This post might be a little long, but I feel I should start at the beginning and tell the whole story.


Not too long ago I got an eBay account. I don't have a credit card, or a chequing account.... so I tried to set up PayPal with my savings account, thinking it would be a helpful thing to have in general.... but it didn't seem to be working out for me. So, for the time being (as I don't do much online buying anyway) I've just stuck with Money Orders and only bid on auctions that have specifically listed Money Orders as one of the seller's accepted methods of payment, and not stated any restrictions about them anywhere. So far, I've bought a few things from the US and something from the UK and had no problems.

Now, friends of mine have a two year old who is just in love with The Big Comfy Couch (old episodes play several times a day here, and the child watches them whenever possible... and then watches episodes on the computer... OBSESSED). The mom told me at the beginning of June that they wanted to get her a Molly doll for her second birthday (which was at the beginning of July), but weren't sure how they could as the dolls aren't available in stores anymore. I'd actually been thinking of getting the child the same thing, so I said "well, I was thinking of doing that too, so I'd been looking at them on eBay. I'll show them to you, and if you want to buy one for her, we'll bid with my account, I'll send a money order, and you can pay me back." So we looked at them, found one the mother liked that said specifically the seller shipped to Canada, accepted money orders, etc, and we bid. And we won. I sent a message asking her for a total amount and informing her that I intended to pay with a postal money order.

So, she sent me a total, address, etc....I sent payment on June 10 in the form of a postal money order in US funds, and the seller marked payment as received on June 16. I received the doll on June 30, it was given to the child on July 3, and I left positive feedback for the seller that day.

On the night of July 9 the seller sent me a message saying "I just want to let you know that this money order you sent me has been impossible to cash. My bank won't take it because it's from Canada. Not even the currency exchange will touch it. I really hope you have another way of paying for this item. Do you have a PayPal account? That would make things much easier and then I could send the money order back so you can get the money for it there." The next morning she unmarked the payment as received on eBay and I got an Unpaid Item Reminder telling me that I had seven days to respond or I'd get a strike against my account.

So, a few days later I sent her a message back saying "I'm sorry that you're having trouble with the money order, although I don't understand why it can't be cashed. I've used the same type of money order (a postal money order in US funds) with several sellers from the US and there have been no problems. I'm not sure how this can be resolved as I really do not have another way of paying for things I buy online. That is why I only bid on auctions where the seller has specifically stated that he/she will accept a money order."

Then I signed into eBay a couple days after that and saw I had some alert telling me I needed to respond to the official dispute about my unpaid item (or something to that effect) so I responded to it saying much the same thing.... "The seller has informed me that she has received a postal money order from me in the amount of $22.49 US, but has had difficulty in cashing it. I don't know why this is, as I've used this same type of money order to pay US sellers before without any problems. The seller was aware that I intended to pay with a money order, and had Money Order listed in her terms of payment. I have no other way to pay for this item, which is why I made sure she would accept a money order before bidding on this auction," (or words to that effect).

Now she has replied to that in our dispute thread and said "The money order cannot be cashed in the US. I do not know why, but I just cannot do anything with it. Please send me cash if necessary, and I will send the money order back."


So.... I don't know what to do. I don't want to send cash through the postal system... and even if she sends the money order back, I will lose money on it as I had to pay extra fees to get it in US funds, buy the money order, etc, and I'll have to pay fees for exchanging money again if I go get American cash to send her. Also, I wouldn't to send her more money in any form without getting the money order back first as I realise not everyone out there is a good person, and she could easily just take the cash, and then keep the money order. But ALSO... I don't really think it's fair to ask me to pay again when I have already paid her with a method of payment that she said she would accept! My brother, dad, and boyfriend all agree with the last point I stated (in fact, they all, separately, said it first)... but I don't want her to lose the money if she actually can't cash it... and I don't want a strike against my account and such. I was thinking about it and I said to Adam "but you know, if I had gone into a store to buy her something, and said I wanted to pay with my debit card, and then the Interac machine was down... I'd still have been expected to pay another way..." and he said "that's true, but the store wouldn't tell you they had your money, let you leave the store with your purchase, and then chased you down the street demanding more money in another form..."


