Money order, cashier check, or other?
Posted by admin | Under Online Grocer Tuesday Apr 27, 2010I may be needing to send money across the U.S. to a client; and it may be a sizable amount, possibly around a grand. However, I don’t want to do it online with Pay-pal or whatnot, and I don’t want to use a personal check. Is a money order my best bet? If so, I have never done one- how do they work? I know you can do it at a convenience store or grocer, is it true you can do it at the post office as well?
The Post Office sells money orders. The fee for a postal money order in the amount of 1K would be $1.50. For a money order of less than $500, the fee is $1.05. Money orders sold by the Post Office can be traced. For a nominal fee, the Post Office is able to tell you if the money order has been cashed. If it has not been cashed, the money order can be reissued. For your protection, I would suggest you send the money order by Certified Mail with a return receipt. The return receipt will be returned to you with the recipient’s signature and date of delivery.
If your bank provides you with free cashier’s checks, that would be your safest form of payment. And as I have suggested, mail it Certified Mail with return receipt.
Yes you can buy one at the post office, but money orders are not traceable. The client can always claim they never received it and you cannot prove otherwise.
You buy the money order and there is a fee (fee depends on where you buy it). you fill it out like a check and mail it.
The best way is to use a credit card or a personal check, this way you have a way to prove the money was paid. You may also want to look into a bank certified check.
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Wire transfer is safer and the best way if the other person has a bank account. you need to have the route number and that will do.The person in a bank will help you to do all this It is very simple and safer, go for it.
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I agree with you. Personal checks are scary to give to strangers. And Paypal is evil.
I’ve done this lots with ebay purchases. Use the post office, it’s safest and you want your client to trust the source of the money order too.
The problem with not using the PO is that the client is put in the position of wondering if the MO is fake or not. The PO doesn’t allow games to be played with its MO’s, so your client will feel more at ease.
International vendors who take money orders will take IMO’s from the US PO also because they are trusted. Check with the PO to find out more.
There are lots of MO scams out there, so make your client feel comfortable by using only the US PO for this.
You basically go to the PO, pay by cash or by Debit card ( you can’t use a credit card, it must be liquid assets ), and they give you an MO. You fill out both parts (it’s optional, but I highly recommend you do it), you keep part of it, and send the other part to the client.
Easy as that.
Don’t send cashier’s checks through the mail. They’re exactly the same as cash, and I don’t think you have any recourse if it gets lost in the mail.
References :
http://www.usps.com/money/welcome.htm
The Post Office sells money orders. The fee for a postal money order in the amount of 1K would be $1.50. For a money order of less than $500, the fee is $1.05. Money orders sold by the Post Office can be traced. For a nominal fee, the Post Office is able to tell you if the money order has been cashed. If it has not been cashed, the money order can be reissued. For your protection, I would suggest you send the money order by Certified Mail with a return receipt. The return receipt will be returned to you with the recipient’s signature and date of delivery.
If your bank provides you with free cashier’s checks, that would be your safest form of payment. And as I have suggested, mail it Certified Mail with return receipt.
References :
Postal employee