How many accept personal cheques?

[westernstargifts]

Hi All,
I accepted personal cheques when I started selling. However when the bank said that it sometimes takes up to 3 or 4 weeks for a cheque to clear some US banks, and I get charged $1 per US cheque cashed, I stopped accepting them. At the time my Credit Union was not charging to cash US money orders. Now they say they made a mistake and charge $1 each for cashing them too. At least there is no Paypal fee involved.
I just wondered how many PS's accept cheques and if you have many problems with them. Most of my customers are in the U.S.
Judy

[tobyshitzu]

Yea will accept cheques (im always surprised at the number who purchase money orders when i'll take cheques). Never had a problem, never wait for them to clear, never been charged a fee to deposit (tdcanadatrust).

[westernstargifts]

Thanks tobyshitzu. Do you mean they never charge you to deposit U.S. cheques specifically?

[tobyshitzu]

YEs USA ones no charge. They have a $5 fee for other currencies on the books, not sure its always charged.

[katiusciav]

Hi toby-same here-tdcanada trust-best bank in the world, one of the best service industries...in my opinion...
you don't wait for them to clear?????? wow, that's a risk?!?
currently, i list as accepting personal cheques, i try to attract as much business as possible by NOT having too many limitations on my listings. i find them annoying though, the having to wait part, and then not really knowing EXACTLY what day its safe to ship. we can estimate, but no real way of verifying. i prefer money orders over cheques, and offer it when a cx says they want to pay with a personal cheque. i always make it clear to cx's BEFORE they send their cheque how long i will wait before shipping. right now, i'm holding a us cheque for 20 business days-its over 900.00us, so no chances!!

[westernstargifts]

Hi Kat and Toby,
Believe it or not, my bank told me that the Canadian banking system is far superior to the U.S. system. The reason they gave is that the US has small banks everywhere that are not all connected to each other online and cheques have to be physically sent to them. Or something along that line. That is why they take so long to clear.
I will have to phone around to find out what the different banks charge. Usually the Credit Union has lower fees than the big banks. I don't get charged for any of the cheques that I write which is one of my main reasons for dealing with them. Interesting!

[orbitdrop.ont_01]

I also accept personal cheques however RBC holds them for 15 days. In my experience, the only people who want to pay by cheque are people with 0-10 feedbacks. They are usually truly new to eBay buying and haven't set up a Paypal account yet. I have not had a single problem with cheques (however I have only received around 30 of them).

[tobyshitzu]

You'll likely pay more for everything else at td then the credit union or have to maintain a higher balance. I've got a chequing account from ages ago they don't offer anymore but they grandfathered existing ones when they made changes (no withdrawl fees with $1000 balance).

Even at a $1 fee per cheques, over $20 its better then paypal.

[sunshine2426]

I never accept personal cheques. I used to years ago.

[zarzuella]

I've been accepting cheques (and checks) since 1999, and I've only ever had one bounce - and it took 7 weeks to come back.
I have a US$ account at TD/CT and pay no fees for depositing or transferring out to my regular CAD account.

Ann

[westernstargifts]

I may look into opening a U.S. account. I can see what they have to offer anyway. And I may start accepting checks on eBay again. Does anyone specify a time period in which to receive payment by mail? I find that buyers go through checkout to say they will send payment and then don't mail it for a week or more.
Judy

[*stealthtech*]

I take cheques, I put in my listings that I hold them for 10 days before I will ship the item. I understand from reading above that they may bounce after that, but at least the buyer knows there will be a 10 day hold and it might deter the fraudulent ones from bidding then!

[bestshowtime]

Everything write in all post when the buyer is honest person! But I got information from Bank manager that cheque from USA if person live in a very small town can be cleared up to 40 days. Because to confirm this cheque they send it to USA then back.
What happens if the buyer is not honest and you have very good credit with you bank?
Simple after three cases you will return to the "beginner"!
Now it will be waiting time to clear all cheque 30 days with out warranty!!!

[futuretech_liquidations]

We have a US Bank account with First Niagara and our US Customers can pay us via their online banking or send us a US FUNDS check -- never had a problem so far.

Plus we have moved over to BIDPAY rather than relying on PAYPAL who as we all know is just totally wacked when it comes to their policies.

BIDPAY sends your money ASAP and there are no chargebacks once they authorize the transaction.

As for personal cheques -- we accept from Canadians only.

Cheers,

TIM @ FTL

[bestshowtime]

Plus we have moved over to BIDPAY
Can you tell me how often are US buyer use it? I know it is not problem to open US account. Thanks for future answer!

[futuretech_liquidations]

Bestshowtime -- We have not experienced too much problems as all our eBaY listing have a BIDPAY link.

Also for our more expensive items we encourage BIDPAY Payments with FREE SHIPPING, FREE IPODS, FREE MP3, etc.

That usually gets them to use it - no problem.

Regards,

FTL

[bestshowtime]

Thank you very much.
Good luck in your business!!!:-):-)
Regards, Vitali.

[whoscloset]

Does anyone specify a time period in which to receive payment by mail?

I specify that they must contact me within 3 days of the sale with the payment method preferred. I also require payment within 7 days of the listings end.

Unfortunately, I've noticed that there seems to be a serious problem with USPS and their automated machines processing out-of-country mail. Lately about 2 of every 3 MO's sent by U.S. customers are taking anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks to show up. When they do, it is obvious from the markings on the envelope that they were misdirected by the machines and had to be manually re-routed to Canada.

I've taken to actually trusting my customers when they begin to question whether I've received their payment. If someone e-mails me wondering if their payment has arrived after 10 days or so I just ship out their item and keep my fingers crossed that it will show up. They always have so far.
Monique

Himalayan Salt Lamps - A Guide to Purchasing

[bestshowtime]

Unfortunately, I've noticed that there seems to be a serious problem with USPS
I received one money order from USA after 7 weeks. Of course we open disputes "not pay" and "not received".
On envelope which I received with money order was stamp "Arrived to Malaysia". Address was very clear, it was my address on envelope. I already sold this item and just send envelope with money order back. Buyer was really surprise and upset that USPS sent his mail to Malaysia before it arrived to Canada.

[westernstargifts]

Funny you should mention that! My sister lived in Malaysia for awhile. I went to our closest Canada Post outlet at the 7-Eleven store to buy postage to send her a card. The young lady at the outlet said to me, "This is in the States, right?" Right!!!
When I started selling I went to the same outlet, different clerk, to mail some items Light Packet. She launched into a tirade about having to send it with tracking because some guy came in and gave her a hard time before that saying that PayPal froze his account......but"We aren't trained in eBay". Then she couldn't tell me for sure if these packages would go light packet or small packet--she could only SUGGEST. After politely taking her know-it-all verbal abuse, I said never mind, I will mail these somewhere where they know what they are doing. Now I almost always go to the Post Office. No problems there. And they are very friendly!
Judy