I would like to share with you what my bank's 'fraud prevention officer' recently shared with me  regarding accepting personal checks, cashier's checks, money orders, and Paypal payments from Ebay customers.

On a recent trip to our local bank, I went to the drive-through window and made a business deposit which included money orders and personal checks I had received from Ebay customers. The container went into the air chute, up over the drive-through, and down to the teller behind the window. She opened up the cannister, removed the deposit and looked through it. After a few seconds, she left her seat and returned with another woman. The other lady informed me she was the bank's 'fraud prevention officer.'

She wanted to let me know that they were double-checking (sorry!) checks, money orders and cashier's checks because they were easy to forge. I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the real thing and a counterfeit, but thankfully, the bank was keeping an eye out to protect both itself and its customers. She further advised me to bring all future deposits into the bank where they would be able to carefully scrutinize them while I waited.

Her advice to me was that I no longer accept personal checks, cashier's checks or money orders, and instead accept only electronic payments through Paypal. It's excellent advice, but after thinking about what was best for both my business and my customers, I decided that I would continue to accept all forms of payment I currently accept. If I only accepted Paypal payments, that would prevent a number of customers from being able to bid on my items, with the end result possibly being lower sales for me, as well as preventing customers from purchasing something that they might really want simply because they didn't have a Paypal account.

I always try to think of selling on Ebay from the point of the customer. Since I'm such an Ebay shopper, this is very helpful for me when I'm on the other end of the spectrum as an Ebay seller. How does the auction listing look? Is it easy to read, extremely clear, present everything about the product and my policies that the customer needs to know about? Payment methods, for example, if I were the customer, I would want to have different options for paying for the item. Some folks don't feel comfortable putting their information on the internet (Paypal), and would prefer to pay by a personal check, money order or cashier's check. I understand that. Personally, I try to always pay by Paypal because it's instantaneous, and being the true-blue American that I am...I LOVE instantaneous! (And because I hate having to get up out of my seat, trundle over to my office, sit down, open up my laptop, turn it on, find the auction listing, print out a copy, hunt for the check book, write it out, go hunt down an envelope, address it, double check the address to make sure I got it right and that my check doesn't end up in Antarctica, go hunt down an extremely rare stamp, then get off my lazy behind, go outside and walk across the yard to the ancient mailbox. It's not that I'm lazy, I just like to take the shortest route to my destination, and Paypal is the shortest. You win the auction, Ebay automatically sends you an invoice, you click the "Pay" button, log into Paypal, click "Pay" and it's all done. It does everything for you. !Viva la Paypal!)

My policy is to deposit each of the forms of payment I receive into the bank, wait until they clear, then mail the item to the customer. So far, I've never had any dishonest customers. I've had a couple of dishonest sellers take off with my money and either send me a defective product, or not send it at all, but that's been about 3 in the four years I've been on Ebay. 100%  of my customers have been honest and forthright. They've all been very nice, very honest people to deal with and have made selling on Ebay a real privilege. 

From now on, when I make the trip into town to the bank, I'll just have to make the extra effort to park my car, climb out, walk across the parking lot into the bank, wait in line, then wait at the counter while they double-check the deposit. But, that's ok...I need the exercise.

If this Guide has been helpful for you, please submit a vote for it. Thank you for taking the time to read it, and I really hope it is helpful for you!

Sincerely,

Sherry,

Victoria West Designs