buying/selling a bike out of state, how to do it right?

[bigbikerrick]

Hello Folks. A few weeks ago,my son put his KTM RC 8 up for sale on craigslist. He had a few interested buyers out of state, but endid up selling it yesterday to a local buyer for a quick, cash sale, but at a much discounted price. My question is for future reference, if you buy or sell a bike and have it shipped, what is the safest way to do the actual money transaction, so both the seller and buyer are protected from loss.
  My son felt that with the weak used bike market, a bird in the hand was wirth two in the bush, so he took the quick,cash offer, and moved on.
  I told him, that buying a vehicle from another state takes a certain level of trust in the person you are dealing with, and its hard to eliminate all risk.
What are the groups thoughts?
Rick.

[kirb]

Cash in hand or there has to be a confirmation of a cashiers check clearing (or P.O. money orders).

You can require a bank cashier check with the biz card of the clerk who issued it. You can call the clerk and verify the check is good as well as waiting for it to clear. I'm not familiar with wire transfers, but that could also happen.

Postal money orders are another way to go. You are getting the feds involved, so fake M.O. is out. They do cost more to the buyer, but the seller is assured the money is good.

Anyone who is buying a bike sight unseen from another location is taking all the risk. They can accept that or just move on. Shipping always adds more BS to the seller, but it's all buyer risk. You could use a 3rd party visitor to look at the bike for the buyer- I did that with a Griso I bought in VA. Had a buddy go look at it for me before it was serviced by the Guzzi dealer (horribly, I might add)

[bigbikerrick]

Thanks Kirb. I never thought about a wire transfer. My wife is a bank teller, and they do those all the time. I think she said it costs about $30. to do, so its deffinitely worth it. The stories of fake "certified funds" and cashiers checks my wife tells me from work are hair raising to say the least.
 They get people all the time trying to cash bogus cashiers checks from stuff sold online.
Rick.

[bigbikerrick]

I have heard mention of an "escrow service" used to protect both the buyer and the seller. Anyone have any experience with that?
thanks,
Rick.

[Ncdan]

I’m in NC and just bought a bike in MN and the dealer who had the bike on consignment required a bank money transfer.

[Guzzistajohn]

Sign the title over to the buyer, copy and overnite the copy

Have the BANKS transfer the funds. Let the banks do this. Don't give the buyer your routing #'s

Overnite the title when the $$ clears.

Buyer arranges pickup.

I sold one in NJ that way. No problem.

[rschrum]

I will take a cashiers check or paypal, friends and family, no fees. I belong to a small credit union and they will call and verify that the check is good, so far they have been. I then send the buyer a small box with the signed title, keys, owners manual, etc. Wait for the shipper.

[LongRanger]

For bikes I sell in person, cash or personal check is fine. It's not terribly difficult to call the buyer's bank and confirm funds. He gets the bike and the title. If his check bounces, I sue him in court and recover my losses.

For bikes sold online, especially through eBay, PayPal works great.

[bigbikerrick]

Thanks alot guys. Lots of excellent advice and ideas! I will show all of it to my son. This is sure to help,as he will soon be looking for a different bike.
Rick.

[Mayor_of_BBQ]

DONT use paypal as 'Friends and family'... sure there are no fees, but there are also lesser (no) protections for you as the buyer.

[kirb]

The stories of fake "certified funds" and cashiers checks my wife tells me from work are hair raising to say the least.

The Nigerian check scam is famous for cloning a bank's check, overpaying for something, then having you send them the over payment while keeping some for yourself. The cashier's check is bogus and the Nigerian gets whatever over payment you sent. Greedy and stupid people fall for this all the time. Google 'nigerian check scam'. A buddy is currently playing with one of them to the tune of $60k in over payment. That's a record, but it's a sport for him and he has since gone pro. The back and forth emails are hilarious.

Paying by cashier's check is simple- get a way to verify the funds on your end. A card of the teller who issued it, call the bank to verify, and even wait for it to clear. It's not rocket science. Just be careful.

Wire transfer works, Postal MO works, never use PayPal. Paypal has a nasty habit of refunding your money back to the buyer (or holding it themselves) if they have one complaint or false claim. Paypal was created to help secure BUYERS not sellers. That is why ebay bought them... Don't use paypal for any more money than you can afford to lose.

[Cam3512]

I sold my V7 to a guy from Denver who wanted to do a fly and ride.  First spoke to him at length on the phone.  He then sent me a deposit via PayPal, followed by a bank check for the balance.  When all that money was cleared in my account, I signed and sent him the title and binder full of maintenance records and receipts.  We kept in close contact for about a month until he flew out to NJ.  He insured the bike after our transaction, and I stored it for him until he flew out.  Decent experience on both ends.

[Rick in WNY]

Lots of good info in this thread.... 

The only "out of state" vehicle sales I've ever done were between NY and PA... because I grew up less than 10 miles from that border.

Generally, not any different than a NY to NY sale, but in all cases I was buying or selling vehicles to people I knew personally, these were not in response to an ebay or craigslist ad. That said, good to know about this stuff, thank you all for the info, I'll tuck it away in case I need it some day.

Rick

[AH Fan]

So if you think that's all fun.... take a run at buying out of country.

   Ciao