Buying a boat on line without even seeing it in person
 

Have you done so? If so, I would like your feedback.

It seems that there are some nice used boat deals on line, including on Ebay
Motors and other internet listing sources. The problem in most cases is
that these boats are located several hundred miles from me.

Buying locally is easy as you can do an initial inspection of the boat to
see if it is worth pursuing. That is not practical when considering boats
being sold several hundred miles from you.

The easy solution seems to be making the sale contingent upon a complete
structural and mechanical survey by a recommended "buyers surveyor", but
that can get to be expensive if prospective boats continue to fail the
surveys. As we all know sellers often overstate the condition of their
boats when putting them up for sale.

How did you handle your 'sight unseen' internet boat purchase? What did you
do right? What did you do wrong? Would you do it again?

Buying a boat on line without even seeing it in person
 

On Aug 25, 8:34 pm, "JimH" ask wrote:
Have you done so? If so, I would like your feedback.

It seems that there are some nice used boat deals on line, including on Ebay
Motors and other internet listing sources. The problem in most cases is
that these boats are located several hundred miles from me.

Buying locally is easy as you can do an initial inspection of the boat to
see if it is worth pursuing. That is not practical when considering boats
being sold several hundred miles from you.

The easy solution seems to be making the sale contingent upon a complete
structural and mechanical survey by a recommended "buyers surveyor", but
that can get to be expensive if prospective boats continue to fail the
surveys. As we all know sellers often overstate the condition of their
boats when putting them up for sale.

How did you handle your 'sight unseen' internet boat purchase? What did you
do right? What did you do wrong? Would you do it again?

Never ever buy a boat sight unseen (unless you just have way too much
green in your pocket)
I have driven as far as 250 miles just to view and test drive a boat.
I wouldn't buy a car without test driving it, I sure as heck wouldn't
buy a boat without a test drive.
BTW what type of boat are we talking about? (runabout,cruiser)
A friend of mine bought a used bow rider after inspecting it, but
never test drove it.
He paid $4000 for the boat.
The 1st time he put it in the water it sank (rotted Transom)

Buying a boat on line without even seeing it in person
 

JimH wrote:
"crystalguy" wrote in message
ups.com...
On Aug 25, 8:34 pm, "JimH" ask wrote:
Have you done so? If so, I would like your feedback.

It seems that there are some nice used boat deals on line, including on
Ebay
Motors and other internet listing sources. The problem in most cases is
that these boats are located several hundred miles from me.

Buying locally is easy as you can do an initial inspection of the boat to
see if it is worth pursuing. That is not practical when considering
boats
being sold several hundred miles from you.

The easy solution seems to be making the sale contingent upon a complete
structural and mechanical survey by a recommended "buyers surveyor", but
that can get to be expensive if prospective boats continue to fail the
surveys. As we all know sellers often overstate the condition of their
boats when putting them up for sale.

How did you handle your 'sight unseen' internet boat purchase? What did
you
do right? What did you do wrong? Would you do it again?
Never ever buy a boat sight unseen (unless you just have way too much
green in your pocket)
I have driven as far as 250 miles just to view and test drive a boat.
I wouldn't buy a car without test driving it, I sure as heck wouldn't
buy a boat without a test drive.
BTW what type of boat are we talking about? (runabout,cruiser)
A friend of mine bought a used bow rider after inspecting it, but
never test drove it.
He paid $4000 for the boat.
The 1st time he put it in the water it sank (rotted Transom)


I guess I was not clear enough. I would never buy the boat without
eventually seeing it. The sales offer would be contingent on a survey and
my inspection of the the boat. But running all over the country to view
boats can get old. So what do to make sure it is worth pursuing?



This seems so basic but here goes:

1. Tell the buyer that you are thinking of making an offer based upon a
satisfactory professional survey. Tell him you don't want to waste his
time if it will not meet your needs and pass the survey, so please take
detailed photos of the complete boat, including photos of all problem
areas. List all problems that a surveyor will highlight in his report.

I personally believe you can find similar boats close to your location
and could use the boats listed on Ebay and other web sites to negotiate
an excellent deal closer to home.

This seems so basic, I can not figure out what you are really looking for.

Buying a boat on line without even seeing it in person
 

"Harry Krause" wrote
Incidentally, I did not advertise the boat on ebay. Too many asshole
buyers looking for "boat bargains" on ebay.

My experience with eBay has been that it's a seller's market. If you have
something of value and you present it well, you're likely to get a premium
price for it. Ebay's asshole ratio doesn't seem to me to be any higher than
the rest of the world.

And in answer to JimH's OP, I'd never buy something as big as a boat sight
unseen. (Even the little ones I can afford to buy.)

Buying a boat on line without even seeing it in person
 

On Aug 25, 8:34 pm, "JimH" ask wrote:
Have you done so? If so, I would like your feedback.

