I was reading the craiglist "Fraud Warnings" and it states something about Money orders and cahiers checks possibly being fraud alerts when someone who wants to purchase something from you online? I haven't heard of this before, and since I am somewhat new to selling online it kind of makes me weary of accepting a money order or cashiers check from anyone paying for something online.
It's crazy talk. It's a lot easier to pull a scam with a credit card or PayPal account. If you get a cashier's cheque just call the issuing bank and verify it before depositing. If you accept money orders just stipulate US postal money orders only.
To add a layer of sticky to your offline payments, generate a unique code and require the payer to put that on the cheque/m.o. To add another one, print out an invoice with the code on it, ask them to sign it and remit with payment. This insulates you against fraudulent attempts on the part of the buyer to claim to the issuer that the cheque was lost/stolen/etc.
Frank