The MLP Arena
TCB => Trader & Shipping Support => Topic started by: Squirrelypaws on June 24, 2013, 06:44:50 PM
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I'm not sure if this belongs here, as it's not pony-related at all, but my grandma sold a baby doll on Ebay a few days ago, and we've been waiting for the bidder to pay.
Today, we get this message from the buyer:
Hello, I can not believe that I won this beautiful doll!!!!! Now a big question. Can I pay you for her with a US Postal Moneyorder? I can use Pay Pal but I am short and would have to use overdraft money which will cost me an extra $33.00. I will get the postal money order in the morning and send it to you registered. But, if you must , I will use pay apl ( ouch! ) or if you could wait until Friday of this week my husband gets paid and I will not be overdrawn and it would not cost me the extra $33. I really did not think that I would win her but even at 55 years old, I still love my baby dolls. I will do what ever you ask though. Thank you, *name here*
Does anyone have any advice on what we should do?
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You are not covered with a MO. It's up to you if you want to wait until Friday for payment. It couldn't hurt to wait unless you need the quick sale. If it was me, I would wait but be sure to let her know that you do need payment by Sunday night at the latest otherwise you have no choice but to move on and leave appropriate feedback.
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i guess i would accept a postal money order, but not any other kind.
those are easier to forge and when you take it to the post office you get cash right there. so no worries on the money suddenly disappearing from the bank (what happens with a forged money order)
one good point, is you don't need to pay paypal fees on it, another is you'll have the cash in hand and won't need to do anything else except send the package.
if it turns out not to be legit. you just don't send the item. mail the money order back and tell them to pay via paypal.
but if you don't get it by friday i would ask for alternative payment. some times people do this just to buy a little time. when did the auction end?
do you have a "pay by" time restraint listed on the auction?
doesn't seem like it could hurt in any fashion.
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You can accept a postal money order, but before you send anything out, cash it at the post office. It might just be easier to wait for them to pay on Friday though.
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I mean eBay used to be Money Order and Cashier Check only before Paypal ever existed... I remember having to send out my Money Orders with honestly no guarantee of the seller letting me know that it arrived or actually sending the item to me...
So, I don't necessarily think they're trying to scam you... I mean if you get something other than a money order from USPS, then you can decide then but, yeah if you didn't get the MO ever, I suppose you could leave appropriate feedback at the time and move on, try to resell it... you can open a case to get your fee back from eBay as well...
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I'm not sure if this belongs here, as it's not pony-related at all, but my grandma sold a baby doll on Ebay a few days ago, and we've been waiting for the bidder to pay.
Today, we get this message from the buyer:
Hello, I can not believe that I won this beautiful doll!!!!! Now a big question. Can I pay you for her with a US Postal Moneyorder? I can use Pay Pal but I am short and would have to use overdraft money which will cost me an extra $33.00. I will get the postal money order in the morning and send it to you registered. But, if you must , I will use pay apl ( ouch! ) or if you could wait until Friday of this week my husband gets paid and I will not be overdrawn and it would not cost me the extra $33. I really did not think that I would win her but even at 55 years old, I still love my baby dolls. I will do what ever you ask though. Thank you, *name here*
Does anyone have any advice on what we should do?
Well, it can be kind of a pain when told at the last minute. Still, it sounds sincere - yes, could be trouble, but you could tell her you won't ship the doll until the money is cleared and in the bank.
I get paid on a set schedule, so I try to ask if I buy, could the seller hold. Once I was told yes, sometimes I've had the seller agree to a sale at a later date (meaning, if no one else purchased the item, s/he would relist and I could purchase then.) One even did an off eBay sale with me. Just some personal experiences.
I would just say "we won't ship the doll until your payment has cleared the bank" and let her know your address.
Or, you could wait until Friday, and get paid via PayPal.
Point is, she could have told you earlier, but maybe something came up and took some extra money away from her. She could be 100% sincere (as said), and I don't think should be shunned.
You are not covered with a MO.
That - is a shame, but good to know.
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I would get the money order, cash and see if to clears THEN SEND THE DOLL.
Do NOT, I repeat do NOT send her the doll until payment has been received and cleared. And make sure she knows it. The way she repeats "postal money order" makes me suspicious.
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She sounds sweet! Unless you need the money right now, I'd probably wait til Friday and get the Paypal payment, but I've never used money orders before. But I do agree with everyone else, do wait til you have money in hand to ship. On the internet, you never know who really is a sweet old lady.
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Well, it can be kind of a pain when told at the last minute. Still, it sounds sincere - yes, could be trouble, but you could tell her you won't ship the doll until the money is cleared and in the bank.
actually you can't count on this either.
most counterfeit money orders clear the bank fine, but when the bank finds out that it's not real they pull the money from your account. no questions asked.
that's why it's important to get a postal money order. one that can be cashed with out being attached to a bank account. but because of that you need to cash it at the post office and not at your bank.
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I would get the money order, cash and see if to clears THEN SEND THE DOLL.
Do NOT, I repeat do NOT send her the doll until payment has been received and cleared. And make sure she knows it. The way she repeats "postal money order" makes me suspicious.
Really? I think if I was sending a message like that to a seller I would definitely repeat myself saying what kind of Official Money Order I was sending. They also offered to send it registered mail so... I dunno. I don't really see anything suspicious myself... :huh: but that's just me...
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She sounds sweet! Unless you need the money right now, I'd probably wait til Friday and get the Paypal payment, but I've never used money orders before. But I do agree with everyone else, do wait til you have money in hand to ship. On the internet, you never know who really is a sweet old lady.
agreed, she does sound sincere and sweet
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My gramma loves baby dolls too. ^.^
She seems very sweet and sincere, she even said she's willing to overdraw to pay.
