Q: Tanner,

I am new to selling on eBay and I wanted to know if I should accept personal checks as payment for my auctions? What do you think?

Thanks,
Terry G.

A: The danger in accepting personal checks comes from having the check bounce after you have mailed out the item.

The best way to get around this problem is to clearly state in your item description that you will not ship the item until the check clears, usually 7-10 days. This works well for most sellers.

However last year I accepted a personal check for payment on an item, and after the check cleared I mailed the item out. Then a month later I get a call from police investigator who informs me that the check I recieved was fake and they are investigating several other related cases.

What happend was that my buyer had stolen someones checking account information and created a fake check and sent it to me. The check cleared because it had real account numbers and information on the check.

I did nothing wrong it the above situation, but it caused a hassle that I did not need, and I have not accepted personal checks since then.

As far as if you should or shouldn’t accept personal checks, it is a judgement call you will have to make. i find it not worth the hassle.