Selling out of state

[pdedse]

I know this has come up before, but I don't remember details and my quick search didn't bring up anything obvious...

There's a guy who wants to buy my Kawasaki W800.  He's in Nevada, and thought about driving up here, but is concerned about weather now.  He has an ebay store called "Nevada Cycle Parts" and he's been on ebay since 2000, with all positive reviews during the last year and overall very good.  His name he texted me matches the ebay store owner's name, not that this means much, but perhaps it's something.    

He suggests using a title company / bank of my choice that we agree on to serve as escrow company.  We both sign their contract; he deposits money, I turn over title to the escrow company.  Once escrow company confirms validity of title and funds, then we sign off.  Funds are released and verified, he gets title.  Only then does his shipping company stop by to pick up the bike.  He's offered to facetime me with his wife to help out as he claims he's a little hard of hearing.

One hears of all sorts of online cases of fraud involving shipping vehichles, and so I'm throwing out feelers to see if anyone here has actually done a bike purchase out of state, and how that went down.  

If memory serves me well, I recall one forum member refusing to sell out of state to another forum member a few years ago.

 

[peterbaron]

.........
If memory serves me well, I recall one forum member refusing to sell out of state to another forum member a few years ago.

You are correct, pdedse.
I remember this case as well.

 

[pekingduck]

I didn't see an eBay seller with that name, but Googled a place by that name, and found a 4 of 5 Yelp rating, and old reviews.

 

[Gone in 60]

Hmm... there are stories about these things turning out to be scams. I have no personal experience selling a vehicle out of state. If the guy is wanting to Facetime with you and has discussed wanting to come up, then being concerned about the weather... if it's not real, it's a fairly elaborate scam. Wouldn't hurt to Facetime with him, keep you guard up and feel it out.

Speaking of scams, the guy I just bought my NC750 from is a very nice older gentleman. I had replied to his Craig's Listing for the bike.
He said there was one person ahead of me who had replied. He then came back to me and said "The first person said they would be more comfortable knowing about the bike if I purchased a vehicle history report. I did, and I'm providing it to you as well so you can see that I am legitimate."

He then came back and said "Well, the first buyer isn't responding, so if you want to come see the bike, you are next in line." I didn't have the heart to tell him that the first "interested buyer" was most likely just someone selling vehicle history reports. I fell for it quite a while back when I sold a BMW. I was out ten bucks for the report, and considered it a cheap lesson.

 

[Cormanus]

I didn't see an eBay seller with that name, but Googled a place by that name, and found a 4 of 5 Yelp rating, and old reviews.

Is this the guy? Nevada Cycle Parts | eBay Stores

 

[pdedse]

I didn't see an eBay seller with that name, but Googled a place by that name, and found a 4 of 5 Yelp rating, and old reviews.

Nevada Cycle Parts | eBay Stores

The above link works for me.

Cormanus beat me to it...yeah, that's the one.

 

[Cormanus]

Interestingly, I couldn't easily find him on the US eBay site, but he turned up on the Australian one.

Are the escrow companies reliable? Sounds hellish complicated to me.

 

[pdedse]

Interestingly, I couldn't easily find him on the US eBay site, but he turned up on the Australian one.

Are the escrow companies reliable? Sounds hellish complicated to me.

I've texted the guy several times; he's either a real buyer or going to very elaborate steps at fraude.  He's worried the same about me!  We're working on it, taking our time to see how it might work.  If it's too complicated, I'll pass.

 

[Cormanus]

Good luck with it. If he's for real, I'm sure you'll work something out.

 

[SportsterDoc]

January 2024, I sold my 2023 Moto Guzzi V7-850 to a fellow member of the Wild Guzzi forum, on which we both had longevity. If I recall correctly he was in Washington State. He mailed me a check, which I deposited, then sent him a scan of the title signed over to him and a bill of sale. He contacted a shipping company to pick up the bike and signed papers. That was my only out of state M/C sale.

Normally I traded bikes, to avoid private seller hassles, but I thought I was retiring from riding then.

When my eye issues ended (temporarily) my riding in 2018, I sold my 2014 CB1100 back to the dealer, at a loss, but it was purchased at a significant out-of-the crate discontinued model discount November 2017.

Back to your situation, pdedse, using a bank of your choice sounds well protected. Who pays the escrow fees?

 

[pdedse]

January 2024, I sold my 2023 Moto Guzzi V7-850 to a fellow member of the Wild Guzzi forum, on which we both had longevity.  If I recall correctly he was in Washington State.  He mailed me a check, which I deposited, then sent him a scan of the title signed over to him and a bill of sale.  He contacted a shipping company to pick up the bike and signed papers.  That was my only out of state M/C sale. 

Normally I traded bikes, to avoid private seller hassles, but I thought I was retiring from riding then.

When my eye issues ended (temporarily) my riding in 2018, I sold my 2014 CB1100 back to the dealer, at a loss, but it was purchased at a significant out-of-the crate discontinued model discount November 2017.

Back to your situation, pdedse, using a bank of your choice sounds well protected.  Who pays the escrow fees?

It all turned out well because the buyer from Nevada ended up placing a lot of trust in me.  I mean, I know I'm trustworthy and would follow through, but he didn't.  We used facetime to have a long conversation, well his wife did most of the talking because he's nearly deaf and relied on facetime's subtitle capabilities.  We talked about him driving up hear (9 hours), meeting half-way, me driving down there for a fee...in the end we realized neither of us wanted to do much driving.  

We found an escrow company that handles vehicles, but they charge $200 and it's either split or negotiated.  But then after "vetting" each other as much as we could with more conversations and texts, he decided he'd send me the money and once it cleared the bank--a wire transfer--only then would I send him the title, bill of sale and keys, which I've done.  My bank assured me that once they clear a wire transfer, that money is as good as cash and there is no way it can be retrieved or reversed.  To be on the safe side, I created a new account with my bank, the money was received, and then I transferred the money to another account. I double checked with my bank, and they re-confirmed the wire and that the money was mine, no issues.  Even after all that, his shipping company doesn't pick up the bike until the end of this week, or beginning of next.   

So either they are among the world's best 75 year old actors and the scam is still to come, or maybe I'm the 62 year old scammer taking advantage of pour souls in NV...or it's two people who still believe.

 

[Cormanus]

Good outcome, pdedse.

 

[SportsterDoc]

All appears bonafide!
Probably an unnecessary precaution with the additional bank account...but I well understand wanting to play it safe.

 

[Gone in 60]

Sounds like you both did a lot of due diligence to make sure you were honest with each other. Glad it’s working out!