Question about buying items online

[Stojakapimp]

Last weekend I bought a pair of Charger's tickets off of some lady from Craig's List. She told me that the way to handle it is that she will mail the tickets off on Monday, and I have to mail her a money order on the same day. Now my question is how exactly is this a secure transaction? Since she's already dropped the tickets in the mail, what's to stop me from cancelling my money order? And what happens if she actually didn't send the tickets? I'm guessing all I have to do it cancel the money order, but would that be quick enough? It seems like there is a lot of trust from both parties.

 

[Yossarian]

it isn't secure at all. I don't think you can cancel a money order either.

 

[Stojakapimp]

Originally posted by: Yossarian
it isn't secure at all. I don't think you can cancel a money order either.

I'm pretty sure you can. At least I thought I read that somewhere. That's another question of mine though...why are money orders a popular way of doing online purchases? Are they safer at all?

 

[HonkeyDonk]

If you want to buy tickets online...ebay would have been slightly safer since at least they have protection via paypal.

Craigslist is a free for all kind of place.

 

[Jzero]

Originally posted by: Stojakapimp

Originally posted by: Yossarian
it isn't secure at all. I don't think you can cancel a money order either.

I'm pretty sure you can. At least I thought I read that somewhere. That's another question of mine though...why are money orders a popular way of doing online purchases? Are they safer at all?

You have to wait like 90 days to cancel a money order that has not yet been cashed.
If it's already been cashed, you are pretty much SOL.

 

[Stojakapimp]

Do you think I should email the lady and ask about this? She gave me her name and word address (she's an attorney in Sacramento), which google later confirmed, so it seems legit. Of course she (or he) could have just been making this up.

 

[Kelemvor]

That's why I only use Craigslist for local stuff I can go pick up.

 

Originally posted by: FrankyJunior
That's why I only use Craigslist for local stuff I can go pick up.

Anyone who does otherwise isn't using common sense. They even tell you that on their website.

 

[Stojakapimp]

Well the address that I sent it to matches up with her name and her attorney practice when typed into Google. So I'm pretty sure that it's legit. I was under the impression though that you could cancel money orders, so I was just going to wait until tomorrow and if the tickets don't come then cancel the money order.