accepting payment and avoiding getting ripped off

Some driving from Georgia to NYC? That sounds a little fishy, IMO. It would take a minimum of 15 hours of non stop driving. Just saying...

 

Yes. Money orders are a bad item. It is very possible that you could get scammed, especially on eBay. Be carful if you choose to take this path.

 

Working in financial services, it can take up to 10 business days for a check to clear depending on the proximity of the banks, how large they are, and what Federal Reserve Branch they use to process items. Theoretically, the process is a littler faster since Check 21 where banks now send each other electronic debits instead of the actual paper check.

The best way to know, for sure, it’s in the account is to do a wire from his bank (I would make sure it’s domestic) to your bank account as opposed to checks. It’s still possible a wire could be pulled back but the chances of that happening are fractions of a percent since money is pulled immediately from the sending account.

 

I think the safest route would be cash. I wouldn't trust any sort of check.