Most of my client's age range from between 13 - 20 year olds. I have nine clients who are potential customers. They have no credit cards or money orders since they are only 13 - 16 year olds. In response to that i told them im sorry but i dont think there is another payment option. One of my client suggested i should collect cash payments. He is yet waiting for a response from me; I dont know if it is illegal or legal in the US to send someone cash in the mail. Considering the fact it might not be secure, the mail might get lost. Is is a new way to get more clients? WebHostingTalk members, i love to hear from you!

You can send cash in the mail all you want, it's not illegal, just not smart...of course they could say they sent cash, leave the envelope open, and mail it...then claim that someone must have opened it and took it out.
If they have cash, go to the post office and get a money order, it's only .50 cents, and you can get international money orders at other places also. Don't send cash...it may be legal, but that doesn't mean it's smart.
As to age, my daughter is 11 and she buys her own money orders......

Whatever you do, don't ask them to send cash in the mail!


Chaos hit it right on the head. It's not illegal, but it's stupid.

Mail that gets "lost" for whatever reason is sent to one of 2 locations in the US to be "re sorted". Money Orders contain a magentic material which is picked up and it is given top priority in such facilities. The Post Office reserves the right to open the envelope, locate and name and attempt to get the parcel to that person.

Money Order = Safe
Cash = Stupid

when i was 16 and 17, before i had my own checking account, i'd always send money orders from Western Union or another Currency Exchange. as far as i remember, they never required an ID or anything. just the cash, plus their fee.

Money order is more safer, and it can be obtained at any age.

In my personal experience, I have sent and received cash through mail in the past, being successful.

If you are going to accept cash through mail, tell the sender to place it in a 'blue security' envelope enwrapped in 1 or 2 magazine pages or newspapers.

Money orders can be obtained EASILY and lots of places sell those now
grocery stores, convenient stores, etc.
I wouldnt recommend accepting cash through the mail.....AT ALL!
Good Luck :)

Tell me what your address is so I can go through your mail box on a daily basis, than accept cash all you want.

Sending cash in the mail is perfectly legal, but as other people pointed out, it's a BAD IDEA.

That being said, if one of your clients does want to send cash through the mail, it is illegal for you to refuse to accept it ("This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private" - that's printed right on every U.S. bill and it means you have to, by law, accept cash).

However, you'll want to protect yourself. As others have pointed out, suggest to your customers that they can easily obtain a money order. You can get them at every U.S. Post Office, many convenience stores (here in the northeast, Cumberland Farms stores all sell money orders, at least they used to), any Western Union office, and every single bank will happily sell you a money order.

If a customer absolutely insists on mailing cash, make it absolutely clear to them (and a note in your Terms of Service about it wouldn't hurt) that their payment is considered made when *you* receive it, and *not* when they send it - if they send cash, they do so at their own risk, not yours, and if it doesn't show up they have to pay you again.

Anyway - money orders are really easy to get, so there's no reason they shouldn't be able to do it.

Good luck,

Jason

in fact,

your customers are the ones that shouldnt want to send cash. you can always claim that the envelope arrived open and there was no cash there, which is why money orders are better.

Originally posted by Jason Ellis
That being said, if one of your clients does want to send cash through the mail, it is illegal for you to refuse to accept it ("This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private" - that's printed right on every U.S. bill and it means you have to, by law, accept cash).


Wrong.... that means it is backed by the government, and can be accepted, and that acceptance of cash satisfies a debt... it does not mean you have to accept cash, and it is by no means illegal for you to not accept it.

Originally posted by DrChaos


Wrong.... that means it is backed by the government, and can be accepted, and that acceptance of cash satisfies a debt... it does not mean you have to accept cash, and it is by no means illegal for you to not accept it.

Wrong. That statement means that U.S. money must be accepted if offered as payment for goods or services.

Back when I was in college, it was inconvenient for me to make regular bank deposits (my bank was hundreds of miles away, and I didn't want to open a new account temporarily at school), so I got in the habit of paying my monthly rent with cash. After a couple of months, the landlord started refusing my cash. I'd arrive at his office on the first of every month with cash in hand, and he'd turn me away every month.

Six months later he decided to evict me for non-payment of rent, and when we went to court, I told the judge that I had tried to pay and the landlord had refused to accept cash. The judge asked the landlord if this was true and he confirmed it and claimed it was his right to refuse cash and that he told me many times that I had to pay by check.

The judge immediately dismissed the case and happily informed the landlord that he didn't have that option - if I wanted to pay in cash, it was my right, and the landlord had to accept it.

"This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private." means that if a customer wants to pay you in cash, you must accept it. That's the law.

Jason

http://www.ustreas.gov/education/faq/currency/legal-tender.html

The law says that: "All coins and currencies of the United States, regardless of when coined or issued, shall be legal-tender for all debts, public and private, public charges, taxes, duties and dues."

This statute means that all United States money as identified above are a valid and legal offer of payment for debts when tendered to a creditor. There is, however, no Federal statute mandating that a private business, a person or an organization must accept currency or coins as for payment for goods and/or services. Private businesses are free to develop their own policies on whether or not to accept cash unless there is a State law which says otherwise. For example, a bus line may prohibit payment of fares in pennies or dollar bills. In addition, movie theaters, convenience stores and gas stations may refuse to accept large denomination currency (usually notes above $20) as a matter of policy.

