Hints for handling transaction for overseas 911 sale?

[Hugh R]

Wire transfer takes minutes. I'd bail on the buyer. Send him certified copy of cancellation of bill of sale.

[spuggy]

Originally Posted by Jim Williams

his only reply so far was that there must be a mistake somewhere. Whereupon I gave him the choice of sending some proof that the wire had actually been sent to his agent, or I was cancelling the deal. No reply from him in 5 days.

Just to say that this can sometimes happen. The receiving bank accepts the transfer, but doesn't disburse the funds to the account.

In my case, I inadvertently wired funds to an account that had been closed for 3 years, and the bank did not reject or return the funds.

After 3 weeks getting nowhere (receiving bank won't talk to you as you're not a customer, and your bank says "the money was sent"), I initiated a trace on the funds, and they were back in my account in about 3 hours...

Doesn't look good for your transaction though. Sorry.

[Dirk Diggler]

Jim, so far it sounds all good to me in the first place. The bigger shipping companies in Germany provide you as a customer that kind of service. picking the car up, handle the transaction and deliver it to your doorstep.

Important part is that based on where you live a clean title or a bill of sales needs to be provided. Without it the buyer won't get the car out of the country. I'm german & living in Germany, I already bought a couple of cars over the last years in the US.

I'll did all kinds of described ways of payments, wire, paypal or in cash, depening on value and knowing the party you deal with. If you like I can check your potential buyer out... I really love paypal, allthough when it comes to cars I used to fly over and pay cash. At least I want to know what I'm exactly buying...

The dollar is weak, allthough it had been weaker, based on the bigger market alot of cars where exported and so the prices are a bit lower. When it comes to the old ones the sometimes better climate saves you thousands of dollars.

Dirk

[Jim Williams]

Hugh R -
I've been told that overseas wire transfers can take a few days to go through. I'm willing to accept a few days, but not a few weeks, which is how long we're talking here.

Spuggy-
I can believe that there can be mistakes made. As a matter of fact, I was told a similar story to yours by a personal friend. The larger problem here is (lack of) communication. The buyer is not responding. Five days and counting to answer an email? And how much effort could it be for him to simply say " I have a tracer on it."?

Dirk-
I appreciate the input from a German, living in Germany... I must say that did a good amount of checking before I agreed to the email offer I received on this car, and have learned a great deal.

First, I agreed to an offer on the car at a somewhat lower price than I consider it to be worth, but could use the extra cash for another project. Since I thought I understood the process, I had hoped this would not evolve into the lengthy time this is taking. And the buyer apparently feels it is not important to him to keep me informed of progress.

I have had all the documentation ready for weeks - title, registration, bill of sale - already discussed with the buyers shipper here in the US, no problem there. The wire transfer was to come to the shipper here in the US, who would in turn wire the funds to my bank account.

I was offered no information about the buyer, other than a first name, and who to make the bill of sale to - three capital letters beginning with "A" (rest withheld by me). I had to do "Google Research" to find the company, and finally tied this to the email address the buyer is using. (Oh well, as a hint, the last two letters of three are "HK".) I appreciate your offer to check them out; if you live anywhere near Solingen, drop in and pay Steve a visit. If you learn anything about where my payment could be tied up, and when I should expect it, please let me know.

[Looking_for_911]

Hey Jim,

I taked to you about this car before I found my SC. I was sure you'd have sold it by now.
I think you're just getting some sort of run around. If I was ready to pull the trigger on something I really wanted - assuming this guy does - then I would at least keep your email box supplied with info. And, I woud be mucho PO'd that some bank had misdirected my funds, etc.

Quote: "And the buyer apparently feels it is not important to him to keep me informed of progress." And then there was the part about the lack of personal information on him After he commits to being your buyer. Why, I wonder? Is he just that arrogant? Does he think you're desperate for the money and believes he can jerk you around however he sees fit? Or is it a situation where he has so much money that these "little" transactions aren't worth handling immediately? Who really knows but him?

All this would make me very leary, indeed. And I think I would cancel the whole deal as fast as possible 'cause like you said, you're losing the potential to sell to someone else with each passing day.

Good luck!

--Jeff

[geshaghi]

The internet is full of flakes unfortunately, they are not just confined to the US. Jim, it sounds like you have had your chain jerked pretty good. This is always my concern when selling a car other than in person. When I sold my 72T several months ago, I received numerous calls and emails. Several people said "I'll take it" but my attitude, having experienced this before, was "Show me the money." I'm trying to sell an E-type, and had a call from a well-known classic Jag dealer (in Arizona) who wanted the car for a client. I sent him paperwork confirming a deal, and he promised to wire money in 48 hours. Nothing. No call to say the client wasn't interested, no email, just silence. I understand that circumstances change. I am always confounded by people who are eager, friendly and earnest in their desire to buy a car, but then fall off the face of the earth without even the courtesy of a email to say that they are no longer interested after they appear to commit. In my case, I guess I was lucky. I insisted on getting the buyer's name and references to check him out. I spoke with his shipper beforehand. More importantly, I also indicated that if I didn't have payment for the car, it would remain for sale. Hope the next one works out better!

[Matt Monson]

I just visited their website and noticed something that could be of interest/relevance. If you look closely at the pictures of the cars they have on offer, they appear to be the ones provided by the people they purchased the cars from. I even recognize a car in a relatively well known garage up in Wyoming that's full of Porsches (and was written up in Total 911 last year). I wonder if they are trying to pre-sell the cars before they actually take delivery of the vehicles.

This is purely speculation but what if the delay on your payment is that they've trying to close a buyer and get payment on your car before they pay you? They don't appear to be a restoration shop and more of a flipper so it's not beyond the realm of the possible.

Also, since I didn't add my 2 cents on my first post, I always require bank wire in advance of shipment for the cars that I sell overseas. I've sold a few to England and Germany in the last couple of years and that's how I've done it every time. It's always gone off without a hitch, though there was a 2 week delay from one well known restoration shop, but they eventually came through. But with that much distance, I would never release a car without cash in the bank. No checks. No credit cards. No Pay Pal. Those are all reversable. Cash in my account is a lot harder for them to take back from me.

[dad911]

A guy did that to me with a boat. Said he was buying, then delayed while he tried to find a buyer in Europe. After a few days, I told him it was back on the market, first cash would get it.

Sound like this guy is a European flipper.

[Jim Williams]

Thanks Matt,

The thought that this guy might be a flipper has all the earmarks of sounding like the case. Of course, that in itself really doesn't bother me that much, but the idea that I am being yanked around until the buyer has a sale on his end, or is trying to achieve one before he actually sends me the payment, is good reason for me to pull the plug.

By the way, the next planned event was the receipt by wire of the payment in full by my bank into a deposit-only account, and the subsequent transfer out of that account into another account within the same bank. So there was never a time where I considered releasing the car or any paperwork on the car, until the funds were received.

I think his time has just run out...

[Garp]

A real shame but you have crooks everywhere not just around here. The dollar is really very low and as mentioned before the supply of reasonable cars is drying-up rapidly around here. Good luck with the sale.