Vanessa who runs the FACT shelter sent this warning along:
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"For shelters that sell benefit items:

Be wise! Do NOT accept personal checks from foreign countries, even
from Canada, even for the exact amount of the bill (unless, of course,
you've dealt with these folks before!). Checks from outside the US can
take MONTHS to clear. You wait a few weeks, assume the check was OK,
innocently send off the merchandise and then, two months down the
road, receive a happy little notice from your bank that the checking
account's been closed or there are insufficient funds. I had it happen
and boy, was I ticked off! How low do you have to be to rip off an
animal shelter?

If someone gives you a personal, reasonably sized check for a donation,
you're not out anything if it bounces and you don't draw against those
funds (at least our bank won't charge extra), but once the merchandise
is gone, it's gone. A legitimate buyer from outside the US will know
enough to use paypal or a credit card. I know many shelters can't
afford to take cards but paypal is free to purchasers and costs the
seller no more than a cc fee to accept.

As an aside, for any shelters that are interested in using credit
cards: Most companies charge a flat monthly fee of about $25 plus the
card percentage (2-3%.) However, FACT works with a company out of Rhode
Island that only charges us $10 per month. I'm not sure if they'd
extend the same deal to anyone, but I'm happy to provide their contact
data to anyone who e-mails me at [log in to unmask] They will
also give FACT a $25 referral fee, in the interest of full disclosure.

L. Vanessa Gruden
Shelter Director
Ferret Assn of Connecticut"
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I can add that as an eBay seller, I have learned to be very cautious
with foreign money orders (always, of course, drawn on US funds and,
of course, you always have feedback to check on eBay). Some banks will
charge you extra for processing them (ask your bank first) as it takes
so long to clear. They are also rather costly to the sender depending
upon the country. So paypal or your own credit card processor is the
safest option.

For expensive foreign orders, look into getting the parcel either
sent registered mail or get a signature on delivery to protect against
a charge-back for "non-delivered" merchandise. If you are sending
anything domestically, use delivery confirmation to ensure it arrived.

99.9% run smoothly - but with a shelter even .1% can hurt when it
happens to you.

Ann Gruden

[Posted in FML 5866]