I was just about to put in a bid on a Baja. Stay away?

Got a pretty simple idea of how to keep these fishy guys and their sham bidding in the toilet! Put a warning in the Beware section here on OSO and spread the word! It seems to be a pretty effective tool!

Best Regards,
Ray @ Raylar

In spite of the crap that goes on there you can still get a good deal on a good boat, I did.

I went through the same BS bidding on the purple 38TG out of Ohio... After the second call I was all through with dealing with them.

There have been stories in the Beware section from time to time. Sounds like a prudent buyer should be on-site for the final hours of their auction. If that is not possible, find another source.

Here is an update.

The auction ran again and someone bid $93k and was the high bidder. Only problem, they didn't pay. I wasn't contacted being the next high bidder.

They said they were going to auction it for a 3rd time yesterday. I got a call from my buddy at 3:00 telling me to forget the boat it was sold. (I hadn't bid again anyway)

The auction was set to close at 5 pm

at 1 PM a guy showed up at National and said he wanted to buy the boat. They told him the high bid the previous week was $93k and he had to beat it.

He offered $93,300 and they told him to go get his money. He went to the bank, got a cashiers check and left with the boat.

What a bunch of crap.
I would think it should be illegal what they do!

Definately sounds like a scam... List it as an auction to get a feel for what the market will bring for the boat then adjust the price and sell it to whom ever. I dont know what kind of license they are operating on but I'd say its probably a violation of some sort.

Greg, you shoulda told me about your issue there when I was in Ft. Lauderdale. I would have been happy to go for a ride with you to "chat" with them.

It's not an auction

The boat sells when ever the owner(bank) or other just decides to take an offer

Some boat go way less than an earlier offer that was refused

Another auction repo place kept telling me to shove it with a 110k offer on a zrc
It sold 6 months later for 100

A certain dragon that is now bad ass was sold at less than I was offering

U have to have ur cash ready and be in till the end

Sometimes it's timing

The problem is they call it and play it like it's an auction. "turn in bids to the banks every monday.......high bidder gets it IF the bank accepts it". Many years ago I bid on the "Pink Flamingo" and was told for $10K more I could have it......we know who ended up with it. A few years later I was high bidder on a 29 Sundancer and was told for about $5K more I could have it. I bought that one....but later felt like I was played. This was at the Cleveland office so it seems all locations operate the same. The fact is they've done this type of crap so many times and people talk. I'm sure they're allienating customers and at some point won't have enough to sustain what looks like a great business model.

A "repo" lot near me also runs things a little odd too (but not as bad). The boats (and RVs) on the lot are all advertised as repo's but I know the guy actually owns a number of the boats, he's even BOUGHT some from National then put on his own lot. He still calls these repos when in fact he owns them and is just re-selling for a profit. Now, absolutely nothing wrong with that as he doesn't appear to be playing games with one "buyer" over another.

Per thier web site:

Yacht and boat auction offers are cut off and opened on Monday at 4:00pm Eastern Time. Bids are automatically sorted and the high offer on each vessel is submitted to the bank, U.S. Marshal's Service or vessel owner on Tuesday morning. Responses are typically received within 48 hours. The seller, at his sole option, may accept or reject the offer or make a counter offer. Once the highest offer is responded to (accepted, rejected or countered), we will contact the high bidder immediately to notify them of the response.

LOL

Bids (read this as offers) are given to the seller and then they accept or reject it.

Does this sound like an auction or a broker?

Sounds a lot like a broker to me.

An auction usually says will be sold on such and such date as is where is, bring your cash or a letter of credit because you have to pay when you leave and take your stuff with you!

Scam...no but hardly truthful in the way they advertise. Must work for them though, they've moved 28,000 units based on their website.