Have paid via cash, cheque and building society cheque, depending on what the seller wanted. However, for Mini TX's horse as it was well into the five figures I paid by CHAPs transfer which cost me £25.00 to do it.
Myself/NMT/parents have always paid cash, even the ones in the five figure bracket, except the ones that came from Holland/Germany which were bank transfer....if you are dealing with a dealer/business with a worldwide rep you are unlikely to have problems.
Have taken cash or bank transfer.
Agree is getting harder and harder to pay for anything of value in cash.
If you do bank transfer you have a record of what you paid and to whom - always useful in the event of a problem.
Salutory tale for sellers, we sold a super cob years ago for £4k. The lady asked if we'd take a cheque and she could collect the next day, we said yes, BUT she couldn't have the horse until the cheque had cleared. The cheque bounced, and the lady vanished and was never contactable again. When we got in touch with the yard she said she'd be keeping him at, they said she owed them over 2k in livery arrears too...
Sold lorries, horses etc. buyer comes to view and wants to buy, so set up a payee and send deposit.
Then come to collect, and when arrive at the yard, whip out the phone and transfer balance. Then seller goes into their online banking and checks its arrived- hey presto.
If that's not an option then I have paid and accepted cash on collection,