US Practice of Deposit with Boat Purchase

[SaltyMonkey]

True story:

This was just after the economy crash after 9/11.

I knew a young engineer guy in my office. He wore typical torn up clothes, T-shirt, something out of a bad dorm room in the morning. Every day he drove by a Ferrari dealership on his bicycle. Didn't even have a car or a drivers license.

One day he came in and said he bought a ferrari, and needed to know how to learn to drive. We thought he was joking. Nope. He bought that Ferrari Boxer! Obviously, the broker wasn't too busy to accept a check from this guy!

He ended up learning to drive a stick shift on a Ferrari Boxer! Me and the VP I worked with thought he was crazy given the economy and everything. Actually WE couldn't afford a damn car like that! Our vision was he was going to end up destitute and drive his car off the cliffs of Rt 1 blazing his radio in some hallucinatory hail to Thelma and Louise. But he not only survived, he actually paid off the damn car loan over the next 3 years via another job!

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by Multitalent

Hello Pablo and other "buyers" In the USA the listing agreements which the seller signs to authorize the broker to represent his boat, specifically states that it is forbidden for the broker to state any other price than the listed price.

I think that is not only entirely reasonable, but a good idea (for both parties)

We get many many dreamers making "Would you take" offers. Without any bonafide deposit these are not worth even reading, much less bothering the owner.

ROTFLMAO Only a class A f#ckwit (or a Newbie numbskull) would send a 10% deposit and sign a contract to buy......before even agreeing a price . Simply sending 10% without a contract would mean you need a head doctor

The good news is that any broker who is unwilling to open negotiations without first having his hand crossed with silver in advance is simply showing what an idiot he is........and that's him "qualified" enough to avoid doing business with.

Having said that of course, I would not expect a broker to pass on offers from Nigeria (assuming the Broker can spot them ) nor completely barmy offers ($10k for a boat listed for $100k) - but why not a quick e-mail or call to a Vendor, "I have had a bite at $90k - are you interested?".....and then get into the 10% on a contract side.

A buyer should find a broker he trusts then work with him, his broker will work with other brokers and get a feel for what a seller may take for a vessel and wouldn't ask you to submit a bonafide PA, unless he thought it had a high probability of sucessful sale, as he doesn't want to waste his time either.

"Trusts" - Lol so, a Broker will deal with someone without a 10% deposit and a contract, just not those with the money Jobs for the boys

If you just contact every random broker listing a boat that interests you then they have no loyalty to you only their seller.

Who gives a sh#t about loyalty? From the sounds of it many Brokers are f#cking over their Sellers (by not passing on offers and / or not bothering to even try and convert initial interest into a sale) - why on earth would I want that sort of "loyalty"?? .

BTW I have no fundamental problem with folk operating business practices largely in their own favour, nor from (legally - ish ) scamming the punters.....and if I was a US Broker I too would want to "pre-qualify" Punters as gormless f#ckwits willing to accept any old self serving b#llocks I feed them .......just don't expect everyone to not be very aware of how business is / can be (it's not a US / Europe thing).......as a general rule in business, as in life, if it smells like a crock of sh#t - it usually is

Many of the most desireable models are in short supply, it is not a Buyers Market unless you are looking at 25 year old moldy tubs. note that 10% while standard in the Americas (North and south) european brokers generally operate at a lower share.

Good boats are always a minority in the market - and fairly priced (and well marketed) will sell well But overpriced will tend to stick around (especially if the Broker refuses to talk to the Vendor about initial enquiries)...........and that's where we came in

[ErikFinn]

" Before we submit any offers to the seller we request a 10% deposit of the offer price and a signed purchase agreement.."

yes indeed, I offered to pay 1'000 USD upfront and 10% when the offer is accepted, but the broker did not even bother to reply to my offer.

It's a shame because I really like the boat. I don't believe he would fraud me of my deposit (I would have to pay several hundred dollars in bank fees & foreign exchange rate charges), but 10% percent just to ask about the possible price...?!?
I could say something really nasty here, but I refrain...

[hellosailor]

Judy-
"but payments at the post office are forbidden in the United States."
The Postal Service does have some limits, since it was created as a monopoly it isn't allowed to outcompete everyone at everything.
But actually, you can use the postal service for payments. Send an empty matchbook (matches would be hazmat<G>) by USPS COD for a thousand dollars. The recipient has to fork over that thousand dollars before delivery will be made. And once it is forked over? Yup, payment irrevocably made to the sender.
I have no idea how big their limits are, but within their limits, USPS COD is considered a very effective payment option. As are postal money orders, which are accepted as cash.

All of which comes back to, there are many ways of transferring "value". Very few folks are willing to patronize all of them, and if you want to buy something, the bottom line is that you have to work within the seller's terms. Which is why some sellers get rich while others go broke, too.

The banks would prefer not to handle checks, because the damned things are expensive. In the US, the Federal Reserve System clears all the checks, overnight, at each FR district. That's how Fedex (the shipping company) got started, with a contract from the FR to have all the checks airfreighted "same night" from each district into and out of the others, so they could physically be cleared each night. Which ties into why checks from different distrcits have different float (clearing) times, and why the laws eventually changed so that now they can process images, instead of shipping paper checks around. It just costs too much to move paper around, compared to data. And if the FR system can't READ a paper check? Last I heard, they charged the bank something like $3 to manually process it, if the check's magnetic charactes couldn't be read. That was years ago.

Checks, EFTs, paper money...I'd rather be paid in livestock. Two chickens and a goat, keep your filthy government lucre.<G>

[hellosailor]

kettlewell-
"My mooring fee can only be paid by check. " Not quite. They may not be happy about it, but you can also pay in cash. Somewhere in Title 28 of the United States Code, IIRC, there's a law that echoes what it says on US paper currency about "good for all debts" and in fact, one of the reasons our colonies formed a national union was to promote a common currency--which is legally required to be accepted by everyone for everything in the US. They don't want cash? OK, you tried, you don't have to pay now. It might be a federal felony to refuse cash, inconvenient as cash may be.
Of course, they may just decide they don't want to rent a mooring to you if you make waves. Still, whenever I hear someone say "we don't take cash" I have to laugh. By all means, don't take it. Tell that to the judge.<G>

[hellosailor]

Erik-
"yes indeed, I offered to pay 1'000 USD upfront and 10% when the offer is accepted, but the broker did not even bother to reply to my offer."

Yes, but were you offereing 10% of the ASKING PRICE? Or were you making a counteroffer at a substantially different price?

Most of the time, if you offer to pay the asking price, your offer will be accepted AND if your deposit is less than 10% it will STILL be accepted. It is when you start making counteroffers at lower prices that some brokers, and many buyers, want to see the bigger committment.

[SaltyMonkey]

USPS has money orders. Not sure they are bi-drectonal

USPS - Send Money

also you can use a service like escrow.com

or even paypal

[Kettlewell]

Hellosailor: You are technically correct that I could use cash to pay for various things that require a check, but the mooring is located 200 miles from my home and there are only meetings of the club once a month, and even then it isn't guaranteed the treasurer will be there, and even if he is he won't be happy about getting a wad of cash that he will then have to go to the bank to deposit, etc. In other words, it is very inconvenient to do many things in the USA without a checking account. Impossible, no, inconvenient, yes. It just doesn't make sense for me not to have a checking account to save me time, money, and hassle. What's wrong with that?