Selling my boat would you accept cash.

[nickjaxe]

Hi all bit of advise needed please, I am going to advertise my boat in the next few weeks hoping to get £3000 + but I am a bit botherd about how I should let a buyer pay for it, cheque no probs but they have to wait for it to clear and I dont want to put anybody off, cash in days gone by I would have snatched his hand off but I was reading about forged bank notes the other day being very hard to tell if they are gen for the man in the street, what a world we live in, what do you guys recomend.

Nick.

 

[alahol2]

Take the buyer and his wad of fivers to the bank and get them to pay it into your account. If they are satisfied, I guess you should be safe.

 

[jac]

If the bank is open a Draft- go with him to a branch of his bank to collect it - that way you know they've issued it. Lots of forged drafts about.

Or if its a working day you could do a CHAPs - means giving the purchaser your account and sortcode details but you do that everytime you give someone a cheque anyway so no real difference. Wait till about 3 ish then ring your bank and ask for confirmation that the funds have arrived by CHAPs and only then release boat.

Either of those methods will avoid the risk of lugging £3k in cash around and will be secure once your bank has confirmed recipt or you have seen his bank issue draft.

 

[tsmyth]

Do you not have bank cheques in the UK? Perhaps this is what you mean by a "draft". Of course, any cheque is actually a draft.

Ray

 

[alienzdive]

Most people are honest, I would not think twice about accepting cash for a boat purchase. Remember that dodgy notes are fraudulent. The person purchasing the vessel would be commiting fraud which would be dealt with by the police. The sale would be void and if the boat was ever found again afterwards, it should be returned to you.

 

[BrendanS]

Difference of terminology between countries?

A cheque merely says that the the monies will be paid out of the account if there are sufficient funds in it, and can bounce if there are insufficient funds. Not the best way of doing a deal with an uknown person. Even if the funds appear to clear, the cheque might have been cancelled, and the monies later withdrawn from your account

A bankers draft withdraws the monies immediately, and guarantees the funds available. The only way this can bounce is if the draft is forged.

 

[tsmyth]

Sounds like you refer to draft whereas we commonly refer to a bank cheque.

We typically use "bank cheques" here for private purchase/sale of boats and cars.

 

[BrendanS]

Cheques here are a book of paper slips. These can be made payable to anyone for any amount. They don't guarantee payment, unless endorsed with cheque guarantee card (which has limitations), so are not a suitable payment tool for large amounts.

Bankers drafts are an entirely different proposition. They guarantee funds have already been paid.

 

[tsmyth]

Same here for cheques, although I have not seen a "guarantee card". Bank cheques are, in effect, a bank draft as you indicate, with funds guaranteed.

Ray

 

[Lakesailor]

[ QUOTE ]
Hi all bit of advise needed please, I am going to advertise my boat in the next few weeks hoping to get £3000 + but I am a bit botherd about how I should let a buyer pay for it, cheque no probs but they have to wait for it to clear and I dont want to put anybody off, cash in days gone by I would have snatched his hand off but I was reading about forged bank notes the other day being very hard to tell if they are gen for the man in the street, what a world we live in, what do you guys recomend.

Nick.

[/ QUOTE ]

I sold a car on ebay for £12000 (worth more, boo hoo) and the buyer came from Norfolk. We went into the bank. Luckily we had the same bank. The manageress did an electronic transfer to my account from his. Job done.
Belt and braces, I checked on my e-bank account to make sure it was there and off he went, delighted.
I don't think it was a chaps payment.
Of course you could get him to transfer money same-day by e-bank if he has the same bank as you, otherwise it would take 3/4days

 

[BobOwen]

[ QUOTE ]
I would not think twice about accepting cash for a boat purchase.

[/ QUOTE ]

I certainly would. My son sold a car to a guy who turned up in his own vehicle (As any buyer would) and accompanyed by his 4 year old son. He was interested, but said he wanted to see another car locally.

Next day he arranged to call again, saying the other car wasn't what he wanted. They haggled and the the deal was done .The buyer paid cash.

The buyer was excited about the car ( A tastsy GTi) and itching to get it out on the road. He asked if he could leave his car there, while he drove home. He would then pick his wife up, so they could come back and drive their own car back.

As my son had the cash in hand and the buyers car was left outside his house, he thought there would be no problem. He even left his car keys complete with house keys etc.

The buyer never reappeared. The address he'd given was false. His car was not collected and when later reported to the police, was revealed as stolen.

Meanwhile my son went to the bank to pay the money in - and was "invited" into the managers office, where the police promptly arrived. He spent some considerable time assuring the police he was not knowingly passing off forged notes.

End storey? Car gone - no money.

My son says the money was really good - there was no way he could tell. The bank teller knew, the second he handed it over. Unless your a note expert, I would advise caution. The easy way, is as mentioned above, go to the bank together and get them to pay it in. Beware of cash buyers who can only be around when the banks are closed

 

[simonfraser]

i shall hopefully sell mine on saturday, and will be acepting cash.

the bank should be open am, i shall take note of the above sugestion and pay it in before he has left the boatyard !