It seems that there are some nice used boat deals on line, including on Ebay
Motors and other internet listing sources. The problem in most cases is
that these boats are located several hundred miles from me.

Buying locally is easy as you can do an initial inspection of the boat to
see if it is worth pursuing. That is not practical when considering boats
being sold several hundred miles from you.

The easy solution seems to be making the sale contingent upon a complete
structural and mechanical survey by a recommended "buyers surveyor", but
that can get to be expensive if prospective boats continue to fail the
surveys. As we all know sellers often overstate the condition of their
boats when putting them up for sale.

How did you handle your 'sight unseen' internet boat purchase? What did you
do right? What did you do wrong? Would you do it again?

Have the seller provide the survey and if you buy the boat, you would
reimburse him for the cost.

Buying a boat on line without even seeing it in person
 

On Aug 26, 11:58 am, "Ernest Scribbler"
wrote:


And in answer to JimH's OP, I'd never buy something as big as a boat sight
unseen. (Even the little ones I can afford to buy.)


OTOH, I don't really know if this is buying sight unseen or not, but
I bought both my boats online though ebay.and have been satisfied with
both. My 18' ChrisCraft scorpion , the guy took great pictures of it,
and when I showed up the boat was in the garage, and looked very well.
I didn't ask about mechanical problems etc, I jsut saw the boat was in
great shape. When I got it out on the lake it ran very well, but
seemed a bit odd. Later my brother pointed out that the way it was
cranking trying to start, he was suspicious of a bad headgasket, and/
or burned valves. We took the head off and sure enough , he was
correct on both accounts. There went another $240.00 for material
expense and I provided the labor. But the neat thing is that I didn't
give much for the boat. I'ts a 50-50 toss weather the guy mis
represented it. it did run nicely, and would hit 4000 rpm with little
effort. And even after repairs it started and ran smoother, but
honestly it didn't really change the performance. I was amazed.

so! $1500 for the boat and even if I paid to have all the work done
it wouldn't have been over $500.00. ie $2000.00 in a boat and
trailer that the boat blue books for about $3200.

My 23' Marquis? it's a neat old tub.. Again very good pictures, all
questions answered fairly well. I had to drive almost 600 mi round
trip to the west side of Ohio to get it, but it was very well worth
over the $1221.00 I paid for it even with hauling it back.

When I bought these boats, it was during the early fall part of the
year, and so a lot f boats are going to market jsut to get them out of
the yard, and buying is a bit more flexable. Unlike the sprigtime when
it truely is a sellers market., because people are in a frenzie and
want something to gothe lake NOW!

I took into consideration of possible failures. and so it they
turned out to be a wash. I would be out, of course, but not out much.
Certianly out no BIG money.

Now I also look at it like this on ebay. if I had "won" the auction,
and showed up, and decided the boat was really misrepresented, there
would be no money exchanged, then what could the seller do? leave me
bad feedback? OK. if he wanted to push it further, it could be
contested as mis representation. as well. Of course, there would have
to be more evidence then not telling there's a speck on the gell coat
leaving suspicion of backing out of the deal due to nit-picking. But
I mean hard core lying. so in this case the buyer still has an
advantage.

If buying though ebay, don't really bid more than you feel comfortable
with losing, instead of spending..

Buying a boat on line without even seeing it in person
 

On Aug 26, 9:34 am, Harry Krause wrote:

Incidentally, I did not advertise the boat on ebay. Too many asshole
buyers looking for "boat bargains" on ebay.-

Would I fit into that catagory, Harry?

?:

Buying a boat on line without even seeing it in person
 

On Sun, 26 Aug 2007 21:23:16 -0000, Tim wrote:

On Aug 26, 11:58 am, "Ernest Scribbler"
wrote:


And in answer to JimH's OP, I'd never buy something as big as a boat sight
unseen. (Even the little ones I can afford to buy.)


OTOH, I don't really know if this is buying sight unseen or not, but
I bought both my boats online though ebay.and have been satisfied with
both. My 18' ChrisCraft scorpion , the guy took great pictures of it,
and when I showed up the boat was in the garage, and looked very well.
I didn't ask about mechanical problems etc, I jsut saw the boat was in
great shape. When I got it out on the lake it ran very well, but
seemed a bit odd. Later my brother pointed out that the way it was
cranking trying to start, he was suspicious of a bad headgasket, and/
or burned valves. We took the head off and sure enough , he was
correct on both accounts. There went another $240.00 for material
expense and I provided the labor. But the neat thing is that I didn't
give much for the boat. I'ts a 50-50 toss weather the guy mis
represented it. it did run nicely, and would hit 4000 rpm with little
effort. And even after repairs it started and ran smoother, but
honestly it didn't really change the performance. I was amazed.

so! $1500 for the boat and even if I paid to have all the work done
it wouldn't have been over $500.00. ie $2000.00 in a boat and
trailer that the boat blue books for about $3200.

