Should I consider taking personal check

Nologo

I have a message stating "I would like to be a customer at your store; but don’t want to have a paypal account. Would your site accept payment by personal check?" Should I consider this? Long ago on another site I took checks and never had a problem. Any advise or experience in this area would be appreciated. Thanks.

White Horse Bricks

Personally the extra risk and delay are not worth it. You are going to have to wait for them to post out payment, take it to the bank and then wait up to a fortnight for it to clear.

They could easily set up PP or pay you by bank transfer in much less time than that, and at less risk to you.

Vosblokjes

What is the risk in this? If you wait out until it is cleared and you have the money in your account before sending the order, I see no risk at all.
Yes, it would take extra time and some trouble getting it to you bank, but if you don't mind that and the buyer is willing to wait that out, I really don't see a problem.

Jay37

On a practical note, how would BO receive it's commission?

Nologo

That is a good question. I did notice that you can add a payment method called "Postal Payment - Personal Check". But I don't know the mechanics of it. Maybe someone with experience with this method could pipe in give some light into how it would work.

Vosblokjes

BO calculates the commision over the items sold and on the first of every month you have to pay it yourself to BO. Otherwise bank transfers (a lot used in the EU) would have the same problem.

https://www.brickowl.com/help/store-fees

Jay37 you could have known that, at least I think you have had to pay the fees several times by now

Hoddie

You could offer to accept a bankers draft, or postal order, or whatever the local equivalent is called. This is like a cheque but the risk is transferred to the buyer - once you have it they cannot recall the cash. There's usually a charge to create one but it should be relatively small.

Nologo

I may ask them if they can use Zelle to speed up the process. I don't see that on the list of Payment Methods but I guess it might be considered as a personal check. Anyone have any experience using Zelle?

Jay37

@BasKrie Yep, I've paid fees in the past but I only accept PayPal as a payment method so am not familiar with how commission is worked out using other methods. As the OP pointed out there is the option to have Postal Payment - Personal Check (which I wasn't aware of) so I guess the commission is still deducted automatically, but the seller then has to wait for payment to arrive from the customer. Thinking about it, theoretically it makes no difference on payment method, but I was thinking 'aloud' (if such a thing exists in the digital realm!)

Calibrick

I've had several people query this, as well - to all three, I've advised them that I do not, but they can still use PayPal to pay if they have a credit card or bank account WITHOUT creating a PayPal account. Two went for it and all was fine, one loathed PayPal enough to likely buy from someone else.

Personal check acceptance is really what works best for you, but you should certainly wait to allow the check to clear before shipping and ensure the buyer is aware of that. :-)

Nologo

Thanks. I have just added Personal Check as a payment method for my store. I have also signed up for Stripe. However, I am not seeing either payment method showing up in my storefront yet. Any ideas about how long it should take for them to be available?

Colorado Bricks

I don't do personal check, but I take money order as those won't bounce. I may have 1 or 2 payments a year that way (ironically 2 last week).. Keep is mind that if a check bounces, you will be charged a fee.