The buying and selling scam is one scheme that has been prevalent online for an extended period of time. Here is an example of one popular scheme: Someone contacts you with a strong interest in purchasing the motorcycle you listed on an online website. Though he's located overseas, he's fortunate to have a friend in the states who can actually aid with shipment of the bike. To make matters more intriguing, this friend just happens to owe him a bit of money. By helping him to even the score, he's willing to sweeten the pot for your participation. Let's just say that your motorcycle was listed for $3000. The scam artist will claim that his friend owes him a total of $5000, all of which he will pay you with a genuine cashier's check. All he wants you to do is pay him the difference, take a little out for your troubles, then wait for his friend to pick up the order and ship it to the destination address. After going against your better judgment, you go through with it and eventually realize that the cashier's check isn't worth the paper it's written on. Some banks take as long as a week up to a month to process such financial instruments. Even if the check appears legit and actually shows up in your account, it can still bounce, leaving you terribly frustrated and possibly out of your motorcycle.
Unfortunately, there is not a good way to know whether a payment has cleared besides just waiting a long while until you ship...and then you make the customer angry for having to wait. A few days after deposit, your bank may tell you there is no longer a hold on your account related to the deposit but that doesn't necessarily mean it cleared yet.
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