ezstandalone.cmd.push(function() { ezstandalone.showAds(102); }); [Boat Buying Advice](/articles/boat-buying-advice)# Don't Wire Money to a Boat