WA | How to pay the price?

[RonMayo]

How to pay the price?

Well it’s getting to be the time that I should be thinking of selling my 2005 – 13’ Scamp Delux (with shower and flush toilet. No A/C). I’m thinking that a reasonable price would be in the $7,000 to $9,000 range.

I’ve had several expressions of interest from people who want to look it over. This involves taking a ferry ride over to my island in the San Juans and some negotiation as to price.

My question is, assuming we reach an agreement as to price, is how are they going to pay me. Since I don’t know them, I’m not comfortable with accepting a personal check. Nor are they likely to want to wait around for their check to clear at our local bank.

On the other hand, a buyer might not be comfortable with bringing over enough cash to buy it outright. Since we haven’t agreed to a price yet, they won’t know how much to make a certified check for.

Incidentally, I have a clear title and all the pieces work.

I’m looking for suggestions as to how to close the deal.

[Mike Magee]

If they are serious trailer shoppers, there's a good chance they have the cash with them. But if they don't, a modest cash deposit can hold the trailer until they return with the cash at a later date.

[Deb & Chuck]

I would suggest requesting cash and doing the paperwork transaction at your bank and just deposit it to your account as you sign the title over to the new owners. We have done this in the past and it seemed acceptable to the buyer also. One fellow can down from British Columbia with a backpack of American dollars when I was selling a VW bus he wanted. He felt comfortable because he had his brother with him and we did the transaction at my local bank. Do not accept any forms of cashier checks, etc. because even banks can't verify them until about 6 weeks after the fact when they are returned per my bank manager.
Deb

[Carol H]

They as suggested could make a cash deposit and come back with a certified cheque or more cash. or they could go to the local bank machine and get the cash. When I purchased my trailer I know if the trailer was as owner indicated I wasnt going to dicker the price so I went ahead and had a certified cheque made out to the seller in US dollars in the amount asked. I didnt want to be crossing the border and traveling for two days with a large amount of cash on me. If it had not been as he stated & I wanted to pay less I would have returned the cheque to my bank to cancel it and gone to a local US bank and had cash transferred to me in the US to pay for it. It can be done and I would think it would be even easier for an actual customer of a US Bank to be able to do that. When I got to the seller I did have to stay over night in the town and wait until the next morning for him to take the cheque to his bank manager who called my bank and confirmed it was indeed fully certified & good to go. They wanted to make very sure it wasnt a fake certified cheque which I probable would have done as well under the circumstances.

Ron if you are wanting to open up your market a little perhaps there is someone you can put the trailer with for a week or two on the mainland? I know people on the Vancouver Island often get a bit less for their trailers due to the travel issue and the ferry costs resulting in a fewer interested buyers.

[Dan Meyer]

I'm making a wild guess here... but maybe your local bank could help you accept a credit card or other secure form of payment. It would certainly be worth the inquiry.

-- Dan Meyer

[Steve M K]

Did not know that certified cashiers checks were not safe, I always thought they were payed for with cash and thus guaranteed. That is how I sold my Scamp a couple of weeks ago, and the funds showed up in my account right away. I will have to ask my bank about that.

[Henry N]

As someone who used to be a white collar crimes detective, I would never accept a cashiers check. Same goes for a money order. I will take a postal service money order but only while at the post office so they can verify. Cash while standing in the bank lobby is best.

[Terry G]

When I bought my used Casita for $7k, before the seller accepted my cashiers check, he called the bank that issued it to make sure it was good. I didn't know you could do that but it might be worth investigating. If it were me, there is no way I would want to carry that much cash into the pacific northwest. Our US cops like to confiscate large sums of cash and would probably argue that the buyer was making a purchase of a different sort.

Perhaps one solution is to talk to your local bank and ask about setting up a electronic transfer. It might be possible to get the money wired over while you are there with the trailer.

[Deb & Chuck]

Banks won't help you take credit cards for transactions because they need to collect the fees from someone. I know this as a former bank manager and private business owner who took credit cards, it is regulated very tightly and they are going to get the fees from someone and it won't be them. We do all our dealing in cash and have found that is the "norm" anymore at least in our area.

