Selling Boat Privately - How Does It Work

[PRH]

Some great replys thank you.

I agree, if someone travels some distance and know what they are looking at then they are most likely genuine and as Nick says, you easily form your own judgement.

Can't dissagree with Lakesailor, there are some awful examples of pictures where ever you see things for sale. You need to take good quality and lots of them so that someone can get a feel for the boat and see everywhere in detail.
If you want to see how it should be done just look at Jonic's 'ahem' post, good pictures and you can almost walk around the boat.

First problem for me will be - I have to clean the boat before I can take some pictures!!!

 

[gjgm]

Money.. just so you know before you let the boat disappear...
A BACS transfer is very safe and if instruction is made before about 2pm , it should arrive same day.
Depending on your and the buyers bank, Faster payment should be within a couple of hours, and seconds if within the same banking company, but different banks have different limits on the amount.
Cash.. well banks get embroiled in lots of money laundering obligations, so they dont like cash.
Bankers Draft.. they are pretty safe but it is POSSIBLE it is a fake, and it is POSSIBLE to cancel it (though as it is drawn on the bank itself, banks are very very reluctant to do that and need very good reasons).
Cheques can of course be cancelled, but if you are not aware, then as a courtesy a bank will normally credit your account if a cheque is drawn on some far flung obscure bank, but reserve the right to reclaim the money if the foreign bank doesnt honour the cheque. It is an old scam, and not very likely some one is going to buy your boat with a cheque drawn on such a bank.
So there will almost always be a window where the payment is in the process of being made and you still hold the boat keys, but you can make the window sensibly small with little effort.

 

[PRH]

Money.. just so you know before you let the boat disappear...
A BACS transfer is very safe and if instruction is made before about 2pm , it should arrive same day.
Depending on your and the buyers bank, Faster payment should be within a couple of hours, and seconds if within the same banking company, but different banks have different limits on the amount.
Cash.. well banks get embroiled in lots of money laundering obligations, so they dont like cash.
Bankers Draft.. they are pretty safe but it is POSSIBLE it is a fake, and it is POSSIBLE to cancel it (though as it is drawn on the bank itself, banks are very very reluctant to do that and need very good reasons).
Cheques can of course be cancelled, but if you are not aware, then as a courtesy a bank will normally credit your account if a cheque is drawn on some far flung obscure bank, but reserve the right to reclaim the money if the foreign bank doesnt honour the cheque. It is an old scam, and not very likely some one is going to buy your boat with a cheque drawn on such a bank.
So there will almost always be a window where the payment is in the process of being made and you still hold the boat keys, but you can make the window sensibly small with little effort.

gjgm - thanks for the advice

 

[henryf]

I was thinking that I wouldn't use a broker because anyone can take some good pictures and put adds on the internet - perhaps I better think it out again . .

Hmm. I'm not sure anyone can take good pictures, especially when it's of their own boat. The biggest problem is they can't see it from someone else's eyes.

I recently built a website to sell my boat www.princess42.com but I still involved the Princess brokerage and I'm glad I did. They added an element of security for the buyer and also held my hand in terms of paperwork.

For me the days of a traditional broker taking 8% or whatever are history but then I am prepared to put in a bit of effort myself. Your boat is a valuable asset for both yourself and the buyer so good brokers can add value. The problem is bad brokers can cost you dearly!

Good luck with the sale.

Henry

 

[oldgit]

When buying boat I never really take much notice of photographs,however a lot of photographs means the seller is probably keen to sell,a good thing from a buyers point of view.
The first visit is always a quick look round,a viewing could grind to a halt there and then.
If interested would then ask to come back for a second viewing, to see stuff running etc and would hope that the return visit indicates that we are not wasting anyones time.

 

[henryf]

When buying boat I never really take much notice of photographs,however a lot of photographs means the seller is probably keen to sell,a good thing from a buyers point of view.
The first visit is always a quick look round,a viewing could grind to a halt there and then.
If interested would then ask to come back for a second viewing, to see stuff running etc and would hope that the return visit indicates that we are not wasting anyones time.

How odd.

So are you saying that you ignore photos, hop in the car, drive 4 hours and arrive with fingers crossed to see a boat? You must have shares in BP and loads of time to kill.

I think you can read a lot into photos both in what they show, what has been photographed and what hasn't.

As for suggesting that someone who has gone to the trouble of taking lots of good photos is a distressed seller ripe for a good kick in the plums, well I'm not sure that is the case. A well put together advert will generate lots of interest meaning yours won't be the only interest the buyer has received. This gives them options including the option to thank you for your time and move on to someone more sensible with their pricing.

In my opinion the worst advert is a hastily constructed advert with no photos.

Wife dead, metro for sale. That kind of thing.

Henry

 

[lovezoo]

I think you have said before Henry - shiny sells. And if you can see that shine in the nice photos, so much the better.

 

[burgundyben]

Bankers Draft.. they are pretty safe but it is POSSIBLE it is a fake, and it is POSSIBLE to cancel it (though as it is drawn on the bank itself, banks are very very reluctant to do that and need very good reasons).

You could ask the buyer to request a bank draft from his bank at a branch near to you or the boat, you walk into the branch with him, he takes the bank draft over the countre from the nice bank person and hands it to you.

 

[PaulGooch]

When buying boat I never really take much notice of photographs,however a lot of photographs means the seller is probably keen to sell,a good thing from a buyers point of view.
The first visit is always a quick look round,a viewing could grind to a halt there and then.
If interested would then ask to come back for a second viewing, to see stuff running etc and would hope that the return visit indicates that we are not wasting anyones time.

As a seller, i've taken lots of pictures so anyone searching for an 805 can see how good mine is He'll hopefully be more inclined to drive 300 miles to see it if he can get an idea of just how nice it really is, as opposed to one 300 miles the other side of the Country where the owner didn't bother to take many pics and the ones he did take are of a dirty looking boat.

I take the same approach whether i'm selling something for 99p on Ebay, a £2k car or my boat. Whilst i'm keen to sell, i'm not desperate though and a kick in the nuts on the price wouldn't be welcome

I do have someone interested, he's 300 miles away. I don't think he'll come and take a quick look, i expect he'll come and take one very good look around, although he's welcome to come twice. When we bought her, we took one trip to Wales to view and trial the boat, then another trip a week later to collect her. I take the fact he's driving 300 miles as a serious sign of interest and have no problems arranging a lift out (at his expense) and a trial, all on the same day, without a deposit.

We're also looking around for the next boat and as a buyer i find it very frustrating/annoying/disappointing that the seller cannot be bothered to take some decent pics. Do they really expect me to drive 300 miles to look at their dirty boat, cluttered with all of their rubbish, based on two blurry pics taken 4 years ago ? If he can't be bothered to go and wash the boat, tidy it up and take some decent pictures, why should i bother ? Why don't i go look at another one, where the owner does care ?

Only problem i'm having at the moment, i can only find my desired boats for sale in the UK and that's 400 miles away by car and 600 by sea.

 

[oldgit]

"How odd"

So are you saying that you ignore photos, hop in the car, drive 4 hours and arrive with fingers crossed to see a boat? You must have shares in BP and loads of time to kill.

Err....lots of time, a great deal of patience and no money.....................

 

[beejay190]

For me the days of a traditional broker taking 8% or whatever are history but then I am prepared to put in a bit of effort myself.

Good luck with the sale.

Henry

Agreed, i have two brokers offering to sell my boat for 4%.