I never had to wait more than 3 or 4 business days for an echeck to clear and I as advised by paypal, simply do not ship until the echeck does clear. To me there no big issue with accepting an echeck.
I just had this come up again. At least this time the buyer asked me if I would accept cash before he bid on the item. It did bring another question to my mind though as I was re-reading Ebay's policy. The policy states this: This policy states that the SELLER can't ask a buyer to pay by one of these methods. Technically it makes no mention of a BUYER asking a seller to use these payment methods.
However, here is what the buyers regulations says; Note that "aren’t allowed" is not conditioned on who ask whom. The only condition is which category the listing came from and coins is not one of the "some" categories.
Maybe I'm missing something, but Ebay gives you COMPLETE control over what the OP is talking about. Go to your "My-Bay" page. Then go to your Account Page. On the left-hand side, pick Site Preferences Then pick "Buyer Requirements". According to EBay, this allows you to "Block certain eBay buyers from bidding on or purchasing your items." For instance, my settings will block anyone from bidding who: Don't have a PayPal account Have received 2 Unpaid Item strike(s) within 1 Month(s) Have a primary shipping address in a country I don't ship to Have 4 Policy Violation report(s) within 1 Month(s) Have a feedback score of -1 or lower Simple as that and it applies to all your NEW auctions unless you change it.
That would be fine if I win an auction from you. Of course you will have to wait while I transfer the money from my checking account to my paypal account, and then you will have to wait while that funds transfer clears and they have to notify me that it has cleared (By this time you would have had our money from the echeck) and then I have to go make the instant payment and they have to notify you that it has been made. In short it will take you LONGER to get an "instant" funds transfer from me than an echeck would take.
I've made thousands of sales and NEVER had an "instant" funds transfer. Look, get a credit card, link it to ebay, like the rest of the people living in 2010. If you can't qualify for a credit card you probably shouldn't be bidding on ebay.
Just to update on my situation, which is very similar. The buyer sent a money order even though I only except paypal. He also gave me his phone number so I called to talk to him before he sent the payment. He said he use to use paypal but got the account hacked about 2 years ago so he no longer trusts it and wants to limit the number of places online with his bank account info.
And that is indeed a legitimate gripe. Last year my wife and I had our Paypal account hacked to the tune of about $800. Paypal actually caught it and reported it to us before any other purchases were made and they were quick to remedy it, but the purchase amounts did come out of our checking before the reimbursement went back in.
Ain't Necessarily So Not true. If the buyer has a checking account as a backup means of payment to their primary PayPal account the funds transfer happens very quickly (2 days max). If the buyer "manually" adds funds to their PayPal balance from their checking account it can take a very long time ( like 5 days ). I feel confident in my knowledge on this , as I have experienced both scenarios, both as a seller and buyer.
I would advise that buyer that given the circumstances , that the speed at which he pays is not so important as compared to the method with which he remits payment. I would suggest that he go to Money Tree or Ace Cash Express or AAA and open a pre-paid debit card. Once that is established he can load however much he anticipates spending on eBay , without having a very risky direct link to his primary checking account. I would let the buyer know that due to unusual circumstances , that I'd be willing to wait the couple of weeks that it could take to get the whole new debit account & PayPal verification process completed.
