USPS Money Orders - Secure?

[ruairioflaherty]

Hi all,

I have a buyer interested in a fairly expensive piece of test gear ($2500) and they are asking to pay via USPS money order.  I've never taken anything other than PayPal. 

Are there any possible scams or frauds that I should be aware of? Assuming I withhold goods until I have cashed the money orders is there anything else that can go wrong?

Cheers,
Ruairi

 

[scott2000]

I suppose the bank could process it and find out it's fake later??

 

[emrr]

Cash it at a PO in normal times, hold like a check these days. 

 

[JohnRoberts]

Hi all,

I have a buyer interested in a fairly expensive piece of test gear ($2500) and they are asking to pay via USPS money order.  I've never taken anything other than PayPal. 

Are there any possible scams or frauds that I should be aware of? Assuming I withhold goods until I have cashed the money orders is there anything else that can go wrong?

Cheers,
Ruairi

I have always accepted Postal MO.

+1 to the advice to immediately take it to your local PO, they will be able to confirm its authenticity, while a small local PO (like mine)  probably doesn't have that much cash sitting around. If they say it looks OK, deposit it in your bank and wait roughly the same time as for check clearing. I don't know why check clearing takes days. They no longer physically fly the paper checks around the country, like they used to, now it all electronic images zipping around.

The last time I saw one the USPS MO looked pretty secure.

JR

 

[ruairioflaherty]

Thanks all,

Being in L.A. I should be able to cash this directly at a Post Office, I wouldn't be comfortable depositing to my bank account given how slowly they seem to process things.

Thanks,
Ruairi