Selling to foreign people
Printed From: Yachts and Yachting Online
Category: General
Forum Name: Banter
Forum Discription: For all those non-sailing related discussions
URL: http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4531
Printed Date: 17 Aug 25 at 12:55am
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Topic: Selling to foreign people
Posted By: 600sailor670
Subject: Selling to foreign people
Date Posted: 18 Aug 08 at 9:45pm
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Hi everyone, im trying to sell a topper boss on boatsandoutboards and appolloduck and have had a lot of interest with fellow countrymen along with guy from poland and someone from the czech republic, does anyone know how to tell if the foreign people are genuine? (not meaning to be in any way discriminatory of prejudice) The polish person wanted me to take the boat to a south easterly harbour as we all drive on the wrong side of the road and he doesnt want to risk driving to the midlands?, he said he would cover the cost of fuel, this is all without even seeing the boat, but even so if he does not show up it is a long way to drive and a large amount of money wasted of diesel, so is there anyway to tell if people are genuine?)
Many thanks
George ------------- RS600-670 RS600FF - 793 |
Replies:
Posted By: JimC
Date Posted: 18 Aug 08 at 10:31pm
Certainly if you've gone a long way you'll be much more susceptible to "Ok I'll offer you half of what you paid... " I might be tempted to go for a non refundable deposit for the petrol money to be paid one month before the trip so you can be sure that the checque, moneytrasnfer isn't fraudlent. No sail - no return of petrol money. I have sold a boat to France, but I did it by lending the boat to friends who wanted to do an event abroad. If the boat hadn't sold they were happy to bring it back (thanks again Will and Lucy). But even then I was down a big lump of money because in between the price being set and me getting the money the damn Euro crashed 10%... |
Posted By: laser4000
Date Posted: 18 Aug 08 at 10:58pm
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There are a lot of scammers out there, so I'd be loathe to do that kind of distance without some kind of deposit.. I did sell my 4000 last week to some Italians, but the 4000 is a very active class in Italy, so it's not that unusual for Brits to sell there boats to Italians. Altough as per JimC it normally happens after regattas. Plus it was only advertised on our class chat pages, so unlikely to be a classic scam Now I'm not far from london and the buyers were coming to london for a long weekend so we arranged to meet - so they could look at the boat/sails - felt quite strange doing that in a British Rail car park - I certainly got a few weird stares from passers by. The buyers turned up and were super nice guys, and obviously sailors as they understood the kit, had regatta t-shirts on etc. We even joked about how the brits were going to kick ther butts at the olympics!! They then paid me a good deposit (£600 quid) and they'd pulled a 'contract' together - not much just with name /address details, comitting to the sale, listing the equipment (as per the advert), and the balance due, so we signed that. We'd previouisly discussed via email the mechanics of them collecting the boat - and on reflection we agreed to meet in calais - it's chuffing long way from Italy to London and they we're trying to do it in just a friday night to sunday routine..With £600 notes in my pocket I wasn't going to loose out financially even if they didn't turn up..and whilst it was going to take some time, shortly that won't be a problem for me. So I manage to grab a saturday ferry at short notice (for less than £150) - get to calais, drive 1 miile in france away from ferryport to meeting point, and as I was a bit early and they a bit later I get me head down. 90 minutes later up they turn we load the boat onto their trailer (crazy italian trailer rules) - I take the cash and go home (due to other commitments I couldn't make a wwekend of it!) i have a slight "oh sh1t" moment at customs...in france for no more than 3 hours, return with a big wad of cash.. but I think the odd damp bag of sailing kit hanging around in the back of the car helped put them off and then it was an hours quick drive home. It really worked for me..but then they guys I was buying from were very genuine... |
Posted By: MerlinMags
Date Posted: 19 Aug 08 at 3:22pm
| if anyone offers to pay by Western Union, or wants to overpay you in any way, then the scam light goes red...apart from that it's hard to tell from an email with strange grammar! |
Posted By: Phil eltringham
Date Posted: 19 Aug 08 at 10:32pm
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get him to send you some cash first, say about half the cost of the fuel for your trip down and back, then just take this off the final transaction. If he is a scam he'll go away, if not he should then turn up and pay up. ------------- FLAT IS FAST! Shifts Happen |
Posted By: Jamie600
Date Posted: 20 Aug 08 at 10:46am
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That's a good suggestion from Phil. It's a pity all these dodgy foreign scams are spoiling it for the genuine buyers, if it was someone in the UK but say they were at the top end of Scotland and you were in Cornwall I'm sure meeting halfway wouldn't be an issue, but as soon as they mention they are outside the UK the alarm bells ring. I'd say go with your gut feeling. I sold my camper van to a couple coming to the UK from Thailand who wanted it to live in. I was sceptical to begin with, but true enough I met them at a railway station and they bought it.
