Selling on fleabay do you

I had a nightmare selling a boat on e-bay on behalf of our Sailing Club which eventually went to court, and we won.

Our buyer didn't visit before he became the winning bidder, but paid within 24 hours anyway. He came and took the boat away, we agreed a proper RYA Sale Agreement, then 3 months later he came back with complaints.

Best advice is stick to the rules of ebay and make sure the ad states "Sold As Seen" - this was the compelling argument in court.
 
seastoke said:
or how do you take a deposit ie subject to survey ,sea trial thanks for replies ,roy
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Buying and selling on Ebay (or any other private sale method) can be as complicated or as simple as the buyer and seller want it to be..
Most buyers and sellers on Ebay do not tend to rely on established custom and practice with boat selling and buying, usually regarding a boat as just another purchase similar to buying a car.
The buyer has to satisfy himself from the evidence in front of him that the boat is owned by the seller and is in the condition claimed by the seller.
For this reason it is not the place for the hesitant or unconfident buyer who is better off with broker.
You may well end up sending a fair wedge of cash as deposit with no real assurance you will ever see it again or be handing over boat without the certain knowledge the money received is not part of very clever scam.
The prices tend to reflect that the seller wants a quick sale and ebay is the place of last resort.
Not for the feint hearted , have bought and sold several boats on ebay.
Normally the first viewing would merely be look round and only somebody who expresses a real interest gets run out.Then ask for a substantial deposit to hold boat,5K does nicely, balance on day prior to collection.
Take it or leave it.

Happily, takes longer to walk up the pontoon to my boat than the drive there from home, so no problems taking folks out.
Never once had I asked for or been asked for a survey on any boat have ever bought or sold..
Sold as seen !
 
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You might find Gum Tree Better to sell on as it is far more simple than ebay and is sort of an electronic add in a shop window. Easier to contact the seller and far less rules to catch you out

I have bought a couple of boats on Gumtree and worked well (Low value however £3 - 5K)

Dennis
 
Bigplumbs said:
You might find Gum Tree Better to sell on as it is far more simple than ebay and is sort of an electronic add in a shop window. Easier to contact the seller and far less rules to catch you out

I have bought a couple of boats on Gumtree and worked well (Low value however £3 - 5K)

Dennis
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Have also sold on Gumtree.....

but.....all interested buyers will be registered with Ebay and/or Paypal will have had to sign up, you will have some sort of idea of their purchasing track record in feedback over time, many years in some cases.
Nobody who has built up a good feedback record is going to trash 100%
Anybody can sign up with Gumtree with no more than email address and mobile number.Their buying history could be problematic to say the least.
Go wrong on Ebay and everybody knows, with Gumtree the injured party suffers in silence ?
 
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so if we have a bid and they want to see it out the water ,do they pay for the lift out or do we ,and thanks old git for the comments ,yes that is our boat on fleabay
 
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seastoke said:
so if we have a bid and they want to see it out the water ,do they pay for the lift out or do we ,and thanks old git for the comments ,yes that is our boat on fleabay
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That Ebay add would have probably me got me driving up to see it.
Can recommend a good B&B nearbye as well.
Any prospective visitors to the area need to be aware that Conwy shuts at 21.00 hours sharp, esp. if they want any food :)

The buyer is 100% responsible for paying for any action needed to enable him to satisfy himself about the condition of the boat, including a lift out and block off or perhaps more likely a "lift and hold" for an hour or so.
Cost around £200-300 pounds. Depending on how close his offer is to your asking, you could say If he walks away he pays the lot, if he buys you would work something out.
Personally would not be charging for fuel etc for a run out for any initial "sea trial" but only live 10 mins from my boat.
On selling our boat,we asked for a 10% deposit via BACS within a day or two to prove good faith and the balance 24 hours before collection.
Did check the address of the buyer on Google earth just to find out if the buyers home existed or had wheels ? :)
As you are probably aware my boat was collected from Conwy Marina in June .
The marina staff were made well aware my transport was arriving about mid day and had promised to have the boat sitting in the slings, with props off and canvas removed, ready for dropping onto the low loader..
When the truck turned up, boat was till on its mooring.!
The delay caused the lowloader driver all sorts of grief due to his hours and the need to be elsewhere on time for his two following moves.
He was not a happy bunny on his arrival at Gillingham Marina.
 
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Checked your 'AD'out Stokey. I can't see a reference to the disabled access you have made. Am I missing something? I think it would really help to sell Her if you did.
 
And seems to be missing quite a bit of info. Number of engines, hours, when last serviced. And also try and 'sell' it a bit after all you are trying to sell a bit of a lifestyle or at least convince someone that it's a good boat.
 
seastoke said:
well old git you must be looking at our boat a lot we have had 2500 views you would think there is a buyer amonst them ,but maybe a lot of fender kickers ,time will tell
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Seem to remember in the end had total of around 4000 look at my last add and about 200 put it on their watch list.
Resulted in about a dozen sort of interested inquiries and four actual people turning up to look.
...and one buyer. :)
The market does tend to be very conservative and suspect unless your boat has the words Princess or Fairline in bold type on the side, you will struggle to get folks to view boat.
A favourite Ebay trick, which they are not that happy about, would be to title boat as follows.
Colvic Suncruiser for sale NOT Sealine,Princess,Fairline, Broom.
Make sure you put Flybridge in the title somewhere.
Took three ads to move mine, so total cost £45.00.
Brokers simply could not generate any interest in my case.
The market is still moving, Rochester Cruising Club does have two new boats arriving shortly. both mid sized flybridges, in this case purchased from the adjacent Thames.
Brings a total of half a dozen new arrivals in past season or so.
Unfortunately we do have a growing number of boats up for sale due to owners reaching the end of their boating lives.
 
oldgit said:
Seem to remember in the end had total of around 4000 look at my last add and about 200 put it on their watch list.
Resulted in about a dozen sort of interested inquiries and four actual people turning up to look.
...and one buyer. :)
The market does tend to be very conservative and suspect unless your boat has the words Princess or Fairline in bold type on the side, you will struggle to get folks to view boat.
A favourite Ebay trick, which they are not that happy about, would be to title boat as follows.
Colvic Suncruiser for sale NOT Sealine,Princess,Fairline, Broom.
Make sure you put Flybridge in the title somewhere.
Took three ads to move mine, so total cost £45.00.
Brokers simply could not generate any interest in my case.
The market is still moving, Rochester Cruising Club does have two new boats arriving shortly. both mid sized flybridges, in this case purchased from the adjacent Thames.
Brings a total of half a dozen new arrivals in past season or so.
Unfortunately we do have a growing number of boats up for sale due to owners reaching the end of their boating lives.
Click to expand...

well its strange its had 7000 views 124 watchers and it ends tmora should we relist it ,have stuck a video on now of her cruising any other tips cheers roy
 
I take much better vids than you. For starters .... landscape! As for the ad, leave it running till it sells. It won't sell if not advertised
 
Those are the superchargers. I had to slow down till just off the plane just to get 15 seconds of you in one pass.
 
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