Bank draft/Money order question

[Eli]

First, my apologies if this is the wrong forum. A lot has been added since I was a regular.

I've recently been in a rather ugly debate with another eBay member over one of our transactions. One of us believes that a bank draft needs a couple of weeks as a holding period before the bank clears it, the other believes the bank cashes them immediately (I'm trying to make this look as unbiased as possible). Who is correct?

[MDS]

If you are refering to paypal bank draft it takes several days. If you are talking about a bank money order unless it is not a major bank or out of country bank it should be able to be cashed right away. I have had to wait for 10 days once for an out of country bank money order to clear as it had to be sent to the buyer bank before I was credited the amount.

[captainjrl]

As far as I know it is guaranteed money, just as good as cash. That's why people will accept them and not personal checks. The money is no longer in your account when you get one, differing from a personal check which the money is still there until your bank gets it back from whomever cashed it.

[daveleau]

I have accepted several bank drafts (money orders) from all over the country and from Canada. My bank takes 3-5 days before clearing other bank's drafts, but clears drafts from their sister branches immediately. I doubt it is 2-3 weeks, but it is a few days.
Dave

[Eli]

Okay, that's two for "as good as cash" and one for "maybe a few days". I'll hold out for a few more votes before I share the story. lol Thanks guys.

[coolj990]

OK...I work at a credit union and i can explain how bank drafts work. First, they are not 100% guaranteed, which is the answer your looking for. For example, say "John" deposits 10 different personal checks people wrote him into his account. A few days later, he goes to the bank and receives a bank draft for $1,000, and that John had $1,100 in his account. The bank withdraws the $1000 in order to make the check. Now, John only has $100 left in his account. If any of those personal checks he deposited a few days earlier (for example a $200 check) gets returned, the bank has two options. They can a) show his account as $-100,and allow that check to clear, or b) place a stop payment on the bank draft they issued, and deny payment. Banks typically dont like doing this though, as they dont like a check to not clear written on their name. Personally, if someone sent me a bank draft and their was no local branch of that institution to cash it at, I would give it a minimum of 2 business days before sending the merchandise out. Also, on another note, I have personally seen people sell their used car and receive a fake cashiers check, losing thousands of dollars. So, depending on how much is at risk here, I would let this guy intimidate you into a possible scam

[elroy]

My wife sells antiques online and we have recently become concerned about the proliferation of fake money orders coming from foreign countries. We got a money order the other day and I called the bank to verify it's authenticity. A bank in Dallas Tx. They told me it was good as long as the person who purchased it didn't put a stop payment on it. I had no idea you could put a stop on a money order. Just something else to worry about.

[MDS]

"I'll hold out for a few more votes before I share the story."

so what's the story

[Eli]

First I'd like to add it's not an international bank draft, so that's not a factor. It was from TD Canada Trust (a major bank up here) and sent to a "gentleman" in Edmonton, although granted it was in US funds.

Okay here goes. I'll try to make this as short as possible (it'll still be long though, I'm bad at this). I won this guy's auction for a Thinkpad keyboard (See, it is computer related. ). After it closed he said he had several other parts available, and to make an offer on what I could use. I made an offer just as a starting point (I hate making offers...), and he rudely rejected it saying that would barely cover one of the chosen parts. Okay, I asked how much for the rest, and he responded with "make an offer". During this time he wouldn't answer some of my questions, and when he finally did he got all mad and insisted that he answered the first time yet wouldn't check his archives to prove it like I had already done. A lot of bickering back and forth ensued, a sign of things to come...

Eventually he just said to send to the payment for the keyboard and have done with it, which I gladly did on Feburary 12th. A week went by, no e-mails. Two weeks. Three weeks went by, no sign of the keyboard. During that third week I grudgingly sent several e-mails asking if the bank draft had arrived. Nothing. So, I asked a friend to poilitely enquire about another auction, which was responded to immediately. A little more bickering ensued, but we found out that the bank draft had just cleared the bank (on that day conviently enough, at least two weeks after it had arrived) and the keyboard would be shipped right away. Fine, just get it over with...

The keyboard arrived alright, slid into a thin cardboard frozen-pizza box taped shut with packaging tape, with zero padding. My mother even commented on how it wasn't packaged very well. Luckily it still works.

At this point I wanted to leave negative feedback since I was definitely not impressed, but I thought I'd be nice and leave neutral, with a simple "good item, poor communication, poor packaging, slow shipping" message. The honest truth, this is what the feedback system is for right? Well during the same week three other people left him negative feedback and his account got suspended. Guess who he blames? Yep, he's been bitching at me through e-mail how he deserved positive feedback "and you know it" and how my "stupid" feedback got him suspended. I asked the people who left negative feedback and he hadn't complained to them at all. One of them even had a similar experience. I guess he thought I was the only one he didn't jerk around TOO much.

Over what must be a week now he's been whining at me through e-mail (I've since blocked his addresses, enough is enough). He claimed he's a CSI (ahem... impressive) and he knows how a bank deals with bank drafts and how it takes a long time to clear. This he has repeatedly complained about, even though I stated that I have sent over a hundred bank drafts all over Canada and the US and cashed a few myself and this is the first holding period I've ever encountered. Apparently this makes me a rookie since he's a CSI (must be a trainee if he's dealing with bank drafts, as I pointed out. lol) He was right about one thing though, the auction terms did stated that it may take up to thirty (?!?) days for a cheque/bank draft to clear. Regardless, it's still slow so my comment was valid. Apparently my admitting that it was indeed in the auction terms makes him think that I'm "totally in the wrong" and that he deserved positive feedback. This guy just doesn't get it.

So what would you guys have done? With a transaction like this, what feedback would you have left? Am I "totally in the wrong?" (A common phrase from that moron.) I figure that at the end of the day (month actually) I still have an active eBay account and he's been suspended (due to one neutral feedback, the five total negatives had nothing to do with it mind you). How wrong can I possibly be?

I must say this has botherd me so much that it was all I could think about at work Friday morning. My hands were actually shaking at the thought of how stupid some people can be. Silly I know, but things like this bother me. Unless of course, I'm "totally in the wrong". If I am, please tell me. I like to think I'm open to criticism. Thanks for listening to the nonsense I've been enduring over the past week.