Payments for SOB question

I flogged a bike on e-bay last week. Buyer coming to pick up tomorrow, he
is new to e-bay and has had difficulty getting established with Paypal etc.
His offer is to bring me a building society cheque made out in my name for
the agreed value.
Seems OK to me. Anyone know of any scams, ruses or dodges with this type of
operation.
I'm up ^ in Scotland he is on holiday in the lake district but heading to
Hampshire.

Any advice on this (keep the V5C until the cheque clears) but let the bike
go or......... am I being a paranoid PITA.

Advice appreciated.

Ras
Gt750 Red
--

 

Hmmm. I just gave the bloke who owns the XL a cheque, too, but pretty
much told him to give me a bell when the cheque cleared[1]. I wouldn't
expect to take away a vehicle without giving the owner's bank the
chance to have a good go at it.

Maybe I'm showing my ignorance here but I was under the impression that
there wasn't much of a difference anymore between a BS cheque and a
simple bank cheque?

Fake cheque, not enough cash in the account, account closed years ago...

He either gives you cash or mails you the cheque so you can bank it and
get it checked (sic).

I mean, WTF is wrong with cash?[2]

[1] I know, I know. They don't clear properly anymore these days but I
know that my cheques aren't a fake...
[2] Apart from your bank playing bloody silly if you want a larger
amount of cash, that is. I always like being treated like a criminal
when I want to withdraw more than 300 quid/day, thankeweverymuch.

 

Rasman99 wrote

You could say this yes. It is much easier for any scrote to simply (and
anonymously) lift the bike from your drive at 3am in the morning rather
than to faff about with putting in a personal appearance with the
express intention of doing evil deeds. But there you go, if scrotes had
brains they wouldn't be scrotes.

As I understand it, a BS cheque is as good as cash but a simple phone
call to head office with the cheque in your grubby mitt should serve to
quell or confirm your worse fears.

 

Yes. Forgeries. And if the gentleman is of a Nigerian persuasion.....

Seriously, forged BS cheques are fairly common. The only way to be sure
is to go with the buyer down to the BS, and watch him withdraw a cheque
over the counter (I've done this). Otherwise don't let go of the bike
until it's cleared.

Probably not what you wanted to hear.

 

Utter bollocks. See other posts.

 

Not what I wanted to hear... but what I was frightened of.
We are talking just over a 1200 UKP here... usually you can draw that sort
of money.
Timo was right in as much as your bank/building society make you feel like a
hardened criminal when you want a large amount of dough.
Shit shit shit!
The other worry is he is a low feedbacker 100% but on minor items Gt750
manual and a Gt750 T-shirt!!
Coupled with the I'm on holiday bit but have bought a bike trailer en-route
all sounds iffy.

So........ when matey comes along have some mates hanging about drag him off
to the building society and get the cheque verified or it's GTF mate.
I assume they can do that.

Sound fair?

Ras the paranoid fucker
--

 

Personaly i would accept a BS cheque BUT i wouldn't let the goods go till
the money was in my account. Bits of paper without the Queens head ain't
worth a toss.

 

That or (if he hasn't yet got the cheque out) tell him you'll accompany
him to the BS branch and watch him withdraw it with your own eyes.

 

Yes, we know that.

Again, I hate to rain on your parade, but there are forged cheques out
there which are good enough to fool bank tellers.

 

Indeed

 

Rasman99 wrote

If I were that paranoid, which I am not, I would include a child
"playing" with a video camera and make sure the led at the front was
turned off and the audio gain turned 7 tenths up.

 

Well....... I'm expecting a phone call later on today finalising his ETA
etc. His plan is to hand over a cheque in my name organised prior to arrival
I suppose I could get the cheque details, the BS that issued it and give
them a bell or e-mail when he phones.

Thanks for your input TOG as you seem to have bought a bike or two along
with the other posters in this thread guidance much appreciated.
There is just something ringing alarm bells at not being able to raise over
a grand in cash given a week to do so.
In the area of SOB's I operate in cash is usually all thats required and not
a lot of it as they generally are project SOB's that have been abandoned due
to lack of interest/cash/boredom etc.

I suppose I'm guilty in a way, should have told him to GTF or follow the
payment terms in the advert which were ....Paypal,cash or cheque once
cleared into my account.

Ras
--

 

LOL, I know I know, the voices made me do it.

<fx puts thumbscrews back in drawer>

Ras
--

 

Some bits of paper with the queens head aint worth a toss.

 

*ding*

If you've got a bad feeling about this, trust your feeling - it's
probably right.

There's no reason why said person can't do a counter withdrawal. If
they're worried about being mugged then go to the bank with them.

Otherwise, I wouldn't touch this with someone else's bargepole.

 

I don't take Paypal for collected goods. If the buyer claims
non-receipt of the goods then it's possible that the cash would be
clawed back as Paypal only accept on-line tracking services as proof of
delivery.

 

and even some of them are forged, although the latest kind are quite
difficult to do convincingly.

 

Others have warned of potential scams.

Here is a way I dealt with selling a car - the buyer paid cash into my
account at their home branch which I was then able to confirm had
been paid in. Solves some of the mugging worries as it is a cash
payment without him having to travel with loads of cash. The only
potential problem area is giving the buyer our bank account details
(name, number, sort code).

ernest

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, C. O. Jones

Why is this a potential problem? You hand this information over every
time you write a cheque.

--
Wicked Uncle Nigel - Podium Placed Ducati Race Engineer As featured in
Performance Bikes

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Wicked Uncle Nigel () gurgled happily, sounding
much like they were saying :

There's been a spate of malicious pay-ins lately...