225]USPS Postal[/b6ff40e8225] money orders, which are cashable only at the post office (banks won't take them)...[/quote6ff40e8225]

On the contrary, when I sold a phone on eBay and requested a Postal money order, my bank told me to bring it in and they could deposit it in my account.

double_d

04-12-2006 12:59:58

My credit union has also cashed USPS money orders.

SonTenshinhan

04-12-2006 16:04:06

Paypal is a shady company - terrible service - indefinitely holding money - flat out setting up ways that you can't access your money. Then again ebay's almost as bad.

dmorris68

04-12-2006 16:26:31

[quote28672dbced="Chris"][quote28672dbced="dmorris68"]
True, that's why you should only accept [b28672dbced]USPS Postal[/b28672dbced] money orders, which are cashable only at the post office (banks won't take them)...[/quote28672dbced]

On the contrary, when I sold a phone on eBay and requested a Postal money order, my bank told me to bring it in and they could deposit it in my account.[/quote28672dbced]
Wow, news to me. Maybe it's a recent change, or depends on the bank. I know a few years ago I tried to deposit one and they told me nope, take it to the PO.

I'd still take it to the PO however, and here's why the bank cannot verify the validity of the MO (unless they can call it in or something). Which means, should the MO turn out to be fake when it's presented to the PO for payment, the money is then reversed from your account. Whereas if you take it to the PO, they hand you cash money if the MO is legit -- so if you walk out of there with cash, there's no way it's getting reversed.

Then again, perhaps the banks have worked out some sort of validation procedure, which is why they're taking them now. I'll have to ask the next time I go to the bank, out of curiosity.

BD2006BD

04-12-2006 16:33:59

USPS money orders are special because they are trackable.. whereas other money orders are not ( from what I have seen ).