got someone interested in a bike for sale (via Facebook, not here). they have asked to pay via bank transfer. is this a safe way to pay? any scams i should be aware of?
It's possibly the safest. Once the money's in your account, they can't take it back, and it can't turn out to be forged...
Its how I've done it in the past, both buying and selling. I'd rather not carry that amount of cash, so online bank payment worked best.
Works fine. If you are super paranoid just shift the money into another account once it has cleared. Pretty sure it’s not necessary but will certainly give you peace of mind that it’s all good
Works when selling cars so I guess it is safe for bikes
thanks for advice
The only way I'd do it now. I don't accept cash for anything unless its less than about £100. Amazing how many people still insist on paying with cash. Makes me suspicious these days if people insist on cash about what scam they're potentially pulling.
Let time I sold a vehicle privately it was for 24k and it was done via banking apps - they were on Santander, I was with First Direct. We stood in my kitchen, he instructed the transfer to my acc number and sort code (you can't pull money out of peoples accounts with only those two bits of information), after a few minutes and maybe half a cup of tea and a bit of a chat it showed in my account via the app. Job done.
I believe it can take longer depending on the banks - some banks have tie ups with other banks and in those cases it will show immediately, but sometimes it's held until it is authorised which can take longer especially over a weekend. In those cases you can call your bank and they can look it up to see if the payment is being held pending approval and they can approve there and then. There are probably limits set for this so if only a couple of grand it might go through anyway, if more it might get held.
We stood in my kitchen, he instructed the transfer to my acc number and sort code (you can’t pull money out of peoples accounts with only those two bits of information)
You can, by setting up a Direct Debit.
But that’s easier to recover (if you spot it)