Cashiers Check as Method of Payment

pmichelsen

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I am selling a game and the buyer wants to pay in a cashiers check, would you take it? Maybe I am just being over paranoid but in this day and age you can't be too careful. The amount is 800 dollars, in case that makes a difference.
 
Make sure you cash it, before the game leaves.

I sold a pinball awhile back to a guy in Cali, he sent a CC and i cash it that day..

Everything was fine.
 
A cashier's check is as good as cash itself. That is... IF it is a real cashier's check. FYI, I think some banks charge you a percentage of the total amount to cash it.
 
My attitude is, if you can get a cashiers check, you can get cash. Somebody wanting to give that to someone in person sounds like a potential scam to me.
 
He is picking the game up in person, so I don't think I can cash it before the game leaves.

Dude, it's a WAY BETTER story to come back saying "damn I could have sold that game"

vs

"damn I got fucking scammed, I am such a fucking idiot"

get cash
 
Well I emailed him back and told him I preferred cash and that if he must pay in a Cashiers Check that I will need the name and branch of bank he will draw the check from. And that when he picks up the game I will call the bank and verify the check. I guess I will either piss him off or he will understand.
 
The guy might not want to carry that much cash, but he should understand that with all the fake checks out there why you would want to check it out before letting him leave with the game.
 
Get a postal money order...You can go cash right away and there is no temp hold put on it...a Cashiers Check can be cashed and then ten days later the bank can come back and tell you it was found to be counterfeit and garnish money from your account...Postal money order you don't have to worry about it....
 
If the dude can bring a cashiers check he can bring cash. If he refuses to bring cash, that's reason enough to not do business with the guy.
 
I prefer

I prefer postal money orders, even if multiple.
any fraud commited using them becomes a federal crime.
and if in person, why waste time with anything other than cash,
they come look at game check out etc.
go to bank with them and get cash at bank go back to house exchange.
I am selling a game and the buyer wants to pay in a cashiers check, would you take it? Maybe I am just being over paranoid but in this day and age you can't be too careful. The amount is 800 dollars, in case that makes a difference.
 
Well we have agreed that he will pay in a cashier's check and tomorrow he will provide me with the bank and branch so that I can look up the number on my own and then when he comes with the check I will call that branch and verify the check. His side of the story is that he is driving two hours to meet someone he doesn't know with $800 cash and he doesn't feel safe. I can appreciate his concern, though I don't see the difference between giving me $800 cash and a cashier's check but whatever. What happened to the good old days before scams...
 
Postal Money Orders are fine for smaller amounts, but $800 presents a problem because a) those can be faked just like cashier's checks and 2) some Post Office Branches don't have $800 in the drawer to cash a check that size.

My local Post Office has turned me away because they couldn't cash a $150 Postal MO, they said, "deposit it in your bank".

I'd tell the guy to bring cash, don't even do Paypal because there have been stories about people picking up games and paying via Paypal and getting scammed when the buyer claims they never got the item, and the seller has no tracking number on a pick up.
 
assuming this happens in daylight and while banks are open.

go to a bank!!!!!!!!!!!!

If they guy is driving that far, he can't be on a tight schedule.

I KNOW he will be willing to do this, or he wouldn't drive that far for this game.
He doesn't want to go home empty handed if he is legit.
 
I appreciate the concerns on both sides, but if he is using a branch bank, find the nearest branch for him. Tell him to come check out the machine, then go cash the check and come back with cash.

I got burned several years ago with a cashiers check. They opened a checking account for $25, got a $5 cashiers check on the new account, washed the check and reprinted it for $255. Two weeks later, my bank pulled $250 out of my account (bouncing 3 or 4 checks along the way). I was out the computer equipment, $250 and had over $100 worth of bounced check and overdraft fees.

It is now a policy that, if I don't know you very well, cash is king, baby.

ken
 
I think your fine. Did you have this listed on CL or in a classified ad? Theres too many CL horror stories these days about "fake sellers" who will bait a buyer in (especially for a high dollar item) and rob the "would be buyer" blind when they arrive. One of those stories was mentioned here recently. Sounds like your buyer has probably heard of this as well and just wants to play it safe, thats understandable these days. Youv'e already made an agreement to verify the check before the game leaves, what could possibly go wrong after that?
 
as long as you know the bank name and branch, you can call that branch and verify the cashier's check is legitimate, and the amount its written for.
I actually took a Canadian cashier's check, had to hunt for the branch telephone number, but once i found it, they verified it, and off the guy went with his travel trailer - it was 800 dollars several times over.
 
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