I'd wait until Friday, for the simple fact that I trust PayPal a little more.
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I would get the money order, cash and see if to clears THEN SEND THE DOLL.
Do NOT, I repeat do NOT send her the doll until payment has been received and cleared. And make sure she knows it. The way she repeats "postal money order" makes me suspicious.
Really? I think if I was sending a message like that to a seller I would definitely repeat myself saying what kind of Official Money Order I was sending. They also offered to send it registered mail so... I dunno. I don't really see anything suspicious myself... :huh: but that's just me...
Just something about this message strikes me as suspicious.
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Honestly, unless you're dying for the money, I would wait until Friday and get the Paypal - I just trust it a little more.
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I prefer Postal Money Orders myself, now and then a buyer still asks to use one, they are the best to get, I just take them straight to post office and cash them and have the item ready to ship with me (if it clears fine, then purchase the postage when you get the cash then and there)
I dont deal with depositing money orders at banks anymore, because you never know, so I prefer the postal ones since you can cash them there with no fees
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I don't understand why she can't deposit whatever money she has to get a money order into her bank account, and then use PayPal? I mean...she has to have the money to get the money order...so why not just deposit that and use the Paypal.
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I imagine because she's already overdrawn, and so any money paid in would just get swallowed up.
Personally I'd take the postal order or wait til Friday. Even if you cancel and relist you won't get the money any sooner. I don't see anything wrong with the message.
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Wait, I was under the impression that you couldn't use anything BUT paypal on ebay anymore. Can you actually still use money orders without ebay getting on your case?
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Wait, I was under the impression that you couldn't use anything BUT paypal on ebay anymore. Can you actually still use money orders without ebay getting on your case?
think it depends on if you report it.
but i do know you can't request something to be paid with a money order.
ebay and paypal probably have some kind of contract.
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think it depends on if you report it.
but i do know you can't request something to be paid with a money order.
ebay and paypal probably have some kind of contract.
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That's it. Ebay and Paypal are the same company (or as good as) and they make money on the fees.
Sellers can't request money orders, and you can say no to accepting one.
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I'd wait until Friday so she can PayPal you the funds. Even if she sends a Money Order, it will arrive pretty much at the same time the PayPal payment would. And PayPal is always safer to deal through. ;)
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Thanks for all the great advice, everybody. ^_^
We're pretty desperate for money right now, so we wrote back and told her we unfortunately needed to be paid through Paypal ASAP, especially considering it'd already been two days since she won the doll and we hadn't heard anything from her.
I feel bad that it's going to end up costing her that much extra (almost double what she won the doll for), but at the same time, I feel like she should have known beforehand that she'd be short on the payment and should have contacted us before she even bid.
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I think you are doing the right thing in waiting for Paypal. Although her message sounds sweet I can find quite a few discrepancies with it. First one being she should have contacted you prior to bidding to see if you were ok accepting a MO. Because according to EBay's accepted payment policy it is prohibited in certain categories, which is almost everything except Motors, Industrial and Real Estate:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/accepted-payments-policy.html
I am not saying people do not do it but you will not be covered under EBay's Seller Protection if something should go wrong. :huh:
But in that being said, if you do decide to accept the MO, make sure it is a USPS MO. They're the kind you get from the Post Office. I would not suggest accepting any other kinds of money orders. Forging a USPS money order is a federal crime. Forging a MO from the Quickie Mart is not. When you receive a USPS money order, you can go down to your local PO and they'll cash it for you. This takes care of two things, you know the MO is real and you have cash in hand. You can then mail out the high bidders item.
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Ebay owns PayPal, so they get twice the cut. They don't want anyone else getting the money. :P Still, that's something that should be known by those who use either or both services. *shrugs* What can one do. They provide a decent service, I feel, and while I don't like it - a fee-for-service is to be expected.
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I can understand some frustration with Paypal, but as someone who worked as a bank teller for a couple of years out of college, I would say never accept a money order for an online transaction. They are so very easy to fake, our orders were to put holds on them whenever they came through, as they would so often bounce. The post office money order does sound different- if you can cash it before you ship, that's fine. However, I'm a little confused as to why she has the money to buy a money order but not pay via Paypal, and that also makes me suspicious.
I think waiting for Paypal is completely acceptable, and in the future you might state that it is all you will take and put a timeline on getting paid. Good luck :good:
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I don't think there's anything particularly suspicious about this. I used to pay with money orders all the time, and I've accepted them before. Actually, if I were selling, I'd probably prefer postal money orders to Paypal. Money orders don't have fees, and dishonest buyers can't do chargebacks on them:p
Also, even if she goes down to the bank and gives them cash, most banks don't apply deposits right away. Even cash can take time to "clear". It might say that it's in there, but the cash deposit would be pending, and any new transactions could overdraw her again. And if she's got a really bad bank, the overdraft fee could be counted as another transaction, triggering another overdraft fee. It's not unheard of for once transaction to create a chain reaction of fees that can skyrocket to the hundreds of dollars. Banks are really prompt for taking money out of an account, particularly if they can collect fees. They are not nearly as quick putting money back in!
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I don't understand why she can't deposit whatever money she has to get a money order into her bank account, and then use PayPal? I mean...she has to have the money to get the money order...so why not just deposit that and use the Paypal.
I totally agree with this and for this reason I would not accept a money order. There is no protection with this form of payment. No, I would not take mo for ebay sales.