I have no idea what should be done here. Advice anyone?

I'm buying online very often but I use my credit card therefore I don't have some smart advice (I don't even know what is money order) but can't you email someone from eBay? I mean there must be some sort of protection for buyers. Namely what is guaranty that indeed she will not cash your money order and want another payment? Everyone can do that, accept payment and then said there is a problem.
I would contact eBay team and asked to remove that strike threat. They must have your history and can check what you purchased so far. Everything you're saying they can check/confirm while argument she has are not that strong (or at least are hard to prove). :shrug:

I would have your mom send a check and just pay her the money and tell the woman in the US to send your money order back. Then, I would go out and get your own checking account. Even if you don't use it that much they are nice to have and help avoid problems like this.

First off and for most you need to make sure the money order hasn't been cashed. You should be able to do that on where you purchased it. I don't see why she is having a problem cashing it. I would think the post office could cash it for her since it is a postal money order.

That sounds like the best plan to me.

Also, set up a checking account as chambejd said. Get one of those freebie accounts and put the minimum amount in it. Also do this at a different bank than what you normally do business with.

I used eBay Live Help to discuss the matter with a CSR and see how the situation should be handled. The CSR told me it should be reported to the Trust and Safety Team, so I filled out the form the CSR told me to fill out.... and.... we'll see what happens I guess :shrug:

Good luck, Jessica!

That sounds like a good answer and it certainly shows that you're fulfilling your obligation to work things out rather than getting flaky (as it sounds like the other party is doing).

Well, the second eBay CSR was thoroughly unhelpful. She said it must have been the wrong kind of money order and I should not have sent a Canadian Postal Money Order in US Funds but a US Postal Money Order in US Funds and told me I should send her a new one. I'm not sure where she thought I could buy a money order from foreign post office in Canada.... but anyways, after some more disputing and phoning Canada Post, and disputing more....the problem has been solved. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the money order, it was that the seller was trying to cash it at her own bank (over and over again, apparently) and a currency exchange (for some reason...even though it was already in US funds) but hadn't tried to cash the POSTAL money order at a Post Office. Anyway, it's dealt with, and I guess now she knows for future reference... and my friends' baby is still in love with her dolly, so... all's well that ends well, right?

Whew!

That's an amazing story, but I'm glad it all ended well!!

Why the hell would she accept money orders as payment in her auctions and not know where they get cashed out? It boggles the mind...

It sure is Jessica. But glad it turned out well for you. My sister and her husband seem to work with money orders all the time. And they came in for Christmas one year and didn't want to stay with my mom for certain reasons so she never told her til the holiday. Like she came off surprise! Anyways we made arrangements to have a limo service pick them up at the airport and she sent a money order to pay for it. My dh had a little trouble cashing it. Don't know why.

But I like the idea that chambejd has. Get yourself a checking account. Even though the first box of checks cost money, you don't use them that much but you'll never have to run into this problem and your canceled check will be your proof.

Matt has a checking account now and never wanted checks. He just wanted to have that credit/debit card. The bank teller put in for checks anyway. When they came I told him to call the bank to find out what happened. She said she put in for it automatically. So now he says if he ever has to write out a check he will have them forever :rofl:

I cash Canadian money orders that list US FUNDS all the time.
Yes, I do run into the occasional teller that doesn't realize it can't be scanned through with all the others (different screen) but it is an accepted method of payment.


My daughter has a debit card too, we had to set her up with a bank account when she was 15 so she could get paid /cash her checks.

When she started college (07) we found she was going to need at least one book of checks for those times when a card can't be used, it has worked out well for her.

Hi there. I can't help but wonder how come paypal is not working for you?

I do not have a credit card but I love paypal and I have been using it for 7 years now.

If I want to send money from my bank account to paypal it is so easy. I have the paypal addy saved in my address book of my online bank, including the number I need to add, so it is just 2 mouse buttons to get my money on paypal.
Takes mostly 2 business days.

Glad it worked out :bananadance: but I do know most selelrs do only accept paypal or sometimes creditcard payments