How to pay for a used bike

Cash can be lost or stolen. If a thief runs off with a cashier's check made out to somebody else, I think he's going to have a hard time cashing it. If the "seller" holds you up, you should have a better chance of getting your money back.

A dealer will be happy to accept a cash deposit on a sale pending your return with the full cash payment.

Cashiers checks are getting counterfeited. Either the good looking check is on a non-existent bank, or it is a fake check on a real bank. Your bank might accept this as any deposit subject to seeing if it bounces. If it bounces, the seller is stuck. I would only accept a cashiers check if it is on a bank with a branch in my town, and we can confirm that the check is good as part of the deal. Check and see if your bank can immediately confirm a check from another bank.

I like the idea of a bank transfer, credit union transfer, or debit card withdrawal transfer. The last large cash purchase I made, I had the hundreds in bundles of ten..."Here's the first thousand," and he counted ten, "here's the second thousand," etc. I sold a car and got a bundle of twenties, tens, & fives. It was all there, but counting before closing the deal was a bother and subject to error.

+1!

When I'm selling I prefer cash as there are more and more cases of counterfeit cashiers checks. Your bank will gladly take it from you, and four days later say, "that cashiers check was no good", after your bike, whatever, is long gone...

You beat me mentioning counterfeit cashiers checks.

I just sold a bike for $5,000 two months ago where the buyer brought 11 $100 bills and 195 $20's. Really? Twenties? WTF? :huh

If he hadn't agreed to pay the full asking price I would have sent him on his way in a heart beat.

My mistake. I thought your post where you said "Wow, you'd think, like, no one has ever handled cash before" was your only post in this thread. I still think it is a shitty post, but I see you did contribute other posts...

Just in case nobody has mentioned it, one thing you might consider is "Share Branching" if you're a member of a credit union.

With Share Branching you just find another credit union that is in close proximity of the place where you're purchasing the bike that participates in the same share branching network.

I've only done a fly n ride once and I just had a bank check made out to the seller in the amount of the prior agreed upon price for the bike. I wouldn't feel comfortable traveling with all that cash in my pocket. If you loose it, or doG forbid get robbed there's no recourse. With a check you just call the bank and cancel it.

Cash can be counterfeited too. I'm not sure why people sweat cashiers checks so much, if you're selling a bike you should have a copy of the buyer's driver license to verify his endorsement with home address and at mimimum you'd have his full legal name when filling out the title. Counterfeiting is Felony with harsh penalties, you get a counterfeit check the police go arrest the guy and you get the bike back...

I have NEVER been asked for my drivers license except at at a dealership, and if I was asked during a private party sale I wouldn't provide it unless there's a damn good reason. Why do you as the seller need to verify my endorsement?

FYI... I was just told by a bank that either cashier's check or Bank check is like cash. I more than a little surprised to hear that. They pull the cash from your account and if you lose the check you are out the money.

Yep, that's why you have it made out to yourself or "cash" because if you back out on the deal and it's made out to the seller you can't cash it to get the cash back.

Yes, but the bigger point was people think they are "safe" carrying a check vs cash, and they are not. Was big news to me.

Great, not 2 full pages before it turns into a(nother) gun thread.




The bank check (80%) + cash (20%) option sounds good to me.

Yes don't need to bring up guns here. It goes with out saying you should always have a gun on you, $.10 or $1000000, that's just obvious. Like a helmet, it's just common sense.

If you don't want to carry cash , then just get a bank check made out to yourself and sign it over to the seller.

Lol, yeah, I'd accept a second party check on private sale. NOT

Crap. Cashier's checks can be " stop payment", I only accept it when the vehicle stays till it clears.

More bank bullshit designed to protect THEM ONLY, and perpetuate the perceived need for their " safety services".

NOT TRUE.

The check is an obligation of the bank, not the individual. The individual cannot stop payment. The bank can refuse to honor the check, but it has to be pretty extraordinary circumstances, theft, fraud etc.

I have zero idea what you are talking about, and I suspect that's true for you too.

Sometimes, the bank branch where one might go to withdraw the cash only has it in certain denominations.