How long do you wait for a check to clear

I only accept paypal from verified address and USPS money orders as I was told by my local banks that they were the safest. But about 3 weeks ago, my shipping center that ships UPS/FedEx for me said there have been some counterfeit USPS money orders surfacing. With the hologram and watermark, I thought that would be impossible, but if someone is smart enough to create a "foolproof" way to avoid counterfeiting, there is also someone smart enough to create the fake. Feedback is still the best way to judge someone. I'm lucky...over 600 transactions on Ebay & Audiogon and I was only burned once when seller never sent the cd box set and I paid by money order. From that time I only paid by paypal.

Like a few others have said, go to the issuing bank & have check cashed there. If there are none in your area, call the bank & ask if there are sufficient funds available to cover the check. Some of them will tell you, some will not, although they do have to tell you if the account is active.

You can also ask the issuing bank if you can check to see if that particular check has cleared. Again, some will tell you, some won't but your bank should be able to get that information for you. I would think 10 business days is plenty of time to find out.

Also, like a few have mentioned, usually the persons feedback is a good indicator of whether or not their check is good.

Down the road if there is a problem, let the community know who it is you dealt with, plus you will get more information on what to do next.

Best of luck to you with regards to this transaction.

Slikric3000,
If the bank is the same it clears the same day as cash.
Other than that always next day clearance. If the bank is major and has all new processing technology it would clear next day. Other than that despite passed local or global laws it may clear longer.

You will not have any practical remedy if things go bad. It does not matter when it "clears" or what the "hold" period is - your endorsement is a guarantee from you to the bank that you will make good on it if the check bounces, which can happen many weeks later.

cashier's checks are frequently forged by scammers. It is easy to do.

If you are stuck with an out of state check, a pragmatic guesstimate would be to give it at least 15 business days (i.e, three weeks). Do not accept international checks.

Check, paypal, USPS money order, cashiers check, even cash (fake bills) you can get scammed. Even wires can be undone (hard, but doable). Focus on the person first, and then the payment method.

This is why you should deal with people you can identify and trust based on: (i) feedback and on ebay (send seller a message and wait for response to confirm the person is who they say they are); (2) job -- ask for work email address; (3) where they live (google the house you are shipping to -- does the name match and does the check matche and is the house in a nice area where someone would have the money to buy 4k worth of stereo equipment); (4) google search of real name, email address and username -- lots of hits = good.

All that being said, you can check your jurisdiction's UCC and banking laws and find out exactly what your rights are. To get them, you often have to jump through hoops, but they are available.

One last point, think of who YOUR bank or financial institution is. I use a credit union because, in part, their policies are such that once a check clears, they do not permit another bank to issue a stop payment. I know some banks intrabank and interbank, will.