While ago I was selling old law school textbooks on Trade Me. I happily set an $1 reserve auction to help a struggling student, with pick up only condition. However someone in Timaru bought it for $1 and asked me to ship it at their cost. Fine, whatever. A few days later the bank charged me a mysterious $3 "monthly charges" fee. A quick phone call revealed that someone deposited a sum of money ($5 including shipping) into my account by physically going into a branch instead of internet banking. Since I had an account the bank had the privilege to charge me $3 for a manual transaction. Days after I had already confirmed receipt of the money and sent the item. I wondered how's a third party able to go into a bank with my account number and authorise my account to be charged a fee based on their deposit?
