Question
Hi guys,
It seems to be a wilder and wackier eBay universe out there than ever before, and I guess that means some people are attempting stunts that I (in 8 years of eBay selling) have never seen before.
Received a money order last week from a first-time customer. The amount was wrong. The payee's name had been eradicated and mine filled in. The drawer's name was NOT that of my customer. The money order looked like it had been through the wash, taken on the log ride at Knotts Berry Farm, and dried out in the desert sun -- for a couple of weeks.
I surmise it was stolen out of the mail.
I (stupidly) returned it to the customer (should have kept it! dang!) and filed FVF on their sorry carcass. Today the carcass negged me. Priceless.
It's not the first altered money order I've received, though, and that's what I want to mention. If you get a money order that has ANY kind of alteration on it, even the kind of crossed-out and initialed alteration that would be acceptable on a personal check, return it. Do not try to cash it because the issuing company will refuse, return it to your bank, and you know how the rest of that song goes. You end up paying, not your careless customer.
I have also seen money orders with the amount altered, though thank heavens I haven't been bit myself by one of those.
Have a great August everyone -- may all your bidders have just come into their trust funds and may they become so addicted to what you're selling that you can't list it fast enough.
fluffy
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Answer
> Do not try to cash it because the issuing company will refuse,
> return it to your bank, ... You end up paying, not your careless customer.
Can't say I have ever received a suspect money order... um, well... that unexpected "cashier's check" from Nigeria for 10 laptops doesn't count ... but anyway, if it is a USPS money order, would you try to cash it? I am guessing requesting second payment while keeping the first one wouldn't fly.
Answer
I got an altered money postal money order once. The customer claimed he had made a mistake in the amounts - mixed mine up with another seller's. So he scratched out the other person's name and address and wrote mine in above it.
As I thought, my bank wouldn't touch it. Neither would the post office. It was altered, plain and simple, and my bank even told me it was fraudulent now, even if the original purchaser himself had done it as he'd claimed.
And *I* got the neg because I wouldn't accept it.