I offer my clients the option of using a debit/credit card using Paypal, particularly those who are out of town. I just got an order this morning, to be delivered Thursday and she told me she had a credit card.

well, I sent the paypal invoice and just received an email that she used an echeck which may take up until next week to clear. Generally, I want payment by the date of delivery on something like this. I feel uncomfortable in a way but I am not sure if I am over reacting.

Given your experience, would you be okay with it knowing the money may not clear until possibly a week after delivery or would you email and say that it needs to be a debit/credit card that will clear by Thursday?

Thank you for your input!

I guess it would depend on what type of a cake you are doing.. if it were a large cake (wedding, etc..) I would call and get cash. If it were a smaller cake (even though I know there can be the same amount of time put in the cake).. I don't know that I would worry too much.

Are you able to see what bank the check is written on and the account number?? Could you call the bank to confirm it will clear?

Do you know this person?

I would explain the situation to her and tell her payment must clear before delivery. She can cancel the echeck and pay with credit card or no cake.

The reason an e-check takes so long is that paypal won't pay you until the echeck clears. It would be one thing if it were to clear before delivery, but I would not take the chance of it either being cancelled, which they can do, or it simply be uncollectable funds.
If it hadn't cleared by time of delivery, they could go right into their paypal account and cancel the transaction. You could always go to paypal and file a complaint, but unless you know enough about this person to know their standing with paypal, I'd never take the risk.

When I come across something like this I send them an email, and then a courtesy call within a couple of hours. This ensures you that you have something in writing and verbal.

Make sure that the customer understands that their payment secures their cakes delivery for their time & date. Without payment/ payment waiting to clear their cake will not be delivered (or ready for pickup).

Remember even if you don't want to believe that there are people out there waiting for a freebie, There is, so don't give 'em a chance to get one over on you; you don't go to a store and buy something and then expect them to wait on payment. What if they decide to cancel payment before it clears. Good Luck!

Ditto the last couple of posts. My contract states that I must be paid in full before delivery. If you accept the echeck, deliver the cake, then the check doesn't clear, you're not guaranteed you'll be able to get the money from her.

What other business do you know that will give you a product, and then just hope you will pay them later? Just email/call and politely let them knw that PayPal let you know that the check will not be cleared until next week. You must have payment before delivery.

So, my question then is does Paypal charge her to stop the check?

I went to send the email to her and my husband insisted that I shouldn't. It may be too late now anyway. In the future I will specify cards only, no echecks. I do appreciate the responses, I guess since it has been several hours now I feel like my hands are tied. She's gonna be ticked if she has a fee to stop the check.

I'm going to poke around on Paypal and see what I can find out.

Here's the US customer service number and their hours of operation. You might get your answer sooner if you just wait to call them. Sometimes I feel like I need a G-PayPal-S in order to find something on there.

1-888-221-1161

4:00 AM PST to 10:00 PM PST Monday through Friday
6:00 AM PST to 8:00 PM PST Saturday and Sunday

Theresa

I can tell you having used Paypal, that in order to to use an e-check, you have to have a credit card to back up the transaction, so if for any reason the check would not clear, they charge your credit card. Now, she may still be able to stop payment...not sure how that works, but I don't think you have to worry too muchy about it bouncing.

I'm Googling all over the place trying to find out if they have a charge.. I'm not finding anything yet. Like playingwithsugar said, you might get an answer quicker by just calling them in the morning..

Thanks ya'll, really! I will call in the AM. It does make me feel better that a card has to back it.

You know how it is, I don't want to over react but I don't want to be screwed over either. I'll check everything with Paypal and hope it clears quickly. I will DEFINITELY specify from now on!

You don't have to have a credit card to pay by echeck with paypal. I have used it many times and they debit your bank account so it has to be cleared by your bank first that is why it takes longer than with a credit card.

[quote="Lenette"]So, my question then is does Paypal charge her to stop the check? quote]

In a word..... NO....... they do not. They just see it as a transaction that was rescinded and there are no charges for cancelling the echeck.

Based on an experience we had earlier this month, if the credit card you have listed with PayPal is expired, they will delay payment for a week. They don't tell you the card has expired until AFTER the transaction is posted, and even if you immediately put the new credit card expiration date, they still hold payment for a week. OH, they still took the money out of my account the next day. They just didn't pay for a week. GRRRR