My 23' Marquis? it's a neat old tub.. Again very good pictures, all
questions answered fairly well. I had to drive almost 600 mi round
trip to the west side of Ohio to get it, but it was very well worth
over the $1221.00 I paid for it even with hauling it back.

When I bought these boats, it was during the early fall part of the
year, and so a lot f boats are going to market jsut to get them out of
the yard, and buying is a bit more flexable. Unlike the sprigtime when
it truely is a sellers market., because people are in a frenzie and
want something to gothe lake NOW!

I took into consideration of possible failures. and so it they
turned out to be a wash. I would be out, of course, but not out much.
Certianly out no BIG money.

Now I also look at it like this on ebay. if I had "won" the auction,
and showed up, and decided the boat was really misrepresented, there
would be no money exchanged, then what could the seller do? leave me
bad feedback? OK. if he wanted to push it further, it could be
contested as mis representation. as well. Of course, there would have
to be more evidence then not telling there's a speck on the gell coat
leaving suspicion of backing out of the deal due to nit-picking. But
I mean hard core lying. so in this case the buyer still has an
advantage.

If buying though ebay, don't really bid more than you feel comfortable
with losing, instead of spending..

Tim! Are you interested in a 21' Proline walkaround cuddy to add to your
collection?
--
John H

Buying a boat on line without even seeing it in person
 

"Tim" wrote
Now I also look at it like this on ebay. if I had "won" the auction,
and showed up, and decided the boat was really misrepresented, there
would be no money exchanged, then what could the seller do? leave me
bad feedback?

Sounds to me like you have a very reasonable strategy.

Buying a boat on line without even seeing it in person
 

On Aug 26, 5:45 pm, John H. wrote:
On Sun, 26 Aug 2007 21:23:16 -0000, Tim wrote:
On Aug 26, 11:58 am, "Ernest Scribbler"
wrote:

And in answer to JimH's OP, I'd never buy something as big as a boat sight
unseen. (Even the little ones I can afford to buy.)

OTOH, I don't really know if this is buying sight unseen or not, but
I bought both my boats online though ebay.and have been satisfied with
both. My 18' ChrisCraft scorpion , the guy took great pictures of it,
and when I showed up the boat was in the garage, and looked very well.
I didn't ask about mechanical problems etc, I jsut saw the boat was in
great shape. When I got it out on the lake it ran very well, but
seemed a bit odd. Later my brother pointed out that the way it was
cranking trying to start, he was suspicious of a bad headgasket, and/
or burned valves. We took the head off and sure enough , he was
correct on both accounts. There went another $240.00 for material
expense and I provided the labor. But the neat thing is that I didn't
give much for the boat. I'ts a 50-50 toss weather the guy mis
represented it. it did run nicely, and would hit 4000 rpm with little
effort. And even after repairs it started and ran smoother, but
honestly it didn't really change the performance. I was amazed.

so! $1500 for the boat and even if I paid to have all the work done
it wouldn't have been over $500.00. ie $2000.00 in a boat and
trailer that the boat blue books for about $3200.

My 23' Marquis? it's a neat old tub.. Again very good pictures, all
questions answered fairly well. I had to drive almost 600 mi round
trip to the west side of Ohio to get it, but it was very well worth
over the $1221.00 I paid for it even with hauling it back.

When I bought these boats, it was during the early fall part of the
year, and so a lot f boats are going to market jsut to get them out of
the yard, and buying is a bit more flexable. Unlike the sprigtime when
it truely is a sellers market., because people are in a frenzie and
want something to gothe lake NOW!

I took into consideration of possible failures. and so it they
turned out to be a wash. I would be out, of course, but not out much.
Certianly out no BIG money.

Now I also look at it like this on ebay. if I had "won" the auction,
and showed up, and decided the boat was really misrepresented, there
would be no money exchanged, then what could the seller do? leave me
bad feedback? OK. if he wanted to push it further, it could be
contested as mis representation. as well. Of course, there would have
to be more evidence then not telling there's a speck on the gell coat
leaving suspicion of backing out of the deal due to nit-picking. But
I mean hard core lying. so in this case the buyer still has an
advantage.

If buying though ebay, don't really bid more than you feel comfortable
with losing, instead of spending..

Tim! Are you interested in a 21' Proline walkaround cuddy to add to your
collection?
--
John H- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

LOL!

John what youhave is truely a sweet deal, but I'm kind of boated out
for the moment.

Besides. my property tax's and car insurance all come together at once
this time of year, not counting the monsterous electric bill for 24/7
air conditioning.

In ways I hate August!