Brokers advertising boats that are not actually for sale

Ian h

Ian h

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AS per the title,

seems some brokers have boats on their websites advertised for silly money but then find out boat is not actually for sale.

Seems to be used as click bait,

Frustrating to say the least, has anyone else come across this ? Is it actually legal advertising a boat that's not actually for sale ?
 
A boat I recently sold has appeared for sale.
There are several photos borrowed around the place and some that are not even the boat that's for sale.
Since some of the photos are mine can I enforce my claim to the copyright?
 
My boat sold 6 weeks ago….still on the brokers website. I think most brokers would have empty websites if they took sold boats off.

doesn’t help anyone looking though
 
I brought a boat back in November to add to my collection, boats still activate on the website as Underoffer. Only reason I brought the boat was because it was cheap and a good one to spin and make a bit of £££££ on it
 
My boat pops up for sale from time to time on various pages. Its been mine for over 3 years and still pops up, and i have never advertised it and have no desire to sell it. The previous owner has commented that the boat is sold in many of the questions in the advert and its simply one of those scams. I think the way it works is they use an advert, alter it and make it too good to be true, usually chosing something desirable and in demand. Then when you "buy it " they offer to deliver it, or claim its in such demand that a deposit will hold it. The delivery charge and / or deposit is generally a reasonably small ammout in the boat buying world, few hundred pounds, so some folks will not fight too hard to get it back, and i think the phone number and email address disappear after purchase, i guess some time later they use it for selling something totally different, a golf buggy or similar, at least thats what i have been told..

When i was looking to buy it i phoned about another boat, it was exactly what i wanted, looked really good, and everything was near ideal. The sale was super safe, and it would be taken to me and if not as described would be taken away. All sounded very plausable. I called them a few times, asked for photos of various bits and pieces and they always arrived the next day and they all appeared as expected. I was at the point of starting the buying process, when instead of dealing through their broker / agent or whoever it was and using their delivery process i asked if a friend could pop over and take a video of it for me. I think the story was the owner was overseas, the girlfriend was dealing with the sale and she was thaking the photos but knew nothing about boats so i had to deal through this other person. They offered all manner of videos, any picture i wanted, and even photos and video of it being put on the lorry, then had all kinds of reasons why it was not possible for him to visit, illness, a vital businnes trip, i forget the details but it all sounded possible, though i was a little uncomfortable now. They clearly had access to a boat and pictures and videos of it. I mentioned my frustration about how the sale had being going so easily and now was a pain to my son, a cop and he told me it was all classic scam. I forget now how he proved it was a scam to me, it was possibly that it appeared to be near new, and had sold a couple of times, something like that.
 
A broker I have an interest in has probably only 95% of the boats on the website actually available for sale. Such is the strength of the sellers market.

The rest are all sold or under offer and MARKED ACCORDINGLY.
BIG banners across the listing.

This was done for two reasons: firstly it shows both buyers and sellers the strength of the market and secondly shows actual sold boats that buyers can still compare and contrast and make future decisions on.

Helps us too as it shows off our website well, and just having say one boat for sale doesn’t give a true picture of the busines ?
 
having been a broker, one thing ill say is now and again there are random websites full of old listings still active. I had a chap call up back in sept about a portofino 31 advert he found from 2015, I had sold that boat twice since then.

There is also a hell of a lot of scam listings at the mo on ebay & boats and outboards. Be careful out there.
 
Have no problem in sold boats being left on website. It’s a bit like estate agents they also leave to sold house up for some time. I guess people can then see what has sold and what was the advertised asking price.
the same with boat brokers possibly useful.
now seen that there appears to be 2 brokerages on web with exactly the same postal address. Appears both websites have similar boats showing
makes you wonder.
 
I was chatting to a broker before Xmas and he told me that boats were selling even before he put them up on his website.
He still has to post pictures.
 
Clipper Marina seem one of the brokers that quickly update ads when under offer, they posted a used boat yesterday on a popular website and ad is now showing as under offer so the market doesn’t seem to be cooling down yet!
 
Clipper are one the better brokers -have successful sold through them and a former work colleague bought a Bavaria 34 mobo through them. I have mainly dealt with Ben who knows his Bavs . The OP doesn’t say which make is of interest though but often worth identifying the broker aligned with a brand as they might be go to broker if thinking of selling eg if you had a Bav you might sell via Tingdean if on Thames but might take a lot longer than if with Clipper etc so in present market I would expect a decent broker to be networking clients who might be thinking of trading in etc-don’t know if marine brokers do this type of legwork though.
 
Some ads live on, posted on sites like Dailyboats who give a contact address in Moscow ( ? ).



This was posted on the YDSA site years ago:

ABYA CALL TO ACTION OVER SCAM BROKERAGE SITE
Published: 19 October 18

One of our brokers recently alerted us that their boats were appearing on this site – if you look at it you will see there is no means of contacting these people from the site.

Simon White from The Yacht Market (TYM) advised: “We’ve been aware of the Daily Boats website for a number of years. They get the boat data from our website – and possibly others using scraping – a system that goes through websites like an automated web browser copying all the information. It is hosted in a country where there is no UK jurisdiction.”

TYM has reported them to Google, but little seems to have happened. TYM has done what it can to stop it, but as we know these scammers continually find new ways round to continue their criminal activities.

Members are asked to check Daily Boats and see if their boats are appearing and, if so, to report them to Google AdSense, go to HTTPS://SUPPORT.GOOGLE.COM/ADSENSE/CONTACT/VIOLATION_REPORT

Maybe a volume of complaints will help to get them stopped.

.
 
Ian h said:
AS per the title,

seems some brokers have boats on their websites advertised for silly money but then find out boat is not actually for sale.

Seems to be used as click bait,

Frustrating to say the least, has anyone else come across this ? Is it actually legal advertising a boat that's not actually for sale ?
Click to expand...
I think the advertising standards would be interested in that.
 
ashtead said:
Clipper are one the better brokers -have successful sold through them and a former work colleague bought a Bavaria 34 mobo through them. I have mainly dealt with Ben who knows his Bavs . The OP doesn’t say which make is of interest though but often worth identifying the broker aligned with a brand as they might be go to broker if thinking of selling eg if you had a Bav you might sell via Tingdean if on Thames but might take a lot longer than if with Clipper etc so in present market I would expect a decent broker to be networking clients who might be thinking of trading in etc-don’t know if marine brokers do this type of legwork though.
Click to expand...
Totally agree, "that identifying the broker aligned with a brand as they might be go to broker " sometimes though its also good to do a general search and see what the web pulls up, via the make of boat you interested in
 
I came across this a lot, looking for a suitable boat. You see an advert for the perfect boat, enquire and the response a day later apologises and say’s it has sold. Then between one and four weeks later, you get offered a much ropier boat of the type you enquired after or indeed, something completely different that makes no sense. I would suggest that this is because with such a limited stock availability to all dealers at present, some are baiting the potential buyers to then call the owners they know to try and pair a sale up as with no stock, they basically don’t have a business so needs must and they’re getting creative. I would caveat this strategy on it not being any well established brokers however large or small they are but likely, just those you wouldn’t really wish to buy through anyway.
 
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