Anyone who calls the bank to verify a cashier's check is fooling themselves these days- there is no way a bank can 100% verfiy a cashiers/certified check. The only way you know it is bad is when it gets returned about 6 weeks later. We have a fellow in our town that sold a classic car on Ebay and against our local bank manager's suggestion he accepted a cashier's check because is "looked good". He then shipped the car per the "buyers" instructions internationally because he had the check. He found out 6 weeks later than he had been burned for over $14,000.00. No money and no car with nothing to do about it- an expensive lesson learned.
Deb

[cpaharley2008]

Just hold onto the title until the check clears and then overnight the title to them.

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by Deb & Chuck

Anyone who calls the bank to verify a cashier's check is fooling themselves these days- there is no way a bank can 100% verfiy a cashiers/certified check. The only way you know it is bad is when it gets returned about 6 weeks later.
Deb

Deb here in Canada there is a *REALLY* big difference between a cashiers cheque and a certified cheque. Here you would be correct in saying a cashiers cheque is not worth what its written on.

But in regards to a Certified Cheque thats a whole different story and the bank can indeed say if its good or not. Because in Canada once a certified cheque is issued it is in fact the Bank that is paying it/covering it not the customer that requested it be issued. So the Bank can tell you if its good or not as at that point they hold the money in there own account that their customer has no access to.

I dont know what the system in the US is in regards to certified cheques but In Canadian certified cheques are a very safe way of obtaining payment -and are used for most major purchases and used internationally. We only have about 6 banks in the whole Country all majors and international & we have a few credit unions but they tend to be rather large as well - unlike the US with lots of small banks around. So all are banks tend to follow pretty well the same practices when it comes to a certified cheque - not to mention there are Federal laws which govern how they handle certified cheques.

The banks customer must pay a fairly large fee to have a cheque certified and made out in a specific parties name and the bank will emboss it with a secret code :-) The money to cover the cheque is taken out of the customers bank account as soon as the cheque is issued and held in a separate account that belongs to the bank and only the bank has assess to. So the banks customer who asked for the cheque to be issued has no way of getting at that money as it sits in a the Banks own account until the cheque is cashed by the party it was issued to or the party/bank customer who registered the cheque returns the original embossed cheque back to the bank. Basically once issued its the bank covering & paying out the cheque not their customer. It is also standard practise for the certified cheque to have the contact information for the bank that issued it so they can be contacted directly to confirm that is not a fake. The federal government also has stipulated that a certified cheque must be cleared within five business days from deposit - if its going to take longer than that to clear the bank must advise the party cashing it to how long it will take.

[cpaharley2008]

Actually both types of checks can be falsified. A cashiers check aka bank check when money is taken from the customer's account, deposited into the bank's account and a check is then drawn on the bank, payable to whomever. A bank check can have a hold placed and can be cancelled by the bank under certain circumstances. A certified check is similar, except the money can not be returned to the customer and the bank certifies it is free and clear of any holds and is like cash.
Either of the above scenarios however can be created with false documents and false or stolen checks even to the point where the number you call on the check is a cohort involved in the scheme.
The best way is to take the check to the bank it is drawn upon, with the payor and then cash the check, obtaining cash. The other way is to hold onto the title until the check clears. If it doesn't, and you have released the item,you can then report a theft and
the item will be recorded as stolen. Any future attempt to title it will result in the police being notified. I've seen Harley Davidson's in Sturgis, SD taken by police when they check a vin and it had been reported stolen, sometimes years before.

I'd suggest you hold both the item and title until it clears but give the buyer a bill of sale acknowledging receipt of payment. That way both parties are protected.

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

A certified check is similar, except the money can not be returned to the customer and the bank certifies it is free and clear of any holds and is like cash.
Either of the above scenarios however can be created with false documents and false or stolen checks even to the point where the number you call on the check is a cohort involved in the scheme.

Jim, your suggestions are good ones but as I suggested earlier I suspect that we have a lot more banking regulations than the US or at least I am told that is one of the big differences between or banking systems. I dont doubt that as a result how certified cheques are handled may also be very different.

