Lambkin55

I just when to my LBS to pick up a wheel I had made. They told me they do not accept personal checks. They only deal in cash and credit cards.
Is this a new thing in the bike world?
Does your LBS accept personal checks?

dsaul

People still write checks?

biker128pedal

I just use my CC and lay it off for the cash back. Still it is odd they don’t take a check unless they et den burned too much. These days checks can be deposited over the ether. Do they take debit?

zandoval 

I can see this happening. Also many vendors do not accept certain kinds of checks and cards. There is a Pawn Shop here in central Texas that will accept all cards, cash, Bitcoin, and gold, even debt cards from Mexico, but not American Express...

indyfabz

About 6 years ago I made final payment (over $6K) for my super fly, custom ti road machine with a check. Builder/LBS owner gave me a 2% discount for paying that way.

That said, plenty of businesses no longer take check. Why would a LBS be any different from such businesses, especially if you are not a well known quantity? So many fraudsters out there these days.

Troul 

i've had a lbs not take paypal or M.O. , but they'd take venmo & do C.O.D.

grizzly59

Whatever the shop owner is comfortable with.

Rolla

Checks have by-and-large been replaced by electronic/digital payment methods in the retail world; it has little to do with whether the merchant is a bike shop.

GhostRider62

I wouldn't take a check from me.

Koyote

Cavemen write checks.

Mojo31

A lot of businesses still use checks for payables. But, there is usually a relationship history there.

If I had a retail business selling merchandise, I would not take checks. Too much opportunity for getting ripped off.

veganbikes

We don't take checks and my old shop didn't take checks. Checks are a good way to do fraudulent transactions. You can do a bank transfer or pay in cash these days or you have cards and apple/google pay and some places will also do things like PayPal or vendmo or cashapp.

I would not take checks from people if I owned a business I would much rather just have cash and make it easy peasy.

PeteHski

I'm guessing you have just been released from a very long prison sentence right?

indyfabz

Hey. I resemble that remark. I pay two utility bills with checks. I also periodically transfer money from my checking account (where my pay electronically is deposited) to a brokerage account with Fidelity. Not really any other practical way to do that that I know of. The Fidelity office is a block from my office, so I don't have to mail the check. I just take a break from work and walk it over.

Jrasero

Checks really have no safeguards for the vendors that do transactions like these, unless you are willing to let the check clear before you take possession, plus they don't have the benefits of cash

gpburdell

FYI Fidelity allows linking your checking account for EFT in/out, or if you're not comfortable with that you can make deposits into your Fidelity account via Paypal, Venmo, Apple Cash, or Square Cash.

See https://www.fidelity.com/cash-manage...obile-payments

... and back to the topic of the thread --it's likely so few people using checks at an LBS that it's not worth the expense of a check-verification service. and taking unverified checks would be foolish.

mschwett 

i also tried to pay once with an obsolete form of tender, except it was a couple of medium sized stone disks from the island of yap. wierdly they didn’t want those either?

EviLDORK

I ended up paying cash every time, because using a debit or credit card at the LBS would result in deactivation of the card over suspected identity theft.

Koyote

Yeah, I'm just teasing. I still write a check now and then, too. But right now, I'm a bit full of myself: I got a new Apple watch, and just figured out how to do Apple Pay. My wife and I had dinner in a restaurant on Sunday night, and at the end I just waved my wrist at the card reader.

But I'll bet that you can electronically link your bank account to the Fidelity account pretty easily -- I've got that setup with my Vanguard account. Makes it super easy to make those transfers.

Leinster

I believe AmEx has high vendor charges. I had a company AmEx for expenses on the road in a past job, and got turned away from more than one lunch spot. Usually a small business.

I write the rent check and, ummmm, I think that's it, tbh...

PeteHski

This was certainly true in the past, but now I think their merchant card fees are more competitive. There are still a few small retailers over here in the UK that won't take AMEX, but it's much less of a problem than it was even a couple of years ago.

cxwrench

Nope. Current shop doesn't take check, last shop I was at stopped taking them in probaly 2012.

^This^
And ^this^.

Champlaincycler

Curious as to how some of you know that fraudulent checks are a bigger risk than bad CC's. Could be true, just don't see it in the rural areas I frequent. I'm a retired cabinetmaker that builds furniture to stay relevant. I can't go to a wood supplier that will take a CC, its cash or check and no ID needed. Wife and I RV for a few months each winter, there were 2 private campgrounds in west Texas that took only cash or checks. I've a friend that runs a small ice cream store/luncheonette here in northern NY, takes cash or check and if you've neither he says ok and to mail me a check when you get home. There's also a ATM almost everywhere now. Not standing up for anyone here, but some people just don't want to get involved in the electronic banking thing and giving 3-5% to the banking mafia. I use my CC almost exclusively but carry $50 or so in cash and a single check in my wallet all the time, just lucky to not have that skinny jean body so a wallet is still ok.

indyfabz

Where’s the exercise in that? It’s nice to get out of the chair and take a walk. Never get hacked that way.

Rolla

I don't see where anyone said that the risk was bigger; it's mostly a question of the time and trouble it takes to get recourse when fraud occurs.

I don't think the point was that taking a check is totally obsolete; it's just far less common than before.

Yup. But the dinosaurs eventually became extinct, too.