 

[snowleopard]

As I understand it the old answer - a banker's draft - is no longer foolproof owing to the number of stolen or forged drafts in circulation.

An inter-bank transfer would be safer, if you're prepared to give your account details to a stranger.

Bit of a minefield I think.

 

[Spyro]

I recently read advice somewhere about selling a to strangers. Ask the buyer if you can take his photo If he does not agree don't sell! I don't know if I would rely on it but it's worth considering

 

[MASH]

Ask yourself why this character wants to pay cash. No normal honest person has 3Grand in folding stuff in his pocket.

Try going to your bank and asking to withdraw that amount from your account. You will almost certainly be invited into the managers office and grilled at some length, and probably be refused anyway. They will be equally suspicious if you turn up to deposit 3Grand in cash and will very likely involve the Police. Banks are very sensitive about money laundering these days and anyone who wants to shift that much cash without a paper trail is almost certainly up to some kind of scam, be it tax evasion, fraud, counterfieting or clearing profits of drug/theft.

Do the world a favour and insist on a draft or electronic transfer.

 

[ashanta]

Why would anyone these days want to have so much money in cash?

I know I could be wrong but if someone wanted to pay me cash I would be suspicious of them in that I would think used cash as they avoided the tax man by avoided the use of banks and audit trails.

I know that you would only be interested getting the right amount of money for your boat and as long as it's not counterfeit you not going to be concerned.

However, as someone who has to pay all of my taxes as I'm employed by a company rather than self employed etc when I see large cash transaction such as this it makes me think this way.

Regards.

Peter.

 

[dedwards]

All the ways of spotting forgeries that I know off...

1. Watermark
2. Metal strip appears continuous and uniform when looked at from both sides of note.
3. the 'bank of england' text is raised on queens side (easier to check with long fingernail or damp thumb)
4. Hologram
5. All detail is drawn using fine lines, these are crisp and not blurred. esp. beards and moustaches.
5. The actual feel of the note paper.

Some people dampen the coloured shape saying 'ER' to see if the colour runs but I think that is a myth.

Dont bother ripping the note to check the metal strip, it just damages the note.

Edit: sorry, second 5 should be a 6 and also with 3, ensure reverse side is not indented.

 

[oldharry]

[ QUOTE ]
Ask yourself why this character wants to pay cash. No normal honest person has 3Grand in folding stuff in his pocket.


[/ QUOTE ]
Er sorry - does that make me a criminal???!! /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif The last 4 boats I have bought/ sold have all been cash transactions. Banks have never queried it (I always draw cash at the same branch anyway, and ring first if I need more than around £1500), nor was there any query when I paid in £2500 for a boat I sold a couple of years ago.

Yes there are scams around involving counterfeit money, but I never yet had any problem - except once with a brokers secretary who had to ring up her boss to ask if it was alright to take cash - and got rather roundly told off for querying it! /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

 

[jac]

[ QUOTE ]
Ask yourself why this character wants to pay cash. No normal honest person has 3Grand in folding stuff in his pocket.

Try going to your bank and asking to withdraw that amount from your account. You will almost certainly be invited into the managers office and grilled at some length, and probably be refused anyway. They will be equally suspicious if you turn up to deposit 3Grand in cash and will very likely involve the Police. Banks are very sensitive about money laundering these days and anyone who wants to shift that much cash without a paper trail is almost certainly up to some kind of scam, be it tax evasion, fraud, counterfieting or clearing profits of drug/theft.

Do the world a favour and insist on a draft or electronic transfer.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm a manager with one of the large banks and Large cash withdrawals/ deposits will cause someone to take notice and probably to ask questions.

However - if you answer and tell them you're selling/buying something like a car/boat that should be an end to it. They'll possibly make a note of it but unless you get into the habit of buying a new car/ boat every month they won't get too excited and you can forget any chance of a one off transaction like that being reported - the paperwork really isn't worth it and there are hardly any grounds for suspiscion - I mean people do buy things for cash to get round the risk of cheques etc.

My first choice when buying from an unknown would be a draft that I was sure was genuine (i.e. I had seen being issued by a reputable bank) or a Chaps.

be careful about banking at the same bank and seeing the other person order a transfer to your accounts. Some banks don't have real time transfers so even though the transfer is keyed it could be countermanded. Once it is in your account you should be ok but a CHAPS is really the best way to go

 

[Hakuna]

I used to work in a bank, and would strongly recommend CHAPS - it is quick and painless. Beware drafts - there are quite a lot of stolen/forged ones in circulation. The only foolproof method is to ring the branch at which it has been issued (get the phone number independently, not from the buyer obviously) and ring them up and ask whether they have issued the draft, who to, how much etc....

I have also had to deal with times when, very unusually, drafts have had to be returned unpaid. CHAPS avoids all these problems as you will know that the money has arrived in your account that day.

JAC is also right in saying that paying in cash, as long as there is a good reason for it (and you're not doing it three times a week) is fine. If you do bank at the same bank the other way that gets round issues of not real time systems is to draw the cash over the counter and then pay it straight back into your account - just tell the cashier BEFORE s/he counts it all out for you so it can stay in the drawer!