Yesterday I made my most accidental sale of all time. Someone had emailed me earlier in the week asking for bank details so they could pay for a book, the eBay id didn’t ring a bell but sometimes people ask so they know ahead of bidding/buying whether you bank with some obscure building society that doesn’t have a branch in their town. Some people just won’t do any banking on line and I don’t blame them. On-line financial transactions have a certain degree of risk. From my perspective providing a bsb and acct no. is safe as people can only deposit not withdraw, so I blithely send her my details.
A couple of days later in my acct appeared a deposit for $9.32 with an eBay user Id. An odd amount indeed. $9.45 or $9.95 I would get but not $9.32. I checked my sales just in case, nothing. I emailed the sender asking if they were sure they meant to pay me. I duly got a message back saying no it was someone else and could I transfer it back? Of course I thought with a sinking feeling. Here is the rub. My bank has a security measure whereby I have to add the recipient’s account as an authorised transferee then I have to obtain an SMS code to approve the transfer. This works really well if you have a mobile phone, I don’t have a mobile phone. I was using my daughter’s old phone just for this purpose but had a strong suspicioun I needed to pay something to keep it active. Or at least charge the battery. It’s been months since I have done either. No problem. I would just call in at a branch and deposit it over the counter. I read the email again to check her account information. She banks with an obscure building society that doesn’t have a branch in my town. Okay, I thought, I’ll see if I can ring the bank and get them to change the mobile number to an active one belonging to an offspring. How about a Money Order the erstwhile buyer suggested. Hmm I thought $5 to purchase a money order and a 60c stamp to post back $9.32. How about I sell you a book instead? I suggested. Okay that worked. I had one she wanted and I have packed it and posted it off. The $9.32 gets to stay in my account.
