Money Order Risks for Seller

orchids

orchids

Member
O.G.
May 30, 2006
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#1
What risks should be considered when agreeing to accepting a USPS money order from an eBay bidder? Can you get your cash right away from the post office or go to any bank?
 
#4
The drag about money orders, is that you have to wait for them to arrive, so it delays the whole process.

However, the GOOD thing is, you aren't nicked by Paypal, and you can cash them directly at the post office, right as you're shipping the package, so you can know immediately if it's genuine, and you get your money right away--no additional delays for clearance through your bank.
 
#5
I like USPS money orders because you can cash them at the post office immediately. I've cashed a USPS money order for 1K before and i loved that they gave me the money instantly. It's the other type of money orders i get weary of.
 
#6
Earlier this year a Postal Employee stole an unopened pack of money orders and used them, alot of them. So all banks around the country were on alert for a series of money order numbers. I have 2 checking accounts and neither bank would accept a few money oders I had for ebay sales at the time (earlier this summer). I cashed them at the post office. Now when I get money orders, regardless if they are from the PO or a bank. I call that bank or the post office to verify the issuance of the money order. THEN I deposit it. Its a little inconvenient but will save you alot of trouble later on. I would rather deal with money orders than PayPal any day.
 
#7
As far as the seller is concerned, MO offers great protection, beats paypal by a mile. As long as you make sure the MO is genuine, i.e. cash it out first and then deposit the cash in your back account. Plus the added bonus of not having to pay paypal fees.

The only thing that's possiblly better is Western Union, which cuts down the wait time too.
 
#8
I think MO is still not risk free at all. I heard stories like this: the seller received the MO and cashed it, but later was notified by the postal office saying the MO was fake and the seller had to return the money. So please still be careful. Nowadays things are really screwed up.
 
#9
Ecthelion said:
I think MO is still not risk free at all. I heard stories like this: the seller received the MO and cashed it, but later was notified by the postal office saying the MO was fake and the seller had to return the money. So please still be careful. Nowadays things are really screwed up.
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hmm, shouldn't the fake MO been found out during the "cashing out" process?
 
#10
tods123 said:
hmm, shouldn't the fake MO been found out during the "cashing out" process?
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Surprisingly, they may not, :shrugs: They do not verify it at the moment you cash it, just like when you deposit a check. They take it, do the transaction, give you the money, and when they try to collect the money from the bank that issued it and they have trouble, that's when they find out. The process takes normally 1-2 weeks, which leaves a lot of room for scam.

I heard about this from some seller friends - not just handbags, but also computers, even boats, :Push: So, just be careful...
 
#11
Ecthelion said:
Surprisingly, they may not, :shrugs: They do not verify it at the moment you cash it, just like when you deposit a check. They take it, do the transaction, give you the money, and when they try to collect the money from the bank that issued it and they have trouble, that's when they find out. The process takes normally 1-2 weeks, which leaves a lot of room for scam.

I heard about this from some seller friends - not just handbags, but also computers, even boats, :Push: So, just be careful...
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Thanks. That's good to know. But then what's the difference between an MO and a check!? I thought the whole point is that MOs take a lot less time to verify.
 
#12
Honestly I don't know how they can still do fraud on MOs. The banks and postal office should have made sure this kind of thing would not have happened, otherwise just like what you said, what's the point of the MOs and cashier checks anyway... In fact before I heard such stories I believed MOs were just like cash......And now I don't know if there is a safe way for me to sell my old car and not get scammed.
 
#13
OK, here is some info from what I found on the web:
The only hypothetical reasons a money order could ever bounce are if the payment is stopped by the maker of the money order, if the issuing company goes bankrupt, or if the money order is fraudulent or counterfeit.
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As of 2006 there has been a significant increase in sightings of counterfeit postal money orders. Often, such a counterfeit will be sent to an unwitting victim who is instructed, on some pretext, to deposit it at his bank and return some of the funds. The victim is more likely to trust an "official" money order than a regular check, for the reasons given above. However, because money orders are paid through the postal service rather than the usual check clearing system, they often take longer to "bounce" than an ordinary check. When this finally occurs it is charged back to the victim, who may already have sent back the funds, for which he or she must take the loss. For this reason banks are now applying increased security to incoming money orders, and are becoming more reluctant to accept them. A safer approach is to cash them at a post office. In this case, the authenticity of the item is immediately determined, and if deemed good, the holder is paid and absolved of further responsibility for the funds.
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I still have reversation about the last point though, because one friend did cash it in the postal office and still got notified that it was a fake later. I guess it's a matter of how capable the cashier at the postal office is in detecting counterfeits.
 
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