>>>When a customer comes to my store and purchases something with a check I do not tell them "well wait ten days for your check to clear than pick it up". I gladly accept the check give them the merchandise and that send 6them on their way. WHY SHOULD THIS BE ANY DIFFERENT OVER THE INTERNET OR BY MAIL.?

Jim, there is a huge reason to treat these transcations differently. The vast majority of transactions that take place in a store involve local people. I have often seen stores that post policies that they only accept checks drawn on local banks. When a check bounces it is much easier to collect from someone who is local, this is especially true with small checks where it is important to collect without great expense.

The much more interesting question is Robert Tout's question. He asks why the buyer in an Ebay transaction is the one that takes all the risk. I have noticed that for the most part Seller's on Ebay have decided that they are the equivalent of large corporate retailers. They seem to ignore that my sending payment to some guy in Tulsa at a PO box is a risk at all.

If you watch any of the messgae board relating to auctions you will notice that Sellers for the most part believe that their TOS are laws written by god and a request by a customer to do something differently is subject to contempt. They speak about non paying bidders as though they are stealing when in fact non-paying bidders most of the time are an inconvenience and a hassle but probably don't cause any monetary loss. These sellers insist on handling charges because they figure they are entitled to a salary for shipping out items above and beyond any profit they may make from selling the item.

These are the bad business people. These are the sellers who will ultimately fail because they will not keep customers coming back. The Good Sellers are the people who value each customer and each transaction and deal with each transaction individually, not by writing a policy guide and creating a mini bureaucracy.

Years ago, when I was still in school, a friend of mine who did not have a car asked me to drive her downtown to go shopping one Sunday. As we walked up the street she insisted that we go into a small clothing store. She took some items to try on and I walked around the store. The only one in the store was the shopkeeper and he was busy labeling and hanging clothes.

A couple of women walked in and asked him what time he was open til, he looked up and said that actually he was not open on Sundays. I immediately apologized to him and told him we would be leaving as soon as she got out of the fitting room. He said to me that there was no hurray and top take as much time as we need, that the first rule of business was to not turn away a sale.

The Sellers who we most like to deal with on Ebay are like that shopkeeper, they will throw out their rules if the situation warrants. They understand that just because they are closed on Sundays is no reason keep out the customers if you are working in the store anyway.