Selling boat - unusual offers

[Keith 66]

Quite a few years ago I took a Sabb diesel engine out of a yacht that was broken up, Put it up for sale on Boat & outboards & next day the phone went, Irishman, "Does it run?" me "Yes its low hours & been laid up for 25 years".
"I will have it" sez he, "Dont you want to see it running?" , "No im in aberdeen in my wagon at the moment, havent got time", I will get my attorney to ring you & sort out payment, can you crate it up i will send a truck to pick it up".

Theres me thinking This is a wind up for sure! An hour later phone goes & its an Irish lady his attorney who tells me she has been tasked with sending me the money plus some more for the crate.
All sorted & next day the money arrives. A week later a brand new tail lift lorry arrives & picks the engine up.
I had an email from the guy later on, He had a Nicholson 35 & its original Sabb had blown up, he brought mine to just swap them over.
A real gentleman to deal with.

 

[ylop]

I also thought ordinary bank payments were irretrievable if you made a mistake, until I was in a bank branch recently where the guy in front of me in the queue was explaining loudly that he had sent money to the wrong person and would like it back. I fully expected the bank staff to say “sorry no can do” but there was a process and a form and she talked him at length through what would happen. In essence Barclays (the sender) would write to TSB (the reciever). TSB would write to the account holder - if they ignore the letter TSB will pay it back. If they say no there is an adjudication process. She said unless the recipient is helpful if would take at least 2 months, longer if there is a big dispute. She said TSB should freeze the money during the dispute so it can’t be removed/spent. She didn’t explain what happens if the money was already spent. It was for £48 and I could tell she didn’t think it was worth the effort!

 

[ylop]

I've got a boat for sale in southern England for 30k. So big money for most people. I've got offers from a guy in Northern Ireland (so a very long way away) offering to buy without us meeting first or him seeing it.

What does the offer “look” like. Is it binding on him? I considered making subject to survey offer from long distance 18 months ago because visiting and then coming back to collect would have been expensive and time consuming. What seems a bit crazy to a south coast seller with the pick of the market may be quite normal to a NI buyer who is likely going to have flights to make almost any purchase.

 

[Mister E]

If the buyer is genuine they would not be bothered if you use a solicitor or broker to handle the sale.

It depends on the make model and type of boat. If it is a good price with not that many available and sells well, then why would someone who really wants that type of boat not make an offer.
At the moment the offer is non binding so both of you can pull out.

 

[StevieD]

What's the 'Northern Ireland Complication' - we're still part of the UK, and yes still in the European common market for trade!

The legal aspect post Brexit for buying items like cars boats etc from England, Scotland, Wales for one's personal use i.e. not a commercial or business, is a minefield, nobody knows the proper answer and the internet is awash with stories, never mind the white / red diesel issue ;-), it's not an EU import unless the purchaser is potentially & deliberately going to export the boat to the ROI, may be dubious , as ROI has a free trade agreement with NI. There's a much bigger market, and hence selection and better value for these items across the pond, so of course we take advantage of this and the cost of bringing said boat or car home is usually heavily outweighed - just like someone from east coast of Scotland for instance. I've tried to buy cars, dinghies from eBay, FB market place etc, etc to be fobbed off as some sort of scammer by the seller. I have also quite legitimately bought cars, and dinghies, come home on the ferry, and sailed home yachts from south of England. Most if not all the banks here are mainstream UK so not an international transaction - just a normal transfer. No big deal if the guys happy to follow the process of appointing a survey if he wishes to and or transferring ownership with the correct paperwork, and financial transaction.

 

[Seastoke]

Did you sell it

 

[xyachtdave]

A mate of mine had a similar enquiry on a well used Hunter Impala, export to Malaysia, will pay upfront, plus shipping costs etc.

To his amazement, the boat was collected, paid for and all was above board.

How he handled the finances to ensure it couldn't be refunded I don't know, IIRC I think he had a business account he no longer used and transferred the money out as soon as it landed.

 

[syfuga]

I've got a boat for sale in southern England for 30k. So big money for most people. I've got offers from a guy in Northern Ireland (so a very long way away) offering to buy without us meeting first or him seeing it.
Sounds like a scam? So how does the scam (if it is one) pan out? What happens next?

Hi
We sold Fuga last year. Within hours of boat details going on line, the buyer was in touch, and by the end of the week had offered unseen and paid a holding deposit. He wanted to go on holiday first. We used a broker. It all went through.
If you are selling directly, no reason why you should not follow the same process. First of all both sign a sale agreement, (RYA has a model), laying down the rules you will jointly follow. Buyer pays a deposit, and this can be held by a third party if you want, e.g. a soliicitor. If AOK and the sale goes through, buyer pays balance and you provide the buyer with a bill of sale, and he collects the keys..

Not wishing to be boatless, I soon bought another with the proceeds. We drew up an agreement that suited us both: I was not bothered about a survey as I felt it was cheap enough, and the seller wanted one last holiday on her! He had another boat in the offing. A sale agreement doesn't have to be over complicated, ours is attached with our blushes spared. Just remember that a contract is binding when valuable consideration (e.g. a deposit) has been paid.

 

[pandos]

........ Just remember that a contract is binding when valuable consideration (e.g. a deposit) has been paid.

A contract can be binding once consideration is involved, it need not be actually paid over.

Simple Example, You offer to sell boat for 60k, buyer accepts your offer, contract is concluded..and enforceable (there may be evidential difficulties, but that is another matter)

 

[lustyd]

This …. but also
- after a few email questions along the same lines - as a scammer may not bother to engage in boaty dialogue
- ask for a land line number and call that - having looked up the STD location code
- go techie and perhaps even drop in a few misleading questions - if genuinely buying blind because they have been looking for that exact boat type, they should know the details.

I hate to tell you this but none of those are helpful in 2023. I can buy a phone number by the minute in any area code I want quite easily using voice over IP from anywhere in the world. You might be able to notice the latency on the line but that’s all you’ll notice.
I can make a chatbot with ChatGPT in about 30 seconds that is very interested to chat about sailing for hours. I could even make it speak like Tom Cunliffe. Using very simple voice synthesis I could make it sound like Tom on the phone too using snippets of his voice from TV and YouTube and it would use his voice and accent. Finally, using a translator I could make TomBot speak Spanish in his same accent if I wanted to.

None of this requires skill and will take under an hour.

Edit: I created the bot and demoed in another thread to avoid drift here TomBot

 

[Mister E]

I am wondering what happened to the sale?

 

[xyachtdave]

I am wondering what happened to the sale?

I think Spanish Tom Cunliffe bought it via LustyD.

 

[wonkywinch]

I am wondering what happened to the sale?

I think he's waiting until the holding tank can be pumped out.

How to remove sewage water from boat gosport / portsmouth area

 

[Arcady]

All he would have to do is say he paid it to the wrong person or account and he would get his money back

Don't have to wait for fraud to be proven in court, someone can make a claim of non-delivery, faulty goods, etc., to their bank and the bank will go through the chargeback / refund process

I wish it was that easy. Stupidly I have twice fallen victim to fraud and despite being able to prove irrefutably and almost immediately that the transactions were fraudulent, the bank assured me there was no way they could retrieve said funds.