I decided to sell my Hobie 14 this fall (2004), so I went to the ABL site and filled out their request for a quote. I couldn't find a place to just place an ad. I got a call from "Allan" today. He told me a lot about American Boat Listings, that they go to boat shows and have the only booth there for "used boats" (apparantly they missed the 2005 Houston Boat Show, I didn't see them there). He told me lots of stuff, like the bad stock market has made the "used boats" worth more cause people aren't buying the "new boats".
He told me ABL has a "publication" that they give out to prospective buyers at the boat shows, "only after they have checked them out to make sure the buyers are for real". This publication of course would have my Hobie 14 in it, at no extra charge.
He told me ABL has "offices" all over the country. I'm going to stop by next time I see one, but the only one I could find with internet directory searches was in New York.
"Allan" told me my 1981 Hobie 14 Turbo was definitely worth $2500. I'll sell it to you today for $700 (maybe less), I know it's not worth $2500. I've been trying to sell it since September and it's priced at $717 now and going down.
It will never sell for $2500, no way, no how. Yet Allan, or is it Allen, told me emphatically it was worth $2500 and he KNEW because he's been selling boats for 20 years! After 3 months I sold it for $700.
From the ABL website, "Since 1983, American Boat Listing has helped millions of people buy and sell boats.". Well, "millions", that's at least 2 million, right? Very impressive. Let's see, divide 2 million by 22 years would be 90,909 per year, or 249 boats PER DAY. Quite impressive. Of course, they did say they are helping buyers AND sellers, so that would only be 124 BOATS per day, but I'm still impressed.
Allan told me that ABL was #1 on ALL the search engines if you searched for anything about used boats. I guess the search engines weren't working right the day I looked.
These are responses I've received so far from boat sellers.
From Carol, 5/23/04, selling a 1978 AMF Puffer
Hi David,
The site was under American Boat Listings at www.ablboats.com
The amount was $190.00 for a 90 day listing, no brokerage fee or commission and
he stated he had 3 potential buyers for the puffer, since it was such a hard to
find classic and that, consequently, was worth $7500.00. I am sure that Claude
at the Sailboat Shop would have priced it higher 2 years ago if that was the
case. He is pretty shrewd. I did not bite so he said he would call back and
did he ever. I was tempted to offer to sell it an pay him 10% for linking me
with a buyer and then decided I should not touch this guy with a ten foot pole.
I haven't had a chance to check your list of scams yet, but this sure sounds
like a possibility. Maybe not.
Thanks. Carol
From Ken, 9/28/04
Dave,
I too was scammed by ABL. I received a call from a Dave Ross in Aug of 2002. He said he had a person interested in my 1979 36' Uniflite. He insisted that I put 190.00 on my credit card, and would contact the buyer, who would then call me the next day (sat). No call, no calls on my ad to this day. However a few months ago I got a e-mail from someone who told me to contact ABL, to run an ad. RIGHT! Their e-mails to me were written very similar to the 419 scams out of Nigeria.
I called my credit card company after talking with this Dave Ross. He said they would not allow me to get a refund from my credit card co. Right. I called Bank One, and had the charge reversed, so I didn't lose any money. But they are defiantly scammers. Their testimonials are more than likely written by a hand full of scammers.
I asked them to remove the ad, but it is still on the ABL site [as of fall 2004]. I've also e-mailed a few ad's that are on that site. No answers to date. I'm sure they leave old ads on. Also, read their 'testimonials', as most look like they have two or three people writing them!
One other point. A few times I tried to call them. That is this Ross guy. When I did get a hold of him, he babbled 100 miles an hour, then concluded with, "that's all I have to say", and would hang up on me.
I could never get in a word to him.
Ken
And from Rachel, 10/13/04
I wish I had found your site first! I already tried American Boat Listings (I paid the $190). They told me my boat was a collectors item worth $10,000 (for a 1974 Mutineer), so I signed right up. Every response I received to my ad was a scam, trying to get money from me by sending me a counterfeit check. It stinks to learn the hard way!
Rachel
William wrote me 12/12/04
I received a call from someone at American Boat saying that this 74
Mutineer was a collectors item worth $8500. It sounds like a boiler room
operation to me. They wanted $190 for a listing. I doubt if the boat is
worth that much. What do you think? [It might be worth $1,000, maybe]
William
On 12/15/04 I heard from Tony
I received a call from Alan Burke (that's what it sounded like) of ABL who said the market for used boats was especially good now due to the .COM bust. When he asked what I wanted for the boat and I said $1225, he said that was way too low. He said I could get at least $5000 for the boat. When I said "No, a new one only costs about $4000", there was a pause and then his hang-up click. I guess scammers just don't have the class to be courteous.
Happy sailing,
Tony
On 5/3/05 I heard from Gene
Boy I'm glad I tripped over your link. I think I am being scammed by Dave Ross of abl.com. I enquired about the value of my boat online and got a message on my machine. Got another the next day saying if I had answered the first one I would have sold my boat by now. I called back and got the "you gotta act right now" we need to have your listing (and the $190) by 10am tomorrow. I didn't. The following evening I got the "well you blew the deadline but we got two buyers interested at 58K" (I'd be lucky to get 50) and I was told he'd only hold the offer 24 hr. Which is when my wife found your site. I have a caller ID # in area 818 and the 877 fax #, and of course there is now name nor address associated with either in Anywho. Nor can I find any kind of listing there for American Boat Listing.
Do you know any thing more about these guys? I noticed they have a sponsered link on google. Is there a way to alert Google? I'm not sure wether to blow them off completely or to string them on for a while and see where it goes.
Thought you'd be interested
Gene
Well, that's only 7 dissatisfied customers I've heard from. Not bad out of millions! While $190 seems steep for a classified ad, they will let it run until you sell, even if it takes years and years. The added exposure of the boat shows and their publication surely helps too, don't you think? I'm went to the Houston Boat Show this week and looked for the ABL booth, but there wasn't one.
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The internet is a wild world, be careful.
See these other scams:
Page 2: Sell your Sailboat to Africa!
Page 3: American based scams
Page 4: Boat for sale scam
Page 5: Room for Rent scam
Page 6: Motorhome for sale scam
Page 7: I've lost my wallet and need your loan!
Sailboat Humor
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Sell your Sailboat to Africa!
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