Postal orders

[JCKST1]

I am paying for a bike via postal order (£500). I was planning on sending it recorded delivery so that it has to be signed for by the seller.

I have spoke to him a few times and he seems genuine, He tried setting a Paypal account up but it takes too long, and he wont do bank transfer as he thinks its a little risky so we where left with the idea of postal orders. Is there any come back to these if the bike does not get posted and he cashes them in? I have his address, home phone number and sons mobile or is there any precautions I can take now?

He doesn't really know much about computers and how things work hence why we couldn't do a bank transfer.

Thanks

[Sarnie]

No comeback with a Postal Order.

Just ask him to go into his bank with your bank details and get them to send you the money.

Or at the very least get him to scan you copies of his driving license or passport to authenticate who he is/where he lives.....

[Pothole]

Where are you and where is the bike? He may well be genuine, but surely he should have thought about payment options before advertising the thing.

[JCKST1]

I am near Middlesbrough and he is near Bristol, about 280 miles. The bikes a good buy but not worth travelling 560 miles for.

If worst comes to worst and the bike does not get sent I will just travel down and call the police, Luckily my auntie lives right in the center of Bristol so I could stay there till i get the money back.
He said he had once gave someone his details for payment and they took money out of his account and it took 4 months to get it back so he was wary of doing a bank transfer, He tried paypal but it said he had to wait up to 10days for everything to clear/process.

At least if I send the money recorded and it goes missing i can at least say he has signed for it at the address and cashed it at xxx post office and the police could track that?

[megaphone]

Why not ask your aunty to deal with the money? Can he take the bike there and she can give him cash? I would not want to send £500 to anybody that 'appears' ok. All sounds a bit dodgy to me.

[condor]

Sounds dodgy to me too.

Ask your aunt to handle the transaction.

[sunbeam alpine]

There was a thread about a month ago from someone who bought a car in Scotland and paid without seeing it. It was th last he heard of the seller and his money.

Is the bike suspiciously cheap? Beware!

In your first post you say he doesn't know much about computers. How did you find the bike? Internet advert? If he could do enough to get the bike advertised on the net, he could set up paypal.

Couldn't you post in South-west PH - maybe someone could check it out for you!

[JCKST1]

The bike is cheap but not suspiciously cheap. The bloke had a BMW convertible for sale and someone was interested in it but didn't have enough so offered them his bike to sweeten the deal, The bloke took the offer as his some used to go biking and it was something for them to do, Said he used it a few times and couldn't hack it so its been sat in the shed for a few months.

He seems genuine enough as he was doubting me when I said I will pay by cheque in case i cancelled it and done one with the bike but he said basically we have to trust each other.

He seen my wanted advert online and rang me regarding the bike, he has sent me pics of the specific parts I wanted to see so i think he has the bike. He said he just uses the internet to browse nothing more really, Didnt have a clue how paypal etc works.

[Sarnie]

Dodgy.

[stevensdrs]

Sarnie said:

Dodgy.

^^
This

[sunbeam alpine]

Read this thread before you send any money anywhere!

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Edited by sunbeam alpine on Sunday 18th November 20:04

[JCKST1]

Im not sure what other way there is. My auntie is currently in Australia working so her house is stood empty.
His paypal is not currently set up and i dont fancy the 560 round trip and id be looking at about £100 in fuel and a full day driving.

If he did clear off with the money and I ring the police with his address, name, and the fact that he has signed for the postal orders is there anything they can do?

[sunbeam alpine]

A big chance that they'll tell you that it's a civil matter, as you gave them the money!

Spend some time in SP&L and you'll see enough threads about this sort of thing.

[Pothole]

JCKST1 said:

He seems genuine enough as he was doubting me when I said I will pay by cheque in case i cancelled it and done one with the bike but he said basically we have to trust each other.

Not really. He has said you have to trust him.

Edited by Pothole on Monday 19th November 01:05

[Gareth79]

I'd give this one a miss if it were me. I have done a few risky transactions, but £500 of postal orders? No thanks. As mentioned there is a real risk that the police will either play difficult either by throwing it back as a "civil matter, sir", or taking the details but not actually doing anything due to lack of manpower for "internet fraud" or putting it in the "too hard" box.

[megaphone]

OP. The guy does not trust you, he has intimated this, why trust him? You obviously have doubts so why risk it. TBH I would not even Paypal £500 to someone I did not know.