Buying a used boat, exchanging the $$$ question
 

Hey everyone, we wrote an article about the used boat market recently and we had some questions emailed to us about the best way to pay for a private sale used boat. We didn't really talk about that in the article but what have you found is the "safest" way to pay now? I know some guys are going over the border to Canada and vice versa, which adds another complication but in general, let's say 3 categories under $30k, over $30k and over $100k. I know bank counter checks used to be popular but seem old school now.

Love to hear some thoughts.

Cash always works best for me, whether it be for my self or for a customer. Next best is wire transfer.

As stated above...........:drink:

Ya, it is the easiest. Although some get a little sketched out carrying too much cash. There's always that weird delay on the wire transfer where you send the money, then it's like you hadn't the keys over as soon as it's done. There's got to be some kind of escrow service I am unaware of.

There are escrow services that charge a fee.
I just did a wire transfer on a purchase and it took about 10 minutes for my bank to send it and the receiving bank to call me and confirm the transfer. That's probably faster then counting the money for a five or six figure purchase.

Cash isn't the easiest anymore. Actually, anything over $9999 USD is a PITFA to deal with.

The best way?
---Wire Transfer.

The Second best way?
---Both Buyer AND Seller walk into the BUYER'S bank; and have a check cut to Seller directly by the bank. This is more difficult sometimes based on locations, but works well.

I like cash. But you have to declare money when crossing the border in either direction if over $10k. In the US, you must also report to customs when you leave the country with $10k or more. Its a real hassle even below $10k and customs finds cash in the car. The search and seizure rules at border crossings make it easy for customs to seize cash. Its a real PITA to get it back. If cross border shopping, I don't recommend cash. Wire transfer is best. I grocery shop in the US pretty much weekly. I also have a shipping holding account with a US based shipping company. So my US online purchases go to them for pick up. Using debit with a Canadian card can be a PITA. Sometimes it doesn't process at all. Interest and FX fee's on a credit card can get expensive. So I did use cash most times. I've had hassles with as little as $200 in cash with customs on both sides of the border. So I opened a US bank account. So that's how much of a hassle cash is border wise.

Second. The US has some pretty unconstitutional rules on cash.

Aggressive police take hundreds of millions of dollars from motorists not charged with crimes | The Washington Post

American shakedown: Police won't charge you, but they'll grab your money - World - CBC News

https://www.forbes.com/forbes/welcom...g7QCOypYRyvgfg

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opini...ens/101719870/

You might want to reconsider carrying of cash in the USA!

Wire transfer is probably the best way.
I'm just bought some property and we did it that way.

As a seller, i would insist on a wire transfer. It is way too easy for cash to be printed. It would suck to have a bunch of pieces of paper that looks like hundreds. That said, if it was to be cash, a guy could do the deal at his bank so that they could verify.

Oh an option for Canadians is email money transfers. Pretty much all Canadian financial institutions have the system. Most financial institutions will also up the amounts you can send to people. You can also do the email transfer via Western Union to Americans. What is email money transfers? If I buy something off craigslist. I just open my online banking select email transfer. Put the sellers email into the payee field. In a few minutes interact sends an email with money attached. The seller selects his financial institution from the list. Logs into their online banking and deposit the attached money into their account. Takes maybe 5 minutes to do. I like it because you don't give your banking info out...................... I can also send via western union transfers to Americans the same way.

info here: Interac - Send Money Internationally

Its a great way to buy used stuff off people that don't take cards, checks, etc.....