Is it safe to accept a money order for my ebay item?

Question

I'm the seller, selling a digital camera. Please provide detailed answers, 10 points!

Answer 1

To obtain a money order, the person must pay for it in cash.  This makes the money order as good as cash to anyone they give it to.  Of course, don't ship the item until you receive the money order.  You may have to put your name on it, just like a check.  Take it to your bank and cash it.  If the bank accepts it (they will unless it is fake), send the item to the buyer.

Answer 2

Hm... I usually push my customers to use paypal. With paypal it protects you and the customer by having a record of the actual transaction, plus you get the money instantly without having to wait. I will accept money orders, but they take sooo long to get, and then some people send you these pokey looking money orders and you're thinking who the heck actually issued this??? I guess it would be OK, but there's just much less potential for goof-ups if you use Paypal instead... Oh, and NEVER accept personal checks or ship to an unconfirmed address!!!

I hope I helped.

Answer 3

If its a POSTAL Money Order, the Post Office can verify its authenticity before you send the camera.

Any other money order, no.

Any money order where they've paid more than the amount with a request that you send the balance to someone else is a scam.

Anything involving Burkina Faso or Nigeria is a scam. (You're in a high-fraud area with digital goods)

So it's postal money order or nothing.  If it's over $250, they can send multiple M.O.'s