Im assuming that dealers at a major coin shows should not have any issues with accepting American Express Travelers Cheques for coin purchases?
Im thinking you may want to get a roster of who is going to be at the show and call a few of them.. I am betting the answer will be no.
As a flea market guy, I hate checks. It's very hard for me to trust perfect strangers. I might take a check for $5.00. But over $20, forget it. It's not that hard for someone to obtain cash, and in the flea market world, "cash is king". As far as a dealer goes, it's hard to trust something written on a piece of paper, if I had a $500 coin, I would not take a check. Now if it was someone I knew, and could trust, different story.
As a Dealer I have not ever taken a check from anyone other than know dealers at any show I have ever done. Traveler Cheques would be even more if a NO for me at any pirice.
The only dealers whom I know that take paper over cash, know the person extremely well, and only accept a personal check, not a traveler's check. FYI, form of payment acceptance is dealer's discretion.
I witnessed at a show a transaction between a seller and a buyer he didn't know. It was for an 1893-S Morgan slabbed in VF(?) and an 1894 Morgan slabbed in XF or AU. We're not talking chump change. The dealer accepted a personal check. BUT The dealer held the coins until the check cleared then mailed the coins to the buyer. How long that took I don't know. The transaction went off without a hitch.
Usually, up to 5 business days for a check to clear, but even that is no guarantee the check isn't stolen. How often do were hear of weeks passing by after a check has cleared only for a notice the check was forged and stolen or written on a closed account, and the money being taken back.
I don't know where that happens but wherever it does that should be illegal. Once a bank says a check is clear, the funds should not be retracted under any circumstances. How can people have confidence in the system if they can't be sure the money has really "cleared" or not? If a bank finds out that a check has been forged or stolen, they should eat the loss for clearing the check. Banks have deep pockets, they should not punish the innocent for allowing a check to clear and then changing their minds based on information that comes in weeks or months later.
There are a lot of counterfeit money orders and travelers checks floating around. Personally I would not take them for a coin/bullion transaction.
In the 21st Century, travelers' checks are a joke. Fifty years ago, when I was just getting started, they were OK. But cash was still KING (and no $100's please).
I own a company.. My company did work for another company. Total bill was around 10 grand. The company wrote my company a check, it cleared. I waited another couple of weeks. Total of about a month from the day I deposited the check. The other company stopped payment on the check and the amount was deducted from my account. I did end up getting the money after threat of a lawsuit. But this 5-7 day clearing people talk about is a joke! The check can clear, the money is put into the account and accessible. The writer of the check has what they call a reasonable amount of time to stop payment EVEN if payment has been made. whatever reasonable is..
I use personal checks at our local show regularly. Of course I have been seeing the same group of dealers there for nearly thirty years, so it has never been a problem there. But if I am going to a large national show, I wouldn't even bother asking if they would take a check. Besides, there is no better bargaining chip than a pile of cash.
This discussion is rather disheartening. People saying NO Travelers Cheques and NO $100's? How is someone supposed to buy any coins for their colection that have any value at these shows then? I guess If the dealers want to make the sale in Dallas with me then theyll either accept the Travelers Cheques or wait while I find a bank to cash them and come back.
I'm 99.999% positive they will wait . I have no problems with 100's either . My question is why ? Why have them ? Why even try ? Just find a bank before hand & save the hassel. Would you accept a Travelers Cheque from a complete stranger ? Frankly I haven't even seen a Travelers Cheque in at least 15 years to be any where confident enough to say "sure I'll accept that". Id bet that would be true with the majority of people too if it was even a payment option.
I don't know many people that don't like 100's unless you pay in all 100's and they can't make change but it's not a big deal. But Travelers Check's are a no no from what I've seen.
Most dealers have no issue with accepting $100 bills. However, most dealers will also refuse AE Travelers Cheques or anything similar. This goes for me, too. I will gladly take cash and in most instances gladly take a personal or business check, but I have no use for Travelers Cheques.
