E-Checks

[lordevor_0]

A verified eBay user has offered to pay with an E-Check.  Is this legal?  He does not have a credit/debit card and closed his PayPal account to to issues with them.  He said the purchase will go thru eBay after the E-Check clears my bank account.    The item is $1000 so its not a smaller purchase.  Please offer me advise.

[lacemaker3]

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@stephenmorgan wrote:

I have Local Pickup turned off but I am able to list Check as a payment method.  I would accept a personal check or eCheck as payment.  I would not ship until it has cleared.  I would rather a check than paying 3% for someone else to manage the payment.

This has nothing to do with if the original poster is being scammed as I do not know.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/265821328241#payCntId

click on see details to the right of Discover Card.

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@stephenmorgan 

I am not sure how you set that up, as I have never seen those payment options on an eBay transaction since eBay started to require PayPal. I don't recall exactly when that was; sometime shortly after 2005 I think.

I do see that check and money order are listed on the Payment and shipping tab, although not in the summary area at the top of the listing. However, they are not available for me to use as a buyer; they are grayed out on the checkout page.

[mam98031]

@lacemaker3 

That is because Ebay Managed Payments do NOT allow for an Echeck payment.  I'm not sure why so many people are getting concerned about this.  You can see on your listings that it isn't a form of payment accepted and by the screenshots you so kindly provided above.  I think we have plenty to be concerned with without creating something that really isn't a problem.

[lacemaker3]

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@mam98031 wrote:

@lacemaker3 

That is because Ebay Managed Payments do NOT allow for an Echeck payment.  I'm not sure why so many people are getting concerned about this.  You can see on your listings that it isn't a form of payment accepted and by the screenshots you so kindly provided above.  I think we have plenty to be concerned with without creating something that really isn't a problem.

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Actually, PayPal allows buyers to send echecks, so do you have documentation that eBay will not accept a PayPal payment if it is funded with an echeck? I haven't seen any posts or threads that address this, so I don't know if they do or not.

Without evidence to the contrary, I think that since PayPal is accepted, that would probably include echecks through PayPal.

When PayPal was processing eBay payments, eBay did not allow sellers to refuse to accept an echeck payment. Merchants who were selling on other websites, or their own websites, could choose to block echecks, but that block was not available for eBay payments. These settings are still available in the PayPal Seller Tools, which confirms that echecks can still be used to fund a PayPal payment.

Echecks were not very common, but if a PayPal member funds their payment from their bank account, and does not have a credit/debit card on file as a back up, PayPal sends it as an echeck (instead of an instant payment). PayPal documentation says that echecks can take up to 7 days to clear (its usually just a few days though).

However, if it didn't clear the first time, then PayPal would try one more time, so if an echeck bounced, it might take up to 2 weeks before the payment failed. PayPal warns merchants not to ship until the echeck clears. I don't recall having any issues as a seller, with an echeck bouncing, but I did have a seller send me a refund as an echeck one time, and it took the full 2 weeks before it bounced and I could get eBay involved because the seller had not actually refunded me (a bounced echeck doesn't count).

[stephenmorgan]

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@lacemaker3 wrote:

I am not sure how you set that up, as I have never seen those payment options on an eBay transaction since eBay started to require PayPal. I don't recall exactly when that was; sometime shortly after 2005 I think.

I do see that check and money order are listed on the Payment and shipping tab, although not in the summary area at the top of the listing. However, they are not available for me to use as a buyer; they are grayed out on the checkout page.

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It is in the new Listing Tool.

It is probably something meant for Local Pick Up but there is an oversite in the programming to allow it to be offered without Local Pick Up being offered in the listing. 

The statement in the box seems contradictory in that using one of the three methods offered, how is it eBay is going to send payment to your checking account?

[lacemaker3]

@stephenmorgan, thanks for that information. (It doesn't say anything about echecks, though.)

Even though you checked those boxes, as a buyer I could not select them to pay. So I don't think that you will be received any checks or money orders for that listing. It might be intended for those categories where checks/money orders are still allowed. If so, it's a glitch that you were able to select those boxes when the category doesn't allow them.

15 - 20 years ago, your buyer would have sent the check or (more often) a USPS Money Order to you in the mail. I used to keep packages in the car, when I made a sale and knew that a payment was on the way. I would pick up the USPS MO in my PO box, then take the package to the PO counter so I could cash the MO (the USPS clerk would give me the cash) then I would purchase the shipping label and send the package.

[stephenmorgan]

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@lacemaker3 wrote:

@stephenmorgan, thanks for that information.

Even though you checked those boxes, as a buyer I could not select them to pay. So I don't think that you will be received any checks or money orders for that listing. It might be intended for those categories where checks/money orders are still allowed.

