Question about payment methods..money orders, pay pal, etc.

[TonyNorCal]

Few questions...

Money orders... Are some more 'cashable' than others? I tried to cash one recently and a bank declined (not my bank). If it's not a postal money order will a bank just cash it without depositing?

Pay Pal...what's the deal here? you give them your credit card info and they put the money on your card? what does pay pal charge? can you get all your money from them and close and account easily or is it a hassle?

[delloro]

The ONLY money order I will use, buying or selling, is a postal money order.

paypal is an interface to either your CC or bank account but they are anti-gun. it's up to you if you want to reward them or not.

[Pthfndr]

Banks are leery of cashing ANY money order these days - including USPS ones - because of counterfitters. Better to just deposit it and wait for it to clear. Never had a problem that way with USPS, Am Ex or Western Union MOs.

The post office will cash a USPS money order supposedly.

[Mssr. Eleganté]

I always insist on US Postal money orders too. If you wait until the afternoon, your post office often has enough cash on hand to pay them out. If you take one to your bank, you'll have to wait for it to clear like a regular check.

[-hanko]

I like usps mo's & I can take the wait for them to clear the bank.

With both paypal and it's parent, e-bay, having the anti-gun attitudes they do, it amazes me that gun buyers & sellers support paypal at all. For a seller seriously in the business, it's an unprofessional (read half-***) way to avoid getting serious with VISA or MasterCard. If you use paypal, you're a sellout to the anti's.

USPS mo's & credit cards provide you a lot of protection as the buyer.

I think it's also forum-related...the FAL Files seems to be the most non-bs group of buyers & sellers, with arfcom a close second. I can't comment on calguns, as I have no direct experience as a buyer or seller here. What really helps is to out disreputable buyers & sellers.

-hanko

[Turbinator]

If you pay for things with Paypal cash, you do not reward them at all for using them as a service.

You basically transfer funds in from your bank account, then send it to the seller as cash - assuming the seller also has a personal account, AND the amount you are sending is $500 or less, AND the recipient hasn't exceeded his/her monthly intake limit, then your transaction should go well.

Make sure you don't leave your funds sitting in your Paypal account for too long, else Paypal will benefit by being able to invest your money.

I use Paypal all the time, a personal account, so they don't get to make money off of me.

Turby

[maxicon]

I buy a lot of stuff online, and have bought a few PPT firearms in recent months.

I hate to use Paypal, but it's very, very convenient, and sometimes I do.

If they want paper, I use the USPS MO, since it's quick and easy to get, and not too expensive.

For big ticket items bought face to face, like expensive guns or the used car I got recently, I get a cashier's check from the bank after verifying with the seller that it's OK with them. Cash works, too, but cashier's checks are less risky.

Face to face guns less than $400, I usually use cash.

max

[JAFGO]

Do not use Paypal for gun purchases. It violates their terms of agreement. If by chance you get burned on a gun purchase, you can't use Paypal as a referee or for charge back to get your money back. You lose your $$$.

I always use USPS money orders sent via Priority Mail with signature confirmation required for gun purchases. That way I can check online on the status of my sent payment. I can't say firsthand as I have never been burned on a gun purchase yet, but I hear that the Post Office takes mail fraud very seriously when you use their money orders. Hope I never have to find out.

[icormba]

Originally posted by JAFGO.:
Do not use Paypal for gun purchases. It violates their terms of agreement. If by chance you get burned on a gun purchase, you can't use Paypal as a referee or for charge back to get your money back. You lose your $$$.

this it true! also... they can FREEZE your account and take all your money you have in that account!! That's why I don't keep very much in mine. + they will charge you 3% on most transactions YOU receive. 0% charge on your out going money.

[Skunkworks45]

If I charge for guns and someone wants to use Paypal, I tell them to mark the payment as "Services" in the flled for transaction types (instead of "Goods" or Ebay items") and have them list it as a "Research and Finder's Fee". This is not against Paypal's rules, even if the "reasearch and finder's fee" is for a gun.

The reason I do this is that I have heard of some accounts being closed when Paypal reps investigated to find that online auctions through Auction Arms or Gunbroker were being referenced in the payment description text, or "Smith & Wesson", or "Colt" were in the subject heading.

What kills me is that Paypal utilizes cash access; so are they telling you that the "In God We Trust" and the "legal tender" statement are not true for them, and Paypal can control for what legal purposes the American dollar is used? I understand Ebay "chooses not" to sell guns in the same way Kmart chooses not to sell Honda Civics (or handguns) - that's their right. However Paypal should not have the ability to dictate the purposes of payment. My bank does not tell me "No, you can't have your money today, or we won't honor your checks, because you are apt to go buy guns". My employer doesn't tell me that I can't have my paycheck becasue they believe I might use the funds to buy guns. It's ludicrous.

Paypal should have no authority to decide what you do LEGALLY with your money, in LEGAL transactions.

And with the Paypal VISA or ATM cards that are available: does VISA know that Paypal is dictating what is and is not OK to buy with VISA, even when transactions are legal?

There are some serious fascist workings here being put forth by Paypal.

[gobabygo]

Originally posted by -hanko:
If you use paypal, you're a sellout to the anti's.

Sorry but I use paypal. And no I'm not going to be melting my guns down. It's just that it's the best financial banking instrument I've found out there. I get 1.5% instant cash back credited to my account for all purchases, plus I get (currently) 3.28% interest on the cash I have in there. Are there any other accounts that give these kinds of benefits? Let's see paypal gun policy with 3.28% interest or BofA at 0.25%? Hmmm...

Back to the OP... I don't like using money orders as a buyer. You have to go to the post office (gas $), wait in line, then pay $1.00 for their money order, then pay for postage and an envelope to mail it. This assumes that the purchase is under my $300 ATM limit or I have the cash on me. If not, then I have to go to the bank first. Ugg. Or I can just log onto paypal and send payment from there where the seller gets the funds instantly. Takes about 1 minute. As a seller, you never know when/if the buyer actually sent payment.

There are 2 different kinds of paypal accounts: Personal & Premier. There are no fees involved with the personal account, but you can only accept funds are already in the sender's account (no credit card funds). So if the funds aren't there already, you'd have to wait. You can put cash in the account from your bank, or you can get it from your credit card to send to a Premier account. The Premier account allows you to accept credit card funds but you get charged fees on all incoming money, offset by the 1.5% cash back on purchases made with the debit card. When I'm receiving money I usually limit my incoming payments to funded paypal on my Personal account where I don't get charged a fee, except on ebay auctions where I just count it as a cost of sale.

To use all of the above you would have to link both a credit card and bank account to your paypal account (to get "verified"). I don't think you have to have both though. You can draw money from either, but I believe you can only withdraw money back into your bank account. I haven't closed an account with them, but withdrawing money is no hassle and I always have $0 in my personal account.

There are horror stories out there about paypal freezing people's money, or someone getting your password and stealing your money, but I haven't had any problems.

And yes you're not supposed to be doing firearms transactions with paypal, but how are they supposed to know what you've been spending your money on unless you tell them? I take great pride in always using my paypal debit card to buy firearms any time I can.

[Turbinator]

I do nearly all of my Paypal transactions in cash. This way, they do not benefit from any fees or whatnot from me. The only way they can make money off of me is if they go invest my measly balance and earn a fat return off of it..

Money I earn goes back into the hobby, allowing me to buy more gun related stuff. TAKE THAT, EBAY!!

Turby