posted on March 24, 2001 09:44:33 PM
Usually I sell on ebay but occasionally (holidays) I buy. I bought a gift for my dear old dad--seller only takes check or mo. I send mo because I'm in a hurry to give it to dad. Item doesn't arrive, I email seller. Seller says they never got payment and to send it again. I put in a lost mo form with USPS and get a refund and send seller a check (all this takes a long time). Seller gets check mails gift. End of story right? Wrong! A month or so after that I receive notice from USPS mo was cashed! USPS wants refund back from me. I go to the USPS and they tell me that when you file a lost mo form they check to make sure the mo wasn't cashed within 30 to 60 days of issue (mine wasn't) but the mo is still valid if it is floating around out there (no stop payment on it). I have to pay USPS and they give me copy of cashed mo with my seller's signature and deposit info on back. I email seller thinking its a mistake. Seller tells me I'm wrong. I fax copy of cashed mo and cashed check to seller and despite repeated emails and calls get no response. I'm out $40 x2. Has this happened to anyone else? It appears that if a seller gets your mo, he can say it never arrived, buyer files with USPS gets refund and sends second payment--months later seller cashs mo and gets double payment.
posted on March 24, 2001 10:24:33 PM
Wait for the cashed check to return, then copy them and send to safeharbor. May not get you your money back but a nice 30 day NARU might discourage the seller from pulling this stunt again.
posted on March 24, 2001 11:01:52 PM
Just explain the situation to the postal employee and ask how to file a fraud claim. That should get some response.
posted on March 25, 2001 12:59:45 AM
I had a similar experience. Paid for an item by money order. Seller said it never arrived. Checked with M.O issuer and was told it had not been cashed yet so I sent payment again with a check. Meanwhile M.O. had been cashed and it cost me an $8.00 fee to the M.O. company to prove the seller had received and cashed both. My seller actually refunded one of the payments, but I was still out the $8.00 fee.
I don't blame sellers for preferring money orders, but since then I won't send a money order unless it's something I just gotta, Gotta, GOTTA have.
Most buyers just don't realize that sending a money order can be a real PITA if it's "lost in the mail".
My money order wasn't USPS, but I like laum1's idea to sic the post office on them for mail fraud.
posted on March 25, 2001 05:12:59 AM
Are you certain that it was the seller that cashed your money order? Maybe it was intercepted and cashed by someone else. You can always compare the signature and bank information on the money order and the check to be sure.
posted on March 25, 2001 07:22:21 AM
blondsense's experience is why one should never use money orders for low value transactions. The research fee exceeds or is close to the value of the transaction. You might as well save the money order fee and just send the cash.
As a seller, lost money orders on low value transactions always present a problem. In such cases, I usually just request (if buyer have high feedback, sometimes I don't even bother) a copy of the money order receipt. Than I simply ship out the item. Find the time savings from not having to write multiple emails is worth the lost money and also relieves any frustrations of the buyer.
