Building Society cheque ?

[tugger2chews]

How can I describe a building society cheque to sellers on ebay? That the amount is drawn from my account at the time the cheque is issued. I hate having to wait over a week for a cheque to clear and up to 2 weeks before I receive my goods.

[Loosehead]

The know what a BS cheque is, trouble is they are too easly forged or dishonoured. They seller will want it to clear, why not use a debit card or paypal?

[Ethel]

Why not pay by direct bank transfer?

Much quicker than a cheque, and free to both parties.

[Buenchico]

Building societies usually refer to these cheques as 'counter cheques'. They're the equivalent of a banker's draft. .So you could refer to them as 'building society counter cheque (= banker's draft)'.

The problem is, as Loosehead has indicated, there have been cases where these cheques have been stolen or forged, so most people won't accept them without waiting for them to clear.

Ethel suggests using a bank transfer. Depending upon which bank/building society you're with, these MIGHT be free but be warned that my bank (Abbey) said that they'd charge �40 for this service. The way I got round it was to withdraw cash from my account, then walk across the road to a branch of the bank used by the person I wanted to pay the money to. (Obviously, he'd given me his bank account details). I then paid the money into his account and he was able to check, at a cash machine, that the money had gone through.

Normally for eBay, I just use PayPal. It's free to buyers and (once you've got past the initial spending limit) really easy.

Chris

[stevie21]

Buenchico - Abbey don't actually have a fee of �40 for anything on their personal accounts.
A "CHAPS" payment is �20 to a UK account.
A "BACS" payment is free.
Things may be different on a business account

I know not what you speak of and I know Abbey very very very very well. If you can point me to something on their website that says that there's a �40 for anything I'll stand corrected.

I agree though that the easiest way forward (if it's an option for you tugger2chews) is to use paypal.

[Pippa68]

As has already been said, cheques can be forged so to allow a certain amount of time for clearance is the sellers perogative.

There is another problem. Forged cheques can be cleared, you send out the goods, then the cheque is discovered as a forgery & sent back to the seller. The seller has already sent the goods & has lost their money (this can also happen with cheques bouncing) as this can happen, I think it would be reasonable for a seller to hold on to goods for even longer than a week to make sure all is well.

Postal orders are best ~ even better than paypal in my opinion, as getting a refund from RM is much simpler than getting one from paypal (in my experience). I always breathe a sigh of relief when I receive my ebay purchases, no matter how long it takes ~ as there are so many crooks out there!

[Buenchico]

I yield to Stevie21's superior knowledge regarding Abbey's charges. (Quote from Abbey cashier, Stowmarket branch: "Well we can do it if you really want but I don't advise it. I know we make a charge. I think it's �40. I can look it up if you like". I declined and the same cashier suggested taking cash to the bank over the road).

Chris

[tugger2chews]

As it's for a laptop and over �700 I will do as Ethel and Buenchico suggest and pay the cash straight into the sellers bank account.

I knew I could count on ABers for a good answer.

Thanks

[Killerschick]

Word of warning - you have no protection if you pay cash into the seller's account and the goods don't turn up. If you can, get a credit card as the Consumer Credit Act gives you some rights to pursue the credit card company if the goods don't show up and you can't get your money back from the seller. Or, as suggested before, get a Paypal account so there is someone to claim on if the goods don't show. Although the credit limit can be a problem, you can pay money into a Paypal account in advance so it's cleared and ready when you go ahead with your purchase.

I would seriously warn against paying money into someone's account for a transaction of this value but if you need to go aheard urgently and don't have time to get a credit card or Paypal account, only deal with someone with lots of trades and 100% feedback, get their real life name and address (so you can issue a small claim against them if you need to) and verify that the bank account details tally when you go into the bank ie that someone calling themself John Smith hasn't given you details for a bank account in another name. If anything seems suspicious back out of the transaction and report it to Ebay so you don't get negative feedback for pulling out.

Good luck!