Paying a Reseller/Builder with Cash

Hey, everyone.

Thanks to the advice from various posts, guides, and users on this forum, I'm going to pull the trigger on a notebook this week. Most of the resellers/builders offer a cash discount for paying by check or wire transfer, which is something of which I wanted to take advantage.

Unfortunately, as I did research into wire transfers and how my bank handles them, I mentioned the discount to my girlfriend, who panicked over the prospect of sending thousands of dollars to a mysterious workshop a few states away. Apparently, she saw an episode of "Teen Mom" where one of the main characters lost $3000 after making a wire transfer. (No, I'm not joking.)

I may be opening up a can of worms here, but has anyone here had issues paying a reseller with cash? I know the businesses here are reputable, including the one I plan on ordering from, but I was wondering if there were any other caveats to keep in mind when placing an order in this way. Bank fees are already making the transaction less attractive, but are there any other things to keep in mind?

Thanks.

 

It's not hard to believe, surprised that people actually watch that.

Now it is pretty safe as long you stick to a reputable seller and follow the instructions correctly.

By reading other's feedback, It does seem to add several days for the payment to get through.

One thing you may want to look is if the bank fees offset whatever discount you are being offered.

 

I sent a check as I didn't want to worry about any bank fees or anything like that. Took a few extra days but worth it for the cash discount.

 

I did the same. But I would say, be sure to send it by certified mail.

 

Also check into paying with one of your CC's. Some credit cards offer an extended year warranty on products, that's what i did.

 

I don't know where you are ordering from, but I ordered from XoticPC using the secured payment option. What that does is it allows you to pay with cash, but does not delay your order until the payment is received. They authorize your credit card, and if that checks out, they send the order out to production. After they do that, you will receive an email telling you the price and where to send your check. You write the check, mail it to them, and it to be cashed and clear. As soon as i clears, they lift the authorization from your credit card. It takes time for the check to get there and clear, and they do not actually ship you the laptop if they don't have your check, but they will send it to production.

I did this and sent the $1500 check through regular mail (stuck it in my mailbox, didn't even hide the check - if you looked hard enough, you could probably see the writing on it). Got to Xotic within a few days, they cashed it promptly, it cleared, and everything was fine.

 

Personally, I decided against cash. I would have done a cashier's check to make things smoother, which costs money. Then, I would have wanted to ship it quickly so there is a lower chance of something going wrong. That costs even more.

Plus, on the off chance something does go wrong, it is easier to cut payment on a credit card.

 

I also just bought a Sager (today). I used my Credit Card. The CC company that I'm with has an offer that matches the warranty of the company that you buy the laptop from. So, in my case, I chose the stock 1 yr. limited warranty (still trying to figure out what exactly the limited means) parts/labor. My CC company will match that 1 year warranty with another 1 year, giving me 2 years of parts/labor warranty. Much better than the 3% discount

Also, as others have said, make sure the reseller is reputable. I ordered from xoticpc and they have a lot of great reviews and A+ rating with the BBB. You can trust them.

 

I didn't want to add any more time to my order so I just paid with my CC.

 

When sending a cash payment I always suggest a personal check vs a Money Order or Cashiers check. This is because most placed will have a clearing period for cash payments. Many banks will post images of your cleared personal check online within a few days of deposit, you can provide that image to show the check has cleared and the payment will be considered good to go. Money orders and Cashiers check dont have ways to provide those images.

 

lol you gf reminds me of my mom, Always freaking because she seen something on TV or the internet. What happened was the girl on 16 and pregnant got taken for the classic craiglist scam where she posted her car and somebody offered her double the amount and claimed to send her a certified check(major flag). So a company picked up her car and she sent 3000 back to the buyer for some stupid reason(I think she felt bad they were sending her $8k for a car worth $5k), well the bank called and said the check was no good and she was SOL. My ex actually watched that crap and I was working in the same room when that episode was on. I don't blame her for the scam, her parents left her high and dry with no guidance.

As long as you do your due diligence and common sense prevails, you should have no problem with your purchase.

 

I sent a bank wire to MALIBAL last year when I purchased my Clevo. I wasn't aware that the fee was $25 through my bank though, which effectively took away about half of my 3% cash discount lol. I really wanted the laptop fast so being that I was already at the bank I went ahead and did it.

It is very safe so long as you deal with a reputable reseller. Xoticpc, lpc.digital, mythlogic, MALIBAL are the ones off the top of.my head that are deemed reputable by 90%+ of customers.

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2

 

Thank you all for your responses.

Delaying the receipt of my notebook a little bit isn't too big a deal for me. I've been without a computer for four months now, so waiting another week or so isn't going to make much difference. This was more about squeezing as much out of my dollar as I could.

I hadn't thought about the extended warranty through my credit card. The card that I'd use offers a complementary additional year, but from what I've read online, they're very fussy about what sort of scenarios will be covered. Plus, the premium is very close to what I'd pay if I'd simply extended my warranty through the manufacturer (who I'd probably trust with these situations more than a big bank with corporate headquarters at the top of Orthanc), so it doesn't seem worth it.

I'm 99.5% certain that I'll be ordering from Mythlogic, but their sales department presented another payment scenario that seems to be a good compromise of speed and cost. I'm going to investigate it further.

 

I agree with your girlfriend about fraud transaction. In order for you to save some money on wire transfer the money, you need to look into the rating and history of each resellers. Most of them have very good ratings, and a few of them have a long history in business. If You can check resellerating and BBB to see thier reatings and year in business.

 

Exactly. I almost lost my money wiring it to an unreliable company that delayed my refund over and over and over, well passed any deadlines until I was forced to threaten with contacting a lawyer, and only then I received my money back, long overdue.

 

Working with XoticPC, I just ended up using two different cards as I knew that it already was going to take a bit to get my rig put together (still waiting though -- skinning takes a long time). If i did a check, it would have added more time than I'd prefer.

 

Just use PayPal eCheck. It clears in a few days.

Although if you do a wire transfer from a bank when you send money to XoticPC, be sure to note that it's for a computer. Someone here a year or two ago had a story where they went to wire a few grand to XoticPC and the cashier was a bit taken aback thinking it meant "Exotic Personal Companion" as in purchasing their own woman for er, extracurricular activities... lol.

 

How much for THAT upgrade?

 

If your in Canada, there interac email money transfers as another option to consider.

 

I wired cash money from Qatar in the Middle East to Nevada. Not only was it cash, it was Western Union, so even less chance for action if I got scammed. It was just a name I sent it to. I received the laptop 8 days later.

If it's any of the resellers you see here, I don't think there's a chance of getting scammed. This is the biggest Sager/Clevo forum on the web, so one customer getting ripped off means far more money gone from lost business.

 

I actually made an international wire transfer, which adds more elements of uncertainty, and I'm currently typing this on my new laptop, so I would say that as long as you use a reputable reseller, you really shouldn't have a problem.

 

You haven't seen the hidden menu's to choose your "options"?