Is COD a good option?

I am selling a trolling motor and am wondering if COD is an ok option on collection for the sold item. If not, why, and what is better.

I did not even know C.O.D. existed anymore..

If you meet in person, cash is okay. A bank check or money order is great. I’d accept a personal check only if you know the person (and where he lives). If you are shipping anything I’d use something like paypal or western union to protect both buyer and seller. There is a fee involved so add a little extra to your price to cover that cost if you go that route. Also, if you ship anything, be sure to use a carrier with a tracking number and get insurance on the item.

COd may or may not exist. Not even sure. It is to be shipped. How does WEstern Union work. Pay pal is not an option for me as I am not willing to figure it all out.

FYI about checking accounts.

As of May this year, banks will not verify funds for checks. It’s a federal law.

The days of calling a bank with the account number and asking if this check for $200. is good are gone.

I have used Western Union before and the way it works is your buyer goes down to a Western Union office or kiosk which most grocery stores have at the service counter, from there he pays Western Union the amount owed to you for your item plus the handling fee of Western Union. From there you can either call Western union to verify you have money awaiting for you to pick up or just go down to your local W.U. after your buyer contacts you and tells you it is there and after that you get the money from them and ship the item to your buyer. Again this is a form transaction your buyer is going to have to trust you on, cause I have been taken for my money on a western union transaction once before the seller got the money and I never recieved the item. On a good note western union has the paper trail for a small claims filing with proof of the transaction going thru them. It is all fairly simple and the way I wrote it sounds more complicated then it is.

Just like Eaby, buyer sends you the money any way he wants. You cash it in your bank, wait 7 days to clear and ship item. There is some trust put in you that you do not take off with his money but. it is the best way for you.

Paypal is easy Eric. I haven’t set it up for a while now, but I remember it being easy a few years back.

I like it as it offers protection to both parties. Maybe there is some risk in it I don’t know about, but I haven’t had an issue with it.

As a seller, the risk is mostly on them if you require payment first. However, some buyers are umcomfortable with this arrangement at times.

Figure the paypal out, it’s as easy as pie.

Yes, COD does exist. You should be able to require them to pay with money order or business check….something more than a personal check.

Have them send a Postal Money Order. [Good as gold]When it arrives ship item.

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Have them send a Postal Money Order. [Good as gold]When it arrives ship item.

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I agree this is the way to go

Actually, the banks never clear checks via the Fed like they used to. The checks are never mailed and payments are done via computer. There are Government Regs regarding the amount of time banks are required to clear a check, but if you are dealing with a small bank, S&L or credit union they should be able to tell you within a few minutes if the check is good. So if the buyer sends you a check for the motor your bank can verify it is good/bad very quickly.

As for the larger banks they are much less helpful so disregard the above if you deal with one of the Multi-Nationals.

If the buyer has computer a he/she can transfer $$$ to your account immediately via the routing numbers and ayment is assured.

Aside from a few exceptions on this board the outdoor folks and my Baseball Card buyers are about the most honest in the world so perhaps this shoudn’t be a major concern.

Finally, COD still exists and is a viable option; however, I sell about 400 items per year and have never used COD.

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Figure the paypal out, it’s as easy as pie.

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Eric I agree Paypal is the way to go it is very easy to set up take the time to figure it out, you could even use this with your business and the money is there instantly.

The problem with sending money orders or anything through the mail is you do run a small risk of it getting lost in the mail. This happened to me the last time I used a money order and it did not show up to the sender until 6 months later, of course by that time I had stopped payment on that one and sent him a new one which was a big hassle and cost extra to stop payment. I will never use a money order again, when buying and selling items over the internet I will only use paypal now. I also pay all my bills electronically, I will not send any form of money through the mail anymore if I do not have to.

PS:If you have to use a money order get them through the post office if you have to cancel it will only cost you $7.

I used the money order you can buy at Wal-Mart and it cost me $20 to cancel.