I wonder if the seller has some kind of dealer license that allows him to not have to transfer registration? I would think it should still have to get transferred though -- anyone know how that works in Quebec -- where everything is a little bit different btw....

I bought a Jaguar off of ebay and did exactly what the buyer here did. I was pre-approved on a loan. Once I won the auction, I verified he had a clean title and got a signed purchase agreement. Went to the bank, they cut a check to the guy, I bought the car..... It's a common practice with items over 10k. If you read the buyers initial complaint, you can see how this turned south, fast. The boat was misrepresented and the seller does not have the title in his name.

I'll say quebec, but probably whole canada. if the boat is already canadian titled, I can sell it to a buyer (wich I did yesterday in fact with my maxum 3000 !!! )
you fill in some paper as seller, give it to buyer to sign, then send it by mail in Halifax nova scotia, in order to get the title in your name, then receive it like 3 to 4 weeks later.

I personally, if I buy cash a canadian boat, can keep the old title from seller under his name, and I know many run not insured, so easy to keep title to old owner and not have problem with insurance since they don't insure.

you want to insure it? the title is only printed on a 8 1/2 x 11 piece of regular paper, so you can easyly change it in house with new owner name on it, give it to insurance, while in reality title has not been changed!

and by the way I asked this seller how he could insure the boat since he did not have a survey of maximum 5 years old and... the boat is not insured!

don't agree with this, I always insure my toys, but many many run uninsured, trust me! of course non financed boats...

Easy there big fellow, I understand it sounds insane, but I also think it's insane that a person can spill a hot cup of coffee on themselves and get paid millions for it. I wouldn't go around worrying about it, but if I got wind that a boat I sold a year ago was still titled to me, I'd probably send a nice polite message to him and ask that he tranfer the title to his name.

This is my last post on this thread, as I think it's starting to go off on wild tangents. We can do what-ifs and how-abouts and what the hell ever else, but there are a few simple facts that are undisputed.

1. The boat is listed as being in Florida, but is actually in a foreign country.
2. The boat is not titled to the seller

Those items raise red flags. All that anyone asks for is honesty. When tens of thousands of dollars are on the table, honesty is required. The listing should clearly state the location of the boat and the fact that it's titled in another party's name. Those items are very important and very relevant. At this point it really doesn't matter if the buyer was or was not able to purchase the boat, this discrepancies needed to be addressed, and he had every right to back out.

There are a few reasons I can think of to not title something in your name:
1. There is something wrong/incorrect with the title
2. You can't afford the tax (and therefore shouldn't have the d*mn thing anyway)
3. You are too cheap and want to cheat fees as much as possible (I read that as not trustworthy)
4. You're hiding assets or purchased it with ill-gotten funds

We are all big boys here. We all know how things are supposed to be and what is right. If the seller had all his ducks in a row, I would be on his side.

Gentlemen, we should only show support to sellers that have everything in line and represented correctly. I, for one, would not want win an auction only to find out I had to find my passport, cross a border, accept an open title that is dated god-knows when, and have a bill of sale that is technically invalid here in the US due to the seller not matching the owner listed on the title. Let's work on raising the bar on integrity instead of going back and forth about a situation that a little honesty and integrity would have prevented.

I did... with 10 minutes left in the auction. Going on the word that the boat is as described and the assumption that the seller has clean paperwork. Then comes the runaround on his part. No paperwork for 3 days by the way. So if he is in a rush then it is his own fault. This deal would have been done. I tried to work it out with him. Whether you think he is a scammer or just a douche doesn't matter. The whole point of this post was to be sure someone looking at the boat knew what they were dealing with.
He has a feedback of 7...7! With 3 things sold. That's impressive? But there is no way to fake any of that. Were you also impressed with his post on here? I found it very informative and intelligent.
And your still his #1 fan here..... I'm thinking you know him.

That is exactly the situation. I'm not sure of rest of Canada but in Quebec when a boat sale takes place between 2 private individuals, there is no tax to pay. The broker could take a commission from the seller and there are taxes on the broker fees only. So many dealers / brokers advertise, detail, and handle all aspects of the transaction without title being in their name. If the guy had the boat titled in his company name or as a dealer the buyer would be stuck paying taxes on the full sale amount.
I don't know the seller and I don't know the buyer, but it just seems like a whole lot of miscommunication followed by a ****load of pontification. You guys should really give it a rest and get back to work so you can take the weekend off and go boating.

Nothing I've read explains why the boats advertised location is Florida... when it is really in Canada? Did I miss that explanation?

Nope, you didn't miss it. The seller came on here, blasted the OP and never really clarified anything.