How to tell if a boat listing is a scam?

[Foxtrot]

Looking at this listing, I'm told it looks like a scam. I'd admit it does have a hint of dodgyness about it. This is the listing:

 

http://www.apolloduck.com/feature.phtml?id=376856

 

Coming from a background of buying and selling motorbikes, I've always had my wits about me. I've turned down stolen motorbike sales, but its easy to tell through 5V docs on road vehicles. But not sure how this works with boats?

 

How can I be sure what I'm looking at belongs to the person selling me it? What paperwork are sellers guaranteed to have?

 

 

- Foxy

Edited September 7, 2014 by Foxtrot

[Burgiesburnin]

What is it about the ad that makes you think it's a scam?

To me, the description is a bit clinical and lacks a bit of personal description that you would expect with a persons sale of his pride and joy.

The boat is not overly cheap but is competitively priced, it doesn't scream to throw caution to the wind and transfer your cash without seeing the boat.

The only documentation that you can hope to get is historical bills, receipts and invoices for servicing and repairs. You can also get copies of previous insurance and license renewals. Obviously, these need to be in the name of the person that you are paying.

If the current owner hasn't had the boat long then maybe try to get the details of the former owner as well.

[Martin Megson]

The V5 is only proof of the registered keeper which is not necessarily the legal owner.

[MtB]

You've asked two separate questions really.

 

1) There are endless threads on here about how to verify the seller genuinely IS the owner and has the right to sell. The upshot is you can't really. There is no 'proof of ownership' document or register so it's down to you using your wits. The seller having a receipt from when he bought it plus a folder stuffed with maintenance receipts etc all in his name helps quite a lot though. Or rather if this stack of documentation is claimed not to exist, smell one BIG RAT.

 

2) Scam adverts have one huge indicator, they always try to fool you into paying for the boat before you see it. Usually a bargain low price coupled with a string of excuses why you can't view it but must pay for it NOW, to avoid losing the bargain of a lieftime you've amazingly just found. The second indicator is often an odd location eg scotland or isle of wight plus poor command of English language.

 

MtB

P.S. One scammer a few weeks ago even came on here defending hereself and accusing us of racism as we picked apart the inconsistencies and showed up the lies in her advert. Have a search!

[Paul C]

Mike saved me a lot of typing. If you're a genuine buyer, and your £20k or so is hard earned, I bet you want to view a boat before letting any of your money go onto it. That is going to filter out 95% of the scams you're likely to come across, since most of them operate on the principle of "this is a screaming bargain due to circumstances, I just want rid of the boat, but there's loads of buyers who want it so if you want it risk sending money before you've even seen it".

[Barry]

How to tell if a boat listing is a scam?

 

Use a spirit level - sometimes a boat looks like its listing when it isn't

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'll get my coat then shall I?

[Beaker]

Ours list when it needs a pump-out

[Rickent]

Isobella from elon , who has just lost her husband is the favourite one.

The boat will be in a warehouse in the care of ebay, you wont be able to view but she wants your money up front.

A lot of cracking looking boats on other web sites such as gumtree and loot but for ridiculously low prices.

These all scream SCAM.

Just like scammers then , full of sh**. :-))

[Paul C]

TBH you're going to come across a lot of scam adverts if you're after a £30k boat for £19k.

[Rickent]

Some of them 30k boats are listed as low as 5 or 6k.

[MtB]

TBH you're going to come across a lot of scam adverts if you're after a £30k boat for £19k.

 

 

I don't think so. This is the territory where bargains really CAN be found. The buyer however needs to make it easy for the seller to take a really low offer.

 

Imagine two buyers, both willing to pay £19k for the £30k boat.

 

 

Buyer 1 wants a survey, has to sell a house to raise the money or apply for a bank loan, requires three viewings, a 4 hour test run and asks for a new BSS prior to completion of the deal.

 

Buyer 2 looks over the boat, starts the engine, and says within minutes of arriving "Yep, this one will do. I have £19k in my rucksack, but that's all I have. Here, have a look. I know it's a lot less than you wanted but it's all I have saved up so far. I can keep saving up, or if you want to get rid of the boat now, it;s all yours! Deal?"

 

Which one seems more tempting to the seller?

 

 

MtB

[Rickent]

 

 

I don't think so. This is the territory where bargains really CAN be found. The buyer however needs to make it easy for the seller to take a really low offer.

 

Imagine two buyers, both willing to pay £19k for the £30k boat.

 

 

Buyer 1 wants a survey, has to sell a house to raise the money or apply for a bank loan, requires three viewings, a 4 hour test run and asks for a new BSS prior to completion of the deal.

 

Buyer 2 looks over the boat, starts the engine, and says within minutes of arriving "Yep, this one will do. I have £19k in my rucksack, but that's all I have. Here, have a look. I know it's a lot less than you wanted but it's all I have saved up so far. I can keep saving up, or if you want to get rid of the boat now, it;s all yours! Deal?"

 

Which one seems more tempting to the seller?

 

 

MtB

[Paul C]

 

 

I don't think so. This is the territory where bargains really CAN be found. The buyer however needs to make it easy for the seller to take a really low offer.

 

Imagine two buyers, both willing to pay £19k for the £30k boat.

 

 

Buyer 1 wants a survey, has to sell a house to raise the money or apply for a bank loan, requires three viewings, a 4 hour test run and asks for a new BSS prior to completion of the deal.

 

Buyer 2 looks over the boat, starts the engine, and says within minutes of arriving "Yep, this one will do. I have £19k in my rucksack, but that's all I have. Here, have a look. I know it's a lot less than you wanted but it's all I have saved up so far. I can keep saving up, or if you want to get rid of the boat now, it;s all yours! Deal?"

 

Which one seems more tempting to the seller?

 

 

MtB

 

I'd be tempted to wait for a buyer with £30k, than sell quick and lose £11000. (Based on having a £30k boat which will shortly be for sale). For a £30k boat, wanting a survey, up-to-date BSS and a good look at the boat is completely understandable!

[Rickent]

Agree totally with mike. The most obvious scams are the 30k boats for 5k.

[OldGoat]

Perhaps I shouldn't say this but:-

 

Poor use of English language,

Bad description showing no real knowledge of the boat in question;

 

always puts me on guard. Of course there may be good reasons for the above, but as there's no real shortage of boats for sale, you have to consider whether it's making an effort to view as suspect item.

 

 

[Rickent]

As someone who is currently looking at boats, if the seller has given a name and phone number in the ad, and is happy for the boat to be viewed and is not asking for money up front , then it is most likely genuine and not a scam.

[MtB]

 

I'd be tempted to wait for a buyer with £30k, than sell quick and lose £11000. (Based on having a £30k boat which will shortly be for sale). For a £30k boat, wanting a survey, up-to-date BSS and a good look at the boat is completely understandable!

 

Quite so. The £11k would be more important to you than the burden an unwanted boat represents.

 

A family who have inherited a boat for example may just be pleased to get rid of it and stop paying out for moorings, license, insuance etc, and get some free cash for new motor!

 

Bargains are all about understanding the position and needs/desires of the seller.

 

 

Find the right seller and a bargain can be had if you tailor your offer to appeal to their needs.

 

 

MtB

[Paul C]

Agree totally with mike. The most obvious scams are the 30k boats for 5k.

 

Yep agree too, the typical scam adverts tend to make the price of the boat incredibly low, in an attempt to get the money, based on the balancing of risk vs reward. So a £30k boat for £19k probably isn't a scam as such. Mind you, there's plenty of £19k boats out there advertised for £30k and this should probably be more worrisome for some buyers......

 

Quite so. The £11k would be more important to you than the burden an unwanted boat represents.

 

A family who have inherited a boat for example may just be pleased to get rid of it and stop paying out for moorings, license, insuance etc, and get some free cash for new motor!

 

Bargains are all about understanding the position and needs/desires of the seller.

 

 

Find the right seller and a bargain can be had if you tailor your offer to appeal to their needs.

 

 

MtB

 

Yeah thats the trouble I have, I always seem to find the boats that are well-advertised and the seller is in no hurry to drop the price/sell, so they're either (apparently) overpriced or desirable --> found by others --> sold within days! I guess a LOT of trawling round apolloduck and a willingness to travel quite some distance at the drop of a hat, and make a decision, could yield a bargain.

 

Possibly what happens is after a while, or maybe if you're lucky the first time you see a boat, you fall in love with it then money becomes not-too-important and you end up balancing desirability for foolishness. After all, if we were all sensible and approached boat purchasing rationally, nobody would buy a boat!

[Laurie Booth]

P.S. One scammer a few weeks ago even came on here defending hereself and accusing us of racism as we picked apart the inconsistencies and showed up the lies in her advert. Have a search!

It's back on the market.

[Laurie Booth]

A friend of mine bought a Rover car for £10 which was worth at least £1000.00.

The sale was 100% genuine and an absolute bargain.

He was the only person to respond to the advert.

[Paul C]

A friend of mine bought a Rover car for £10 which was worth at least £1000.00.

The sale was 100% genuine and an absolute bargain.

He was the only person to respond to the advert.

 

I'd argue that its not worth £1000 if it were advertised at £1000 and nobody responded.

[Laurie Booth]

 

I'd argue that its not worth £1000 if it were advertised at £1000 and nobody responded.

The car was advertised at £10, sorry I didn't make myself clear.

[RLWP]

You've asked two separate questions really.

 

1) There are endless threads on here about how to verify the seller genuinely IS the owner and has the right to sell. The upshot is you can't really. There is no 'proof of ownership' document or register so it's down to you using your wits. The seller having a receipt from when he bought it plus a folder stuffed with maintenance receipts etc all in his name helps quite a lot though. Or rather if this stack of documentation is claimed not to exist, smell one BIG RAT.

 

2) Scam adverts have one huge indicator, they always try to fool you into paying for the boat before you see it. Usually a bargain low price coupled with a string of excuses why you can't view it but must pay for it NOW, to avoid losing the bargain of a lieftime you've amazingly just found. The second indicator is often an odd location eg scotland or isle of wight plus poor command of English language.

 

MtB

P.S. One scammer a few weeks ago even came on here defending hereself and accusing us of racism as we picked apart the inconsistencies and showed up the lies in her advert. Have a search!

 

Then whoever buys Tawny, when we eventually sell her (or our kids do cos we're no longer here) will smell a rat, we don't tend to keep receipts, and Richard does most of the fettling anyway.

 

Mind you in our case they'd only have to come on here to see who she belongs to, loads of witnesses!

 

Also can depends on where you buy from. We bought her direct from Alvechurch, she was in their colours (mind you she didn't belong to them, but to another company as an investment, and was being sold on their behalf) so it didn't even enter into our heads that she wasn't theirs to sell.

 

Sue

[Paul C]

The car was advertised at £10, sorry I didn't make myself clear.

 

Did he subsequently resell it for £1000>?

[Laurie Booth]

 

Did he subsequently resell it for £1000>?

No he wanted the car and kept it for years. The lady selling the car refused his higher offer for the car.