I have bought online by credit card, but see some that want to be paid by money order--usps money order--personal check==certified check.


I'm leery about sending money like this before goods are shipped..at least by credit card--my card co. will get my money back to me if necessary. they have every time it was necessary--from amazon or whoever.



what do you think? should someone worry about it--even if you try to do your due diligence.

Welcome! My guess would be the vendor wants to avoid the 2-5% credit card surcharge. If you have the alternative a USPS money order is best, as you have a receipt and the Postal Inspector service reportedly takes MO fraud fairly seriously.

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Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

If you buy online from an individual and it's on a site like Gunbroker, check the sellers feedback. It is usually a pretty good indication if they are an honorable seller or not. I personally like using the C.C for faster shipping but I have never had problems either way if the seller had lots of positive feedback. Either way you go right now be prepared to pay crazy high prices.

This is probably just me, but I would not buy anything online if I couldn't use credit cards.

I would find another vendor. Seems a bit shady to me. Especially if the ammo is at a cheap/pre covid price.

If you are buying from a private seller with good feedback I would not worry about it too much. There is risk but if you pay with a postal money order they do take mail fraud seriously. I have sold guns on GunBroker and do not have a way to take credit cards and the same is true for most private sellers.

All the credit card companies require anyone accepting their cards as payment to not pass the fees they charge along to the customer. So the vendor has to eat the fee of up to 5% whenever someone pays with a credit card. Great for the CC companies and those of us with high fee cashback cards, bad for sellers and cash buyers paying the hidden VISA/MasterCard tax sellers have to add to the price everyone pays to cover the fees. Sometimes sellers can get away with offering a cash discount but some have decided to not accept plastic so they can offer lower prices. Not accepting credit cards does not always mean they are looking to rip people off.

But in general I am with you. Unless I know I am buying from a private seller I only do business with vendors that accept credit cards.

I base any GunBroker purchases on seller feedback ratings. I have used credit card, certified bank check and USPS money order without any issues.

Possibly any transaction could go bad. However, religiously using feedback history limits the opportunities.

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Regards,
Russell

I am not restricted by the credit card companies from charging the processing fees. However it is frowned upon in my profession.

Credit card fees add up fast and take a bite out of your profit! They get thousands in fees and book keeping costs from even a small business and when margins are tight it adds up to a point that they are not worth it. They are not my friend.

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Hue 68 noli me tangere