I have several items (not HAMB stuff, for my parent's stuff) on e-pay. One guy asked a question about if I would accept Western Union for payment? I have no experience with WU. Is it good? Does it cost me a big fee? Do I have to sign up for anything? How do i get the money? What are your experiences to help educate me? In the auctions I put paypal or MO as payment method. For some reason this one guy wants to use WU. Thanks for any help on it. I can't make much sense on the WU website, it is all about sending money, not receiving it. Thanks, Terry
Money orders are one thing. The "I'll put money in an account and send you the authorization code" deals are a scam. They will send you the verification and then have someone else take out the money.
Yeah, it all depends on how he wants to pay you with Western Union. I believe you can get W.U. money orders sent from online. Maybe he is too lazy to go out? Anyways, if he wants you to do something other than take exactly what he owes you or to do something other than accept their M.O. (you can take it to an office to cash it) tell him no.
I have recieved a couple W.U. money orders. They are sent to a W.U. station and i pick it up there. They will cash it if you want, so no chance of a scam.
I've had people send me funds through Western Union, the local Stop & Shop is set up to accept and send the funds, works fine. I'm hooked on PayPal now. Remember not everyone has a PayPal account, or lives 3-5 minutes from Main Street. If the guy has a good feedback rating work with him, he's just trying to pay you for something you don't want anymore.
First, thanks for the replies. I my case, the guy says he will deposit the money, send me an authorization code and I go to any WU location in my area with my authorization code and ID, and get my money. Then once money in hand, I send the item. It just does not seem legit to me, I will tell him no on WU unless it is a money order sent to me (not electronic cash), or he can send me a Post Office money order. No matter what I will not send anything until I have made sure the money is in my hands and no counterfeit BS.
Terry as Crestliner said there's no problem with WU money orders & the best part is as soon as your guy has sent the money you can collect minutes later even from the other side of the globe. For instance; lets say i'm the buyer here in England i have to phone WU as i can't do it on line & i also have to pay their fee (no cost to you the seller). Now here's the very important part i have to make sure i tell them your name 100% correct as it appears on your ID otherwise they will NOT release the cash, they also give me a transaction # that you need to to have with you too. So for anyone else to collect they would need to know the exact amount the transaction # & have your ID, pretty safe i think! I have used this method several times with no problem, the last time was for $3500 for flathead parts in Palm Springs & the guy collected it in cash within the hour. Kev.
Get paid electronically thru Wally World. It works like western onion,it's cheaper and it's instantaneous.Here in Florida there are wally worlds everywhere and I do dozens of transfers out each week. I receive binders on deals the same way.If you are afraid of receiving money this way,go do Geico commercals.
LIMEY summed it up . The buyer sends you a 10 digit number. Take the number and your ID to a western union agent and collect cash.
Terry here's a link to WU over here......though i'm thinking you probably already looked; https://www.westernunion.co.uk/info/osMoneyTransfer.asp WU has been around a lot longer than Paypal & some of those others, & like you said until the cash is in your hand you don't send the goods. ;-) Kev.
Several people from other countries have paid me via a Western Union transfer, and I never had a problem. It has nothing to do with accessing any of your personal bank accounts, and you don't send the goods until you've got cash in your hand. What's to lose?
Believe it or not we have to run to Western Union all the time to get people's bail money. If someone lives a couple hours away and wants to bond them out, they will WU the money to them. We pick up the check from them and they use it to post bond. Actually it is probably safer than Paypal for the seller because they can't file a bogus claim on ebay and yank the money back from you. The only bad thing is you have to run out to get it instead of having it deposited into your account. Bill
Kev and 34GAZ nailed it !!! Only good way for us europeans when you overseas guys are "oldschool" and don't take paypal. Michael
I wouldn't hesitate to accept a Western Union payment as long as they provide the MTCN number and don't try some overpayment scam bullshit. You don't have to sign up for anything, there's no fees on the receiver end, and you don't even have to give your real name or have an ID for amounts under a grand. As long as you know the name on it and the 10 digit MTCN you're good to go. I will NEVER send money to anyone by Western Union unless I know them personally since the money can't be tracked and anyone with the info can pick it up. You're OK to get the money by WU but don't send any that way to someone who requests it.
Thanks again to everyone for the replies, information and help. The actual item has lots of attention (approx 10 bids so far and more than I expected to get $$) and this guy may not even be the final bidder, he hasn't even bid yet. Maybe a last-minute guy. I told him to send me a WU or Post Office money order to my house, I do not want the hassle to have to go get it. Also this guy is a total stranger and not like dealing with someone I have any prior contact or knowledge of. Call me paranoid if you want, I do not have time to screw around with any potential problems. Such as he has all my info and his buddy goes with a fake ID with my info? I agree that I do not have the cash so no send, but then the hassle of relisting, etc. Thanks again for the information.
Why wouldn't he just give the funds to his buddy and not go through all the trouble of using a fake ID of yours? You're overthinking this deal.
So ,how does a U.S. Postal Money Order work ? If I recieve a USPS M.O. as payment , do I have to cash it at a Post Office or do I deposit it in my bank acct? Stan
I wouldn't hesitate to ACCEPT a WU money transfer - as long as it's not a bunch of cash then they can usually cash it for you right on the spot and you walk out with good old greenbacks. I would however NEVER use WU to SEND money to anyone - too many scammers that use it and no protection since it can be cash on the other side and un-recoverable. That said - if it's a big ticket item - there are way too many fake money orders going around - thief purchases $10 money order, re-prints it for $3k, comes buys a car and you think you've gotten cash - deposit money order only to find out a week later than the thing is fake and you owe the bank $2990 and your car is long gone... (heppened to a couple guys around here on off-road bikes and ATV's - they seem to like those since most people don't remember what the VIN was to trace it or report it stolen...)
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