No law or statute requires you to accept cash.... It ONLY means that you can accept it for a debt and the government backs the payment


<edit> Federal Law<edit>

Originally posted by DrChaos
Wrong... that judge needs to learn the law. As do you.

I suspect that the judge did know the law; but he either decided that late rent constituted a debt, or that the landlord was being unreasonable in refusing to accept cash (clean hands doctrine), or that there was another law in that locale which covers payment of rent. (Some jurisdictions require that landlords accept cash as a non-discrimination issue -- many people on welfare don't have bank accounts.)

Yes, you are probably correct, which is why I had immediately edited my comment. I also thought there may be a local statute and that hit as soon as I hit <enter> Hence the edit... and I should have made it more clear that I meant FEDERAL law also.....

I am just curious to why you would want to accept cash from 13 year olds? You have no method of recovering damage if they use your server to send spam, start a child porn ring etc, launch DOS attack etc.

Another reason to not accept cash is because in a cash transaction you have no idea who the other person really is. They could put Joe Blow in the signup sheet and cause havoc on your server. What are you going to do? Trace the ip address back to some proxy server?

Chet

Originally posted by chet
I am just curious to why you would want to accept cash from 13 year olds? You have no method of recovering damage if they use your server to send spam, start a child porn ring etc, launch DOS attack etc.


C|N>K

There's something wrong in this world, if we're worried about 13 year olds distributing child pornography.

Originally posted by acewebserv
Most of my client's age range from between 13 - 20 year olds. I have nine clients who are potential customers. They have no credit cards or money orders since they are only 13 - 16 year olds. In response to that i told them im sorry but i dont think there is another payment option. One of my client suggested i should collect cash payments. He is yet waiting for a response from me; I dont know if it is illegal or legal in the US to send someone cash in the mail. Considering the fact it might not be secure, the mail might get lost. Is is a new way to get more clients? WebHostingTalk members, i love to hear from you!

I had a cleitn send me cash from the UK. Why can't they just do a money order? Its real easy. Or get their parents to write a check. It would be easy for them to say "oh it got lost in the mail", and then you be responsible for it. Just my 2 cents.

Originally posted by DrChaos
No law or statute requires you to accept cash.... It ONLY means that you can accept it for a debt and the government backs the payment


After being associated with a family run convenience store for 20 years, it is somewhat humourous when people think we must take cash. They come in with a $100 bill and try to buy a $.05 candy. "I'm sorry sir, we cannot break your $100 bill". They get all upset saying it's illegal and cash is legal tender and we must take it blah blah blah.... It's much easier just to point to the sign "we reserve the right to refuse service to anyone". ;)

Kind of a different angle on the matter, but I just thought I'd throw that out there. :D

Why cant you take a $100 for 5 cent candy? Its only like $99.94 in change after tax.

lol

Originally posted by interactive


"oh it got lost in the mail", and then you be responsible for it.

I believe the sender sends the money at their own risk.

The whole problem is you can not collect cash yourself via the mail.

You need to have a third party verify and collect the funds. Therefore, I am offering to accept all of your cash payments for you. I will verify them, and forward the funds to you.

I will not be responsible for funds 'lost' in the mail....:D

PM me for the address to mail the cash..

Some suggestions:

If they reside in the US, you could recommend that they sign-up for the VisaBuxx program. http://www.visabuxx.com (This will allow them to obtain a pre-paid card and make orders online).

If they are between the ages of 13-16 they are certainly able to purchase money orders. I have a 15-year-old cousin that goes to 7-11 all the time to purchase them.

Altogether, these individuals could discuss their plans with their parents and have them come up with a solution together. (Mom will pay the web hosting bill with her CC, daughter pays her cash in return).

Cash is an insecure method of delivering payment. I strongly recommend that you not allow clients to send payment by cash, and that you not accept cash as a payment option.

paying by check is stupid to say the least. By giving a check to someone, you practically give him/her access to your bank account. Very very unwise

Accepting non-recurring transactions (eg. anything other than credit cards, eChecks, etc) will generally result in your company developing a large collections operation. Not saying we don't do it, im just saying I wish we didn't ;)

Carboran:

Are you one of these paranoid people that wont give collection agents check-by-phones? ;)

Thank You for your responses. They are greatly appreciated by the people at ACE Web Services. I told my potential clients to get me a money order from the Post Office. They got it without a problem. Thank You.

Sending cash in the mail is perfect if you want to do something covert, and fairly untraceable. But since your running a business....


I remember a guy who send $10,000 in one envelope to a aquantance three states away. To ensure the person got it he put $60 of stamps on the outside of the envelope on something that would only have been $1.00. The post office opened it out of curosity and help bust a huge drug ring.

Just out of curiosity, why do people put like 10 stamps when they send me a priority mail? Well not all people but some people do that mainly just the kids..

Wow 10,000 in a drug ring :-)

Just out of curiosity, why do people put like 10 stamps when they send me a priority mail? Well not all people but some people do that mainly just the kids..

I used to do that (when I was a 'kid') when sending out mail containing items that I thought were slightly heavy. And just to make sure it wouldn't be sent back, I added about 5 more stamps just in case. :D

Waste of money or what :stickout: