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How to tell if a boat listing is a scam?

Foxtrot

By Foxtrot
in New to Boating?

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Sabcat Rising Star

Sabcat

Posted
Posted

 

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

 

Same situation with this boat, I don't think I've got a single receipt for anything. Can't deduct any of it for tax so it's worthless clutter to my mind. Mike is right though, if I'd kept all the receipts for gear etc in a nice folder it would make selling the boat easier. I suppose I should have made a blog and took pictures of the boat when it was gutted, stretched and refitted. Didn't occur to me though, I was more interested in getting the job done than talking about it.

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MtB Veteran II

MtBDonate to Canal World

Posted
Posted

 

Same situation with this boat, I don't think I've got a single receipt for anything. Can't deduct any of it for tax so it's worthless clutter to my mind. Mike is right though, if I'd kept all the receipts for gear etc in a nice folder it would make selling the boat easier. I suppose I should have made a blog and took pictures of the boat when it was gutted, stretched and refitted. Didn't occur to me though, I was more interested in getting the job done than talking about it.

 

Other ways of demonstrating your ownership will be expired insurance certificates, letters from CRT to you reminding you to renew yr license, photos of you using the boat in various places and in different seasons.

 

If I viewed a boat and there was NO documentation, I'd be putting the ball in the seller's court to prove he owned it or I walk away.

 

One other way is to call CRT and ask to who the license holder is. I doubt they'd say outright but if I gave them your name and address they would probably confirm if I was right and you were registered. They did this for me when I was checking out the seller of my boat ALDEBARAN.

 

MtB

 

 

MtB

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muddywaters Rising Star

muddywaters

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Posted

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.

That's why I walked away from one deal on Apollo duck.

The seller was prepared to lower his asking price to 16k from 26k if I would agree on the price before actually seeing the boat.

In hindsight maybe I should have said I will need to see the boat first, but alarm bells rang at such a big reduction.

He said he had weighed up the value of sticking to the asking price against a quick sale for cash.

But what made me walk away was it was such a big drop.

Bearing in mind he had replied to my boat wanted add and at the time the actual boat was not advertised as being for sale

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paulstoke1975 Proficient

paulstoke1975

Posted
Posted (edited)

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

 

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[/

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

It looks good value

 

And the seller seems to know what they are talking about so nothing in the advert screams scam to me

Edited by paulstoke1975
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Sabcat Rising Star

Sabcat

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Other ways of demonstrating your ownership will be expired insurance certificates, letters from CRT to you reminding you to renew yr license, photos of you using the boat in various places and in different seasons.

 

If I viewed a boat and there was NO documentation, I'd be putting the ball in the seller's court to prove he owned it or I walk away.

 

One other way is to call CRT and ask to who the license holder is. I doubt they'd say outright but if I gave them your name and address they would probably confirm if I was right and you were registered. They did this for me when I was checking out the seller of my boat ALDEBARAN.

 

MtB

 

 

MtB

 

I wasn't thinking just in terms of proving ownership, as you say there's a number of ways someone who genuinely owns a boat could go about that, a big pile of receipts and pictures of work being done helps with selling. I'm not selling though at least not now or in the foreseeable future.

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matty40s Veteran II

matty40s

Posted
Posted

I always keep every receipt and certificate for work done on my car (s), it really does help when it comes to selling, here's the history from my Rover Sterling which I sold last year. I'll do the same for my new boat.

 

history001_zps139aced0.jpg

I prefer rugs, they are warmer on the feet in winter.

  • Greenie 1
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patty-ann Rising Star

patty-ann

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I've kept all my receipts from boat build onwards plus written blog about step by step build, she has RCD, and other security markings that illustrate clearly ownership.

Before went down Sailaway route I looked around 2nd hand boats and proof of ownership concerned me.

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BruceinSanity Influencer

BruceinSanityDonate to Canal World

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If you do accept that 19k in large coarse notes for your boat, make sure you get as much info as possible about your buyer and the source of the money, or you'll find you have one helluva time getting your bank to let you pay it in.

 

Buying a high value item for cash and then selling it on is exactly how money laundering works.

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John V Veteran

John V

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Posted

 

Same situation with this boat, I don't think I've got a single receipt for anything. Can't deduct any of it for tax so it's worthless clutter to my mind. Mike is right though, if I'd kept all the receipts for gear etc in a nice folder it would make selling the boat easier. I suppose I should have made a blog and took pictures of the boat when it was gutted, stretched and refitted. Didn't occur to me though, I was more interested in getting the job done than talking about it.

 

If I had kept every receipt for the rebuild of Sabina H over the last 20 years, I would need another boat to keep it all in!

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Paul C Veteran II

Paul C

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Posted

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

 

-what again? Just lost him? I mean, once is careless, twice is gross incompetence.

 

Maybe she keeps marrying sugar-daddies with narrowboats, and is particularly lively in the sack, thus inducing a string of cardiac issues in her spouses?

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Southern Star Experienced

Southern Star

Posted
Posted

Here is how any conversation will go (this is a verbatim copy of a conversation I had with "Isabella".

 

Me- Hello, I like your boat, it's just what I am looking for,could I view it sometime?

"Isabella Lucy Sinclair". Hi,

This boat its just perfect, Immaculate condition, no damages, once with the boat you will also get all the equipment my husband had. All necessary documents available. My current location is Ellon in Scotland, (Search these forums for "Ellon" to see other examples of this same scammer's work) i`m 56 years old, my husband died 2 months ago. If this is going to be a quick sale, I will list it on eBay for £6,700 delivered at my costs.
I decided to list it on eBay with a buy it now option and whoever wins it will be the next owner. I assume you already have an account with eBay. If not please register and let me know when you are ready so I can just email you the link.
If you'd like to secure the deal before anybody else does, then please buy it on eBay. Feel free to ask me any questions.
The deal will go strictly according to eBay Money Back Guarantee Protection Buyer rules and policy.
Thank you
Me- Thank you, but would it be possible to view the boat sometime?
Isabella Lucy Sinclair-
Hello,
The best way to complete this transaction, because of the distance problem (I'm in Ellon, the boat is already in eBay custody, into their warehouse here in Scotland), is to use eBay Money Back Guarantee. They will handle everything for both of us, including transportation and transfer of the boat papers to your name. You don't have to pay anything extra, the total price that you must pay for this boat is £6,700.
Here is how the transaction will go on:
-I will make a private eBay listing for you.
-You will have to click "buy it now", fill in the forms and follow the instructions.
-eBay will send you an invoice with all the transaction details and the payment instructions.
-You will have to secure the funds to eBay.
-After the funds will be secured to eBay, the delivery will begin and the boat will arrive to you in max. 48 hours.
-When the boat will be in your custody, you will have a 3 days inspection period. If everything is alright, the transaction ends and eBay will release the money to me. If there is something wrong with the boat, you will be fully refunded and I'll get my boat back too, without any extra fees.
Everything is covered by eBay. I will get paid only after you confirm that you received it. I would need your ebay username so I can send you the link. I'm waiting for your reply.
Thank you.
Me- But would it be possible to view the boat sometime, at the warehouse for example?
(No reply and item removed shortly after)

 

 

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MrM Explorer

MrM

Posted
Posted (edited)

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

 

-what again? Just lost him? I mean, once is careless, twice is gross incompetence.

I've had 3 emails from her regards separate boats over the last fortnight, she must have quite a marina and ebay must have quite a warehouse to keep them all in ! Edited by MrM
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Paul G2 Rising Star

Paul G2

Posted
Posted

This intrigues me. She must be causing Ebay endless problems. Why don't the stop her?

 

Either that or the link she sends is to a fake ebay listing. In which case, why does she insist on peeps registering with ebay?

 

MtB

 

The way the scam often works is to get you to follow their link to a phony ebay page which then links to a phony payment portal (like PayPal) and they then get your credit card information or PayPal login information and then it's party time.

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Paul C Veteran II

Paul C

Posted
Posted

This intrigues me. She must be causing Ebay endless problems. Why don't the stop her?

 

Either that or the link she sends is to a fake ebay listing. In which case, why does she insist on peeps registering with ebay?

 

MtB

 

I doubt if, in the grand scheme of things, eBay is sufficiently bothered to act. After all, each time she lists, they get money (I think). eBay have pretty much automated their complaints/fraudulent listing remover stuff nowadays.

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Rickent Experienced

Rickent

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Posted

The ads are not usually on ebay, they are on gumtree or loot and the likes.

when you contact the seller they get back to you with all the spiel and offer you a fake link to buy it now through ebay.

people think this gives them some protection but unfortunately that is not the case and once you have paid, your money is gone and you get nothing.

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