Selling our boat - strange buyer approach

[mikefleetwood]

Banker drafts and Building Society Cheques are guaranteed to have the funds.
The issue with them is how does the receiver know they are genuine - Draft books / Building Society cheques have been known to be stolen / forged so whilst a very small risk, it's still a risk. On top of that, how many people know what a Lloyds Draft looks like? Or a Newbury Building Society Cheque??
On that basis i would still wait for them to clear.

If you actually do go down the route of taking payment, a phone call to the issuing bank, giving the cheque number, etc, will probably reveal if it's genuine. I was once sent "Money orders" from an American bank in payment for a purchase - they were quickly able to tell me that the serial numbers were from a stolen block of orders,