USPS money orders are often faked. I have had post offices refuse to cash them because they said they didn't look right. Additionally, many post offices will not cash a postal MO over a certain amount because they say they don't have enough cash on hand. Then you are forced to deposit it in your bank account and you are in the same boat as a personal check. It can bounce several weeks and even a month or more later so no good.

Cash and cash only for me, or I will forgo the sale. The ONLY exception I have used with success that seems foolproof is a Western Union wire transfer. I had a person who wanted a pinball several states away. Seemed like a good guy, but I didn't know him and wouldn't take anything but cash. He finally told me he inquired with Western Union and this is how it worked. He goes to his local WU office, gives them cash, and they wire it to me. He then tells me the confirmation number. I take that number and some ID to my local WU office (in my case a local supermarket), and give them my ID and the WU confirmation number. They check it on-line, see that its legit, count the cash out of the til and hand it to me. The only caveat is that some supermarkets might not have several thousand dollars in their til, so in that case have the buyer wire several transfers in amounts of 2k or less. I got my money in hand and told the buyer to send his shipper to pick up the game. Seemed foolproof to me and I would use it again. I don't see how the funds could ever be reversed since the supermarket only had my drivers license and gave me cash. There is no availability for them to back charge anything. The only downside is the sender has to pay a WU charge of around $20- $40 for each wire, but he was willing to absorb that.

There's a reason people use cash...in fact, lots of reasons. Life is much simpler.