I haven't read all the replies so apologies if I am repeating anything.
Forget bankers drafts when it is you who is recieving the payment. They are no more secure than a cheque. Either can be forged. And, believe it or not, a bank could record the reciept in your account when you take the draft to the bank,... but later remove it if the draft is found to be forged when going throgh their clearing processes. Forged drafts are a big issue at the moment.
On electronic payments there is good news and bad news. The good news is that these days if you and the buyer both bank with well know high street banks you can actually arrange almost instantaneous payments and so the recipiant can call their own bank 10 minutes after the payments is made and get confirmaiton that the moneuy has been recieved AND cleared (check with your bank). The bad news is that (despite assurances form the bank).. you CANNOT do this on a weekend,..only a weekday. I was promised in advance that I could recieve a payment instantly the last time I sold a car. The seller, sat in my living room, called their bank and made the payment,...the money left their account,..I called my bank 10 minutes later...and they said nothing would happen on my account until Monday morning ! So there I am with the angry seller having lost £10k from their bank account and me refusing the give them the keys until I the money hit my account....
In future I would ask the seller to bring cash on a weekday and meet me at my bank to pay it in.
Forget bankers drafts when it is you who is recieving the payment. They are no more secure than a cheque. Either can be forged. And, believe it or not, a bank could record the reciept in your account when you take the draft to the bank,... but later remove it if the draft is found to be forged when going throgh their clearing processes. Forged drafts are a big issue at the moment.
On electronic payments there is good news and bad news. The good news is that these days if you and the buyer both bank with well know high street banks you can actually arrange almost instantaneous payments and so the recipiant can call their own bank 10 minutes after the payments is made and get confirmaiton that the moneuy has been recieved AND cleared (check with your bank). The bad news is that (despite assurances form the bank).. you CANNOT do this on a weekend,..only a weekday. I was promised in advance that I could recieve a payment instantly the last time I sold a car. The seller, sat in my living room, called their bank and made the payment,...the money left their account,..I called my bank 10 minutes later...and they said nothing would happen on my account until Monday morning ! So there I am with the angry seller having lost £10k from their bank account and me refusing the give them the keys until I the money hit my account....
In future I would ask the seller to bring cash on a weekday and meet me at my bank to pay it in.
always go with 2 mates and be street smart ...... ie, make sure the person you are dealing with and the address you are doing the deal at are the same as whats on the docs. Also helps t ask for photo ID .........