Boat buying advice please

i am interested in buying a boat in France for a fixed price from iNautic.org. They are looking for 35% up front payable through PayPal and they said they will deliver to Ireland and the rest of the money to be paid 12 days after delivery or they will take the boat back and give my money back,(deposit ). no 1,how safe is my money,2,will paypal hold my money, 3,are there any hidden charges,4, Iv'e asked about transport costs and they seem to be in the price. Is it too good to be true. Please help.
 
At the very least I would recommend you surveying it (or having it surveyed) by an independent surveyor BEFORE you part with any money.
 
i am interested in buying a boat in France for a fixed price from iNautic.org. They are looking for 35% up front payable through PayPal and they said they will deliver to Ireland and the rest of the money to be paid 12 days after delivery or they will take the boat back and give my money back,(deposit ). no 1,how safe is my money,2,will paypal hold my money, 3,are there any hidden charges,4, Iv'e asked about transport costs and they seem to be in the price. Is it too good to be true. Please help.


Too good to be true! I am afraid this has all the marks of a classic scam...
 
A common scam in France is to advertise a holiday let on AirBnB. And then ask that the contract be made by email outside of the AirBnB site.
Typically the person doing this does not own the property and the deposit you paid has disappeared to somewhere in Africa.

This looks like it might be similar. I.e. they are selling a boat they don't own.
 
While Paypal generally offers very good buyer protection this as said above has all the hallmarks of a scam.
 
There is an excellent book published by the RYA on buying a second hand, or Preloved as the modern vernacular calls it, boat. Well worth a read.
 
i am interested in buying a boat in France for a fixed price from iNautic.org. They are looking for 35% up front payable through PayPal and they said they will deliver to Ireland and the rest of the money to be paid 12 days after delivery or they will take the boat back and give my money back,(deposit ). no 1,how safe is my money,2,will paypal hold my money, 3,are there any hidden charges,4, Iv'e asked about transport costs and they seem to be in the price. Is it too good to be true. Please help.

Sounds fine, get that deposit sent.
 
Who pays for transport/delivery? If its a scam you may be asked to pay their 'agent' in local currency with the promise of a refund which does not appear. nor does the boat, or your money when you try to claim it back.

The variant on this is when the overseas buyer asks you to pay the transport company coming to pick up your boat they are buying. They go off with the boat and a few days later the bank tells you the draft has not been cleared by the foreign bank. No boat, AND pout of pocket for delivering to the scumbags....
 
Had the pay the transporter scam on a boat I advertised here. Reeked of problems. Paying the full price, no inspection or survey, spelling errors and hey! it was word for word the same as a warning on the web.
 
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