a customer have problem with his paypal account. he said he will send me a check or send money via western union.

how do you use western union? how do i recieve money via western union?

did anyone ever get money from their cutomers via western union?

I believe you go to a place that is a Western Union Provider. For example, where i live there are certain large grocery store chains that have Western Union machines. YOu can go there to pick up the money that the customer sends.

Isn't it bad when someone offers to send money via WU? I know when selling thing thru eBay it's rarely a good thing when someone offers to send money via WU after "having problems" with another payment processor.

It's good, used it once or twice - but it's expensive for the sender. In your case if the client is ready to send it then it's ok.

Basically on your end you just need there contact information and the Western Union Payment Number and you can pick up the money at any of there 1000's of locations.

Cash in hand is always good :)

Originally posted by MH-Gary
Basically on your end you just need there contact information and the Western Union Payment Number and you can pick up the money at any of there 1000's of locations.

Cash in hand is always good :)

i perfer to use paypal. i havn't encounter any problem with paypal as a payment method.

kinda suck that he got paypal problem. if his check didn't show up, i'm going have to use western union.

Originally posted by exclaim
Isn't it bad when someone offers to send money via WU? I know when selling thing thru eBay it's rarely a good thing when someone offers to send money via WU after "having problems" with another payment processor.

Not at all. There are many legitimate reasons for sending money via Western Union, especially for international payments. Once you have received the money, it cannot be taken back from you... Western Union can give you the money in cash immediately.

but western union is used by most of the frauders on the net... i.e. nigerians scams use it... ebay scams uses it... etc etc.

But since you receive the money... it's probably not the same.

Why don't you ask them to use CC with 2co ? Or even bank transfer could be a good solution ... A check could be another solution if you trust the customer...

There's a lot of solutions before wu... imo

WU does not look professional -- they transfer money from one agent to another.

It's good for person to person remmitance .. and only for small amounts.

Again sender has to pay heavy fees for sending funds.

Last option should be WU -- before that try paypal / 2co etc..

WU has it's advantages, you can collect the money just a few minutes after it has been sent, the person sending cannot chargeback or apply for refund. When you pick it up you get cash.

Only disadvantage I can see is that it is expensive to use, but as long as the sender pays the fees then it is up to them.

As for not looking professional, WU has been around alot longer than the internet, they use a huge amount of banks and post offices as agents, as well as having agent locations in alot of public places (train stations, airports)

Just do a search on their site, you will probably find quite a few locations near to you.

I have used WU to send / receive on few occasions, it is fast, secure and reliable.

The reason that scammers use WU is for several reasons:

1 - They don't have to specify an address to send the money to.
2 - Once they get your money it is impossible to get it back from them.

Receiving cash via WU is a very safe thing, I would hesitate to send money via WU though.

Paypal, credit cards and checks on the other hand are slanted towards the person sending the money.

Yes, but when you send with western union you have to provide ID now. I used to work for a company that sent and received money for people via western union. It is getting alot harder to scam now. If it is fraudulent, there is a number to call through Western Union and they then report it to the proper authorities (FBI if I remember correctly).

Look at it this way, do you really want to have to run to your WU office everytime this new customer sends you a payment? Further, I would be VERY wary of a customer who has no other way to pay.

If its a low paying customer...it isn't going to be worth it. If its a high paying customer...I would be VERY suspicious.

--Tina

Really now, why would it matter? As long as you recieve the money it all works out, right?

Oh, and how do you recieve the money? I mean, if cash spat out of the machine, that would mean that the grocery store/train station/whatever is loading it with cash, taking profits from them

Scammers use it for receiving money as there is no way to get a refund.

When someone pays using WU they pay at their local office, and send you the information, you then go to your local WU office, fill out a form and withdraw the money in cash, (you can do this minutes after they have paid)

I have a couple of clients that pay this way, I insist that they pay for 6 months at a time as I don't want to deal with going into town for a few $'s every month.

For high paying clients it is, in a way, better and more secure than credit card or paypal as they cannot get a refund or chargeback.

I don't see how there can be any problem receiving money through WU, as if you don't walk out of your local office with the cash then you don't provide the service / goods.

The only scams I have heard are from people selling goods online very cheap and insisting they can only receive money using WU, then they never send the goods (they also use fake ID's). This scam only works as it is impossible to get a refund.

If you are willing to go to your local WU office/agent to pick up the cash then there is absolutely no reason not to accept it as a form of payment.

Sometimes people just do not have credit cards, and if they live in a country paypal does not support then WU is an established, reliable way for them to send money.

Western Union is good for receiving money. Nothing wrong at that end. The person sending money can't get cancel or get a refund once the money is picked up (as some of you have mentioned). The problem is when you (the buyer), sends money. Just make sure you a) know the person personally b) do some extra extra checking if you don't. There are some elaborate scams out there. "My dog just died and I need money for his funeral" ... etc. etc.