i'm selling a laptop on ebay and someone contacted me asking if i'd accept $550 shipped (which i would), but that he'd be paying me with a cashier's check (and i usually use paypal). should i let my bank clear it first, or do cashier's checks clear automatically? any way i could get scammed on the deal?

 

Buy a 5.50 check, edit it to say five hundred fifty and voila

 

but if i let the bank clear it first it would be ok, right?

 

It takes up to a week or 10 days sometimes longer for it to clear but yeah you could do that and make sure the guy knows that you send nothing until it all checks out correctly. Let him know if he comes up short or rips you off you keep it all and report him to the service for bank fraud etc.

Also make sure you get his home address, phone number and place of employment that can be verified before signing the deal. If he says fuck you then tell him it is for your protection and this is just how things have to go or he can eat a bowl of dicks and scam someone else.

 

Right. Take it to your bank, and they can verify it. Cash it. But also becareful doing side deals on ebay. They catch you, you'll have to start over. Also, if you get bent over and scammed, they'll just say they told you so.

 

I usually don't even bother if someone asks to use a cashiers check or MO. They are almost ALL scams.

Tell him to bid and that's that.

 

Uh, a cashier's check from a reputable bank is about as good as it gets. It's pretty much impossible for a cashier's check to bounce.

If you can cash it, you should be home free. That said, if it's a good fake...

 

i feel same way about paypal, I never use paypal.

 

when you receive it you can call the bank and they should have a record of the check