Cash or meet at the bank. I've met at the bank with people multiple times for cashier checks. Remember if they are getting a loan they often don't have the option for cash. If those two won't work, split the $20 for a wire transfer.

Sounds a bit funny but I have used travelers cheques (checks). Safe to travel with, do the deal and go to the bank to cash into the sellers account. No waiting for a cashiers or certified cheque to clear. Cost a bit to get, but worth it.

I took a personal check from a person. We drove down to his bank, which had offices near by, and verified the funds were there by cashing the check, and it bike was his.

most of you said cash, me too. Always cash for me. But what if all those $100 dollar bills are fake?

Cash and use a 5.00 marker from office depot, staples, etc. to verify the bills are genuine. I did this when I sold my P-car--just check each bill with the pen.

There are a lot of fake Cashiers Checks and Certified Checks out there.

The problem is that your bank does not know if they are real or not - your bank will "clear" the check in a couple days and put the money in your account.
It could take weeks before the check comes back to the bank as being a fake - at that time, they come back to you for the funds.

Do a search on the internet - there are tons of articles on this out there.

Not that hard to tell which bills are real and which are fake even without the magic pen.

thanks. i put in my add, "cash only". i am worried about fake bills or being robbed but i figure the bike is fully insured and i would just call cops and report bike as stolen?

A bank wire is the absolute safest way to receive payment as a seller.

I concur. I would prefer a bank wire transfer over cash, unless I had an inordinate degree of trust in the buyer and it wasn't a huge amount (more than a few grand.) Not sure I would want to walk around with $50K in cash or anything like that but $500 or $5000, no sweat.

The banks are very distrustful of cashiers checks these days. They view every one as fraudulent until proven otherwise. I have even been royally hassled by one bank (US Bank - they suck) trying to cash a cashiers check issued by them - at the same effin branch - by a longtime customer. That may have been the only time I've ever actually lost my temper and yelled at some cube-dwelling dunderhead in a public place like that.

yep, i use my nail. If it's a really shady looking person, i'll look for the 100's on that little strip built into paper.

I hate when a buyer brings 20's too, takes forever to count!