it seems like most people have never had a bounced check. I personally have had only a few (3) in over 200 ebay sales. i do not wait for a check to clear before i ship my product if i have dealt with a person before or they have 10+ rating with no negatives. if i had not dealt with a person before or had a rating less then 10 or had a negative i would expect the seller to hold off shipping till check cleared. i ship from canada to all my u.s. customer have never had a complaint and usually have a max turn arround from payment recieved till chip recieved of 10 days.