Bizzare eBay message: advice needed!

You receiving a money order is not at risk to be scammed. Wait till you get the money order, deposit it, make sure it doesn't bounce. The only possible scam is that he is just stalling and has no intention of paying you. You will wait a week or 2 for payment and get nothing.

i take money orders and personal checks all the time on ebay but make sure it is a real MO or check and it clears before you send out.


it is more advantageous for you to accept other forms of payment other than paypal, because paypal charges you the seller an outrageous fee and on top of that,
paypal will always have their 'hand' on your money indefinitely.

it is not to the buyer's advantage to use a money order in the stead of paypal , so unless the mo is not real, there should be no disadvantage to you

It sounds scammy enough that I would give the money order two weeks to clear before I shipped, but not so scammy that I would insist on paypal.

As others said, buyer paying money order is to your advantage (no paypal fees, no paypal dispute, no credit card charge back, and etc) as long as the money order is real. Whenever I receive a money order and the amount is significant enough, I call the issuing finanical insititute to verify the money order. Doing so, you need to find the phone number. Always google the number yourself instead of using the one printed on the back of the money order. By giving the money order number and $ amount, the financial institute can tell you whether the money order is real and fund is available. Once you deposit the money order, it should take less than 24hrs to show on your balance. This way, you know for sure you have received the fund.

The major risk of receiving a money order is getting a fake one. Once you deposit it, your bank will post the balance in 24hrs (I think this is demanded by federal regulations). Later (this could be weeks) your bank finds out the money order was counterfeit, it then reverses the balance with penalty.

i had not known about this, thank you for the info

what is bizarre is that AustraliaPost uses Western Union money orders in USD and then the sellers have to go through a lot of rigmarole to encash them and then the buyer has to wait for clearance. In furiating to both parties wheen it is a US company. Don't the have offices like Thomas Cook where you just go and encash

He won the auction so he can use whatever form of payment he wishes unless you explicitly prohibited it. Like others have said, make sure you call the issuing institution and wait until the money order clears. Good luck!