Boat selling scam..Wow!!

kerncat · Jul-18-2008, 08:09 AM

I often don't believe in consequences but this morning I got the shock of my life...I was surfing Google looking for 28'Silverton boats (I have one) to just get ideas of what folks had done with them, current values, just general stuff...one of the brokerages had a listing for a 28 Silverton in Evansville, Indiana...I clicked on it and lo and behold, there was not only my boat but my slip, my dock box, and the whole deal...and at an asking price that would be quickly accepted by me..I contacted them and all they said was they were removing the ad...they wouldn't elaborate...I do know that on E bay and other things, ads are hijacked and scammers try to sell something that isn't theirs..sort of the reverse of the scam where someone far away tries to buy something...From the look of the picture, it was "grabbed" from the broker's listing and ads here in San Diego when I bought the boat last fall...What the hell is the world coming to? anyway, the ad has been removed and my boat and slip are back in Mission bay..Just thought I'd pass it along..anybody else ever have any experience like this??
Kerncat

talltale · Jul-18-2008, 08:14 AM

Ruins my image of Evansville.

Waterpup · Jul-18-2008, 08:58 AM

You should inquired about purchasing the boat to see how far they'd go. But also it may still have been up on some MLS site and they had no idea, meaning it could have been an honest mistake.

kerncat · Jul-18-2008, 10:10 AM

Email conversations with the broker seem to reveal that the listing is really old..he said they don't purge the listings unless told the boat has sold..he did a little checking and thinks that the listing was old...it had to be over 5 years old because I know the owner I got it from and he had it for 3 years and I've had it for almost a year...whatever..scam or coincidence it was one hell of a surprise..the listing has been pulled now and that's it.

johnnylite · Jul-18-2008, 10:16 AM

Sorry to say but nothing surprisees me. There was an article about people renting foreclosed houses last week. Deposits, etc. people go to move in and uh oh bank says what's going on? Thieves are everywhere some just have bigger balls.

BabyGiant · Jul-18-2008, 12:48 PM

In 2004 I wanted to buy a boat, found one I liked and I went to check it out. So I'm excited about what I'm doing and I'm up on the boat looking at things and checking the engine when I notice that the boat is a different color than what was in the online ad. I ask the guy, why did the ad have a picture of a blue boat? the guy just strached his head for a minute then says. I owned and sold a blue boat 4 years prior. So he asks me what site I found his number and ad on and it turned out it was the site he used back then and he still had the same number.

Afry · Jul-18-2008, 01:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kerncat

Email conversations with the broker seem to reveal that the listing is really old..he said they don't purge the listings unless told the boat has sold..he did a little checking and thinks that the listing was old...it had to be over 5 years old because I know the owner I got it from and he had it for 3 years and I've had it for almost a year...whatever..scam or coincidence it was one hell of a surprise..the listing has been pulled now and that's it.

Happens in the real estate business all the time. Works like this:

A broker will enter a home for sale in the local MLS - no problem, legit.

The MLS sells data to website owners (making money off a brokers data input!) which in turn post it on their web site (making them look like they actually listed the home).

The problem is not all these sites are real time with the MLS and the listing will sit on this other guys web site untill he manually removes it.

During this process some consumer will see the listing and want to buy it not knowing it was sold 2 years ago.

So it probably was not a scam - just idiots.

Dirtguy · Jul-18-2008, 01:25 PM

Many sellers listed pics of already posted items for their own listings for several reasons. The other pic might be better. The other ad might have better data. Or they might not have a camera. Alot also use the manufacturer's web page for that product on their ad. That's illegal without permission.

How many times have you seen an Ebay ad with the same picture for several similar items?

Also all the other illegal reasons you might think of.

DG

gecsr1 · Jul-18-2008, 01:36 PM

I bet that had to be funny seeing your boat for sale by somene else.....

SALTYDAWG · Jul-18-2008, 03:28 PM

I've got another one for you. I just found a video on youtube of me on my boat being used as an advertisemnet for repowering 24 Skippys. Trouble is, I never gave this asshole permission to use a video of me in an add. and though he did repower my boat the first time, He did such a shitty job I had to have everything he did redone. I should have sued him then, But I'm really considering checking with a lawyer over this video thing. I doubt if I could get much from this scumbag but would be nice to get him shut down so he cant continue fucking over his customers. Any of you lawyer types know if I have a legit case???

Dirtguy · Jul-18-2008, 03:56 PM

Hit him up for something free since he did use your boat in the AD. Ease up to the legal part of it. When someone tells me that they're going to sue me for something stupid, I shut down all cooperation.

Shit, he can always use some one else boat for free.

Try simple and cheap first. Lawyers will get their chunk first. They will all tell you that you can get millions.

Win or lose, you still owe them.

DG

SALTYDAWG · Jul-18-2008, 04:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dirtguy

Hit him up for something free since he did use your boat in the AD. Ease up to the legal part of it. When someone tells me that they're going to sue me for something stupid, I shut down all cooperation.

Shit, he can always use some one else boat for free.

Try simple and cheap first. Lawyers will get their chunk first. They will all tell you that you can get millions.

Win or lose, you still owe them.

DG

Dude, This asshole has absolutely nothing I want. If he can use someone elses boat for free thats what he should do. My point is, I'm upset that a shop that butchered my repower is using video of it to scam and rip off other people. The reason I was asking about the "stupid shit" is because I dont know about suing or being sued. Your statement about "when people try and sue you for stupid shit" must mean that you do know something about it, So is this your profesional opinion, Or are you just an asshole that gets sued alot?