15 - 20 years ago, your buyer would have sent the check or (more often) a USPS Money Order to you in the mail. I used to keep packages in the car, when I made a sale and knew that a payment was on the way. I would pick up the USPS MO in my PO box, then take the package to the PO counter so I could cash the MO (the USPS clerk would give me the cash) then I would purchase the shipping label and send the package.

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Yep, I remember those days. It was between a buyer and seller to manage their own payment.  I liked them days. 

But of course now with credit cards being accepted and international being available more sales are made.

[mam98031]

I do not have documentation, but an echeck does not fit within how MP will process a payment.  MP just isn't set up in a way to be able to accommodate an echeck.

velvet@ebay 

devon@ebay 

elizabeth@ebay 

Since Paypal allows for an echeck to be issued in their option of payment types, does Managed payments allow echeck payments through Paypal?  

[devon@ebay]

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@mam98031 wrote:

I do not have documentation, but an echeck does not fit within how MP will process a payment.  MP just isn't set up in a way to be able to accommodate an echeck.

velvet@ebay 

devon@ebay 

elizabeth@ebay 

Since Paypal allows for an echeck to be issued in their option of payment types, does Managed payments allow echeck payments through Paypal?  

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Hey @mam98031! SInce Managed Payments has been implemented, an eCheck is not a form of immediate payment, it is not an acceptable payment method for this option. Payment must be made using your PayPal balance, Instant Transfer or a confirmed credit card.

[mam98031]

Thank you for confirming this for us.  

[itsjustasprain]

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devon@ebay wrote:
Hey @mam98031! SInce Managed Payments has been implemented, an eCheck is not a form of immediate payment, it is not an acceptable payment method for this option. Payment must be made using your PayPal balance, Instant Transfer or a confirmed credit card.

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The only way I could see an Echeck being used at all these days is to feed your own Paypal balance from your bank account. Once it is in your Paypal balance you can then use that to buy things on Ebay of course. I have no idea if you can send Paypal an Echeck from your bank account and have it clear in time to pay an Ebay seller after that (within 4 days of your Ebay purchase).

Actually now that I think about it some more - if you set up your primary funding source on Paypal to be your bank account then you can do an instant Paypal payment that way. Maybe Echecks are just dying out now?

[lacemaker3]

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devon@ebay wrote:

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@mam98031 wrote:

I do not have documentation, but an echeck does not fit within how MP will process a payment.  MP just isn't set up in a way to be able to accommodate an echeck.

velvet@ebay 

devon@ebay 

elizabeth@ebay 

Since Paypal allows for an echeck to be issued in their option of payment types, does Managed payments allow echeck payments through Paypal?  

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Hey @mam98031! SInce Managed Payments has been implemented, an eCheck is not a form of immediate payment, it is not an acceptable payment method for this option. Payment must be made using your PayPal balance, Instant Transfer or a confirmed credit card.

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Thanks for the info, devon@ebay.

Is this documented anywhere, that only immediate payments are accepted for MP? I wasn't able to find anything about this when I looked.

[pburn]

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@itsjustasprain wrote:

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@pburn wrote:
Um, not sure that's quite accurate. Unless they're counterfeit or otherwise fraudulent (which is a whole different issue), legitimate cashier's checks don't bounce. 

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I assume we are talking about counterfeit checks and counterfeit money orders here - yes. Fake cashiers checks have been around for many years. That is an old scam - not a new one.

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I'm not sure how you came up with that conclusion. That's not an assumption I made, nor do I think the member to whom I was replying was referring to counterfeits cashier's checks. There have been no posts referencing "counterfeit" anything, including the post to which I was replying.

[mam98031]

@lacemaker3 

I respect the request for documentation, but just thinking on it logically, MP is simply not set up to handle an Echeck payment.  The process itself that is how MP works simply doesn't allow for such a payment.  That is simply the way I look at it.  Others may see it differently. 

But if you feel it can process through MP, how would that work?  

[devon@ebay]

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@lacemaker3 wrote:

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devon@ebay wrote:

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@mam98031 wrote:

I do not have documentation, but an echeck does not fit within how MP will process a payment.  MP just isn't set up in a way to be able to accommodate an echeck.

velvet@ebay 

devon@ebay 

elizabeth@ebay 

Since Paypal allows for an echeck to be issued in their option of payment types, does Managed payments allow echeck payments through Paypal?  

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Hey @mam98031! SInce Managed Payments has been implemented, an eCheck is not a form of immediate payment, it is not an acceptable payment method for this option. Payment must be made using your PayPal balance, Instant Transfer or a confirmed credit card.

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Thanks for the info, devon@ebay.

Is this documented anywhere, that only immediate payments are accepted for MP? I wasn't able to find anything about this when I looked.

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@lacemaker3 For buy it now (fixed price listings) this would be where immediate payment is required and that can been seen here in our help pages. This also applies to auction style listings with a buy it now option. 

[asset_liquidators]

It's a scam. ONLY take cash at time of pick up for local pick up items.