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Bank transfer?
Wadders - 25/7/07 at 05:15 PM

I'm selling a van seat on flea-bay, a buyer contacted me via email and offered me a fair price to end the auction early, fair enough, no bids on it yet. What i'm not sure about is he's now offered to pay by bank transfer, after first requesting my address to send a cheque to.
I'm a bit reluctant to give my bank details to a stranger,what do you reckon? Scam or am i being daft? Is it possible to plunder an account without pass words, pin codes etc.

Al.

rayward - 25/7/07 at 05:22 PM

its supposed to be safe, but personally i wouldn;t give my details out

Ray

james h - 25/7/07 at 05:25 PM

Hmm, if you aren't sure its best to leave it.
If he is genuine, he must be worried that unless he gets the van now, someone will buy it anyway.
I think it would be better to wait, as I have been scammed on eBay before (though as a buyer). Like I say I am sure you will be able to sell your van anyway.

mookaloid - 25/7/07 at 05:25 PM

Wouldn't worry me - I send people my bank details whenever I send someone a cheque....

I don't know how anyone can do any harm by having your sort code and account number - it's not like your credit card and security number.

Also make sure it stays in your account for at least 24 hours as it can be recalled on the same day as it gets paid in - so you can think it's there and then it disappears again!



Just my 2p worth

Mark

[Edited on 25/7/07 by mookaloid]

Gixer Indy - 25/7/07 at 05:34 PM

Watch out for fake building society cheque's as well,was told by my local britannia branch that they are easy to copy!!!

Wadders - 25/7/07 at 05:45 PM

Cheers fellas.

martin1973 - 25/7/07 at 05:48 PM

only thing with bank transfer from a buyer point is you have no protection.

but i do it all the time no 5% fee like paypal.

tks - 25/7/07 at 06:12 PM

strange in NL if you make a trasfer you cant recall it or undo it!

So in NL once its there it cant leave you anymore.

Tks

RazMan - 25/7/07 at 06:24 PM

Bank transferes are my favourite way of paying / taking payment. No fees and you are able to verify everything on line.

ecosse - 25/7/07 at 06:57 PM

The only thing I would add to all of the above would be that if you are going to make a habit of using bank transfers as a means of either making or receiving payments, then set up an additional account with your bank, to use as a forwarding or holding account.
So as soon as money is paid into it you can transfer it straight back out into your real account, so should it ever be compromised there is a limit to how much can be lost, as there would be very little actually in it

Cheers

Alex

thunderace - 25/7/07 at 07:23 PM

just tell him a postal order will do fine .

DONT GIVE ANY BANK DETAILS TO NO ON ON EBAY YOU NUTTER !!!!!!!!

RoadkillUK - 25/7/07 at 09:35 PM

I prefer bank transfer too, it's free and hassle free too.

I can't see how anyone can do anything with your account number other than transfer money into it.

ChrisGamlin - 25/7/07 at 09:41 PM

quote:
Originally posted by thunderace
just tell him a postal order will do fine .

DONT GIVE ANY BANK DETAILS TO NO ON ON EBAY YOU NUTTER !!!!!!!!



Ermm have you ever actually looked into what's involved or what the risks are?

Thought not

As others have said, there's no security risk in giving somebody your sort code and account number, you do the same along with a copy of your signature with every cheque, and you leave a lot more information behind every time somebody swipes your credit / debit card in a manual machine.

As to Paypal offering protection, all Id say is don't be fooled by the claimed protection because even for ebay purchases its very easy to fall foul of one of their Terms and Conditions. For starters if you buy something off me on Ebay with me having 100% positive feedback with a score of 49, I can walk away with your money and not send you the item and you're not covered, because buyer protection only kicks in when buying off a seller with 50+ feedback, something they don't like to mention too loudly as many people blindly carry on using them for all Ebay transactions in the belief they are automatically covered.

Then as a seller once you get past 50 so can offer buyer protection, you're vulnerable to something called chargeback. Usually a dishonest buyer files a complaint about a perfectly good item to Paypal asking for a refund. They then give you something stupid like 100 words maximum to state your position and then they make a decision without further consultation and automatically withdraw the funds from your Paypal account with no right of appeal or method of getting the item back from the buyer!

Overall I'd recomend being FAR more wary of using Paypal than giving someone my bank details.

ChrisGamlin - 25/7/07 at 09:48 PM

BTW, check out Paypalsucks.com for more things to watch out for with Paypal

Gixer Indy - 25/7/07 at 10:26 PM

changing the subject slightly,after seeing linkey to paypal sucks,which it does try this next time someone wants you to call an 0870 or other premium rate number. www.saynoto0870.com beat them at their own game

ChrisGamlin - 26/7/07 at 12:23 PM

Yup, since I switched to a mobile tariff that doesn't bundle 0845/0870 numbers with my monthly minutes, saynoto0870 has saved me a few quid a month