I also suspect it would be a lot harder to put a false phone number on a Canadian cheque than perhaps it is a US cheque. As indicated early we only have a handful of banks all of them international. Trust me if you call one, you will end up pushing lots of buttons & be on hold for awhile to get to the party you need to talk to.... someone would have to go to a great deal of trouble to even come close to matching that senerior ..... unless of course they happen to be one of the equally as few cellular or cable companies in Canada who all do a pretty good job of immunlating that system. Think you will find all of the Canadian banks also operate in the US so as far as I know most also have US 1-800 numbers that can be called (have used them while traveling) - a prudent bank manager in the US would most likely call the local US office and he is going to know if he is talking to a real Canadian bank.... the fact it took him 10 minutes of pushing buttons to get to talk to a real person would be his first clue Not to mention all they would have to do is Google the banks name and the correct number will come up..... as I said having only a handful of banks in the country helps a lot & none having gone under helps to keep in simple.

[Bob Miller]

Here's what I do down here in the southern Provinces:

1. I have an interested buyer send a deposit (via PayPal) to hold the vehicle for 14 days.
If they find a major issue when they inspect, I will give back the deposit or negotiate price. If they don't show or are unreasonable about minor condition issues, I have the deposit in my account already.
2. I have the buyer bring either cash or 1 or more certified/cashiers checks, in their name, from their own bank.
3. I take them to a local bank to get the checks cashed and they hand me cash.
I have never had a buyer not show up and buy, always at the asking price.

I have sold several motorhomes this way and it has worked every time, one just last week when I sold my Toyota Sunrader Adventure for $10,000. All I saw was a safe $500 PayPal transfer (money was in my account in 3 minutes) and 95 pictures of Ben Franklin when the buyer went to a local bank and cashed her checks.

Be sure youre ad is accurate and discloses everything that may effect price. Print it out and have it handy when your buyer arrives. I have had buyers make claims about what was in the ad after they arrive. One claimed that the ad said "New Tires" (about $800 worth), I showed him the ad printout. He bought it anyway....

Right now Scamp sellers are in the drivers seat. Pick the price YOU want and go with it.

Good Luck

[Fran L]

You might be able to do the entire transaction via Paypal. You could have them send the deposit via paypal and then do another PayPal transaction for the remainder when they come to pick it up...all you need is internet access...

Fran

[Kevin K]

CASH talks ever thing else walks in my book. I paid in cash for my Casita.

[Ed Harris]

What Kevin said.

You can pay however you want but the trailer is only going behind the one with the Benjamin's!

[BCDave]

Originally Posted by Fran L

You might be able to do the entire transaction via Paypal. You could have them send the deposit via paypal and then do another PayPal transaction for the remainder when they come to pick it up...all you need is internet access...

Fran

YIKES!!!!

Dear sir or madam
I have an issue in that my dog is sick/my wife has the flu/my son is graduating/my daughter is getting married/I am working on a cruise ship/I am recovering from a disease so terrible it doesn't even have a name/I am in hiding from the mob/my abusive husband/wife

I will therefore make payment through paypal and my agent will be there tomorrow to pick up your trailer/car/boat/airplane/diamond ring/ whatever it was we were talking about and it will be be shipped to me via international shippers.

I trust you do not mind if I have paypal remit double your asking price so that you can pay for the shipping and then return the balance to me at my Nigerian address..

Yours very very very sincerely and truthfully and honestly

King Midas the 28th of California

[John_M]

Originally Posted by Kevin K

CASH talks ever thing else walks in my book. I paid in cash for my Casita.

I am going to do the same thing. Cold hard cash. It's the only way in my opinion. There are just too many dork's trying to scam everyone one way or another these days.

[Fran L]

I was actually suggesting that you (the seller) would be with the buyer when they do the final PayPal transfer and then check your own account to see that the money is there before you turn over the title and keys. It is an immediate transfer and you can verify it before turning anything over. It is only an option if carrying thousands of dollars of cash is not feasible....