------------- RS600 1001 |
Posted By: JimC
Date Posted: 20 Aug 08 at 3:48pm
The trouble is that professional scammers can be very very convincing - that's how they make their living... |
Posted By: tack'ho
Date Posted: 21 Aug 08 at 8:45am
I dunno I haven't foxed by the e mails from Abby Nationels securtiy team asking me to input all my account details yet ------------- I might be sailing it, but it's still sh**e! |
Posted By: Fin.
Date Posted: 21 Aug 08 at 11:04am
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Hi Certainly if I had someone interested and they had to come as far as they say (there are a lot of Poles/Czech in the UK, so you never know if it's a scam), then I'd probably meet them somewhere, but would definitely want the money in advance (for the boat and my petrol costs). of interest: BOSS - there was one I was interested in in Scotland 2 years ago, but a chap from Norway beat me to it ! (I think he had it shipped to Norway).
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Posted By: feva_sailor
Date Posted: 21 Aug 08 at 7:17pm
| Ill buy it, meet me in Iraq. |
Posted By: tmoore
Date Posted: 22 Aug 08 at 2:17pm
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try putting their email address into http://www.rapleaf.com - www.rapleaf.com - sometimes gets you a bit of info about them but if it doesnt it by no means says they are a scammer ------------- Landlocked in Africa RS300 - 410 Firefly F517 - Nutshell Micro Magic RC yacht - Eclipse |
Posted By: Steve H
Date Posted: 13 Oct 08 at 1:05pm
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Does anybody know how secure paypal is outside of Ebay? I have just put a boat up for sale on Apolloduck and I have been contacted by a guy in latvia (his email address is from a Latvian Hualage firm) saying he is interested in buying my boat and will pay via paypal. Anybody else had any experience of this? |
Posted By: radixon
Date Posted: 13 Oct 08 at 2:14pm
This is without a doubt a scam. First he will pay you, then he will withdraw the funds from you and make a claim do what ever. The only way I would trade this is to pay in cash and see the person I am purchasing it from. ------------- |
Posted By: Steve H
Date Posted: 13 Oct 08 at 5:29pm
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My understanding was that it is difficult to withdraw funds on Paypal as the buyer makes a deposit of funds to paypal then Paypal pays the buyer and takes a cut from the buyer for the transaction. I have already told the guy that I would only accept cash, but I had not heard of a scam involving Paypal, hence the question
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Posted By: bert
Date Posted: 13 Oct 08 at 6:43pm
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If you are worried about the deal then E mail paypal & ask them direct how this would work & how sercure the deal is? ------------- Phantom 1181 AC-227 IC 304 blaze / halo 586 |
Posted By: Graham T
Date Posted: 13 Oct 08 at 7:55pm
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Buyer pays via Paypal and collects goods then disputes payment (says he didn't make this deal) - Paypal then refunds buyer and withdraws the money from the sellers paypal account. As you have a credit card or bank account linked to your Paypal account they take the money from there. You are left without boat or money attempting to get the cash back from Paypal who are registered overseas and are hopeless in this situation - I know..... Be warned! ------------- Osprey 55 "Tebutinnang" Osprey 1245 "Two Bob Bit" Miracle 1358 "Thumper" |