International boat purchase

[sandrunner]

Curious, how did most of you that purchased a yacht (private party) internationally pay for the boat? Talking a fair sum, not something you can withdraw and pay... bank wire I presume, but interested if there is a better way or issues with amounts, international transfer, etc. Any reasonably priced escrow service recommended (not 400-500US for transferring cash) that deals with international clients?

[SailsWithFists]

We did a bank wire. The cost was $45 (twice: once for the deposit upon offer, and once to pay the balance upon acceptance.)

If you want to pay in a foreign currency, you can use Transferwise if they offer service in your area and currencies.

[crankysailor]

I am on the same boat, planning to do a similar transaction.. I was about to close on a boat from UK owners and I was thinking about using this service:

Transpact.com - Secure Escrow - Buyers' Satisfaction Guaranteed, Sellers get paid, Guaranteed

It seems like a good option if you are in Europe. It is an online escrow service and it does appear to be serious and the fees are not too bad.

You probably know about escrow.com .. very established etc.. that might be better if you or the seller is based in North America, etc.

Either way, unless this is just a smaller purchase where you can risk the money, I think I would not dare do a direct transfer unless the seller was willing to give me the boat, keys and bill of sale *before* I sent him the money. That is usually not going to happen so an escrow is the way to go I think. Transferring money without anything in your hands is .. well.. having a lot of faith in humanity

[Mike OReilly]

I used a bank draft (used to be called a certified cheque) to pay for my boat. We bought it from a foreign land: the USA. They can be issued in different currencies, written to whomever. It was simple, easy and cheap.

[sandrunner]

Originally Posted by crankysailor

You probably know about escrow.com .. very established etc.. that might be better if you or the seller is based in North America, etc.

Yes, I checked it out... it's more expensive that hiring a professional escrow service (a 100k purchase = their fee is an outrageous 890US). b

[MikeFergie]

I had a boat purchase go wrong and ended up $125 000 out of pocket so I was very weary on my second purchase. This is made more complicated by the fact that banks don’t want to confirm customers details nowadays . This leaves one with dealing with email which as you know can be hacked.

Buying my second boat was a very scary process as I phoned many different sources to confirm the banking details were correct for my foreign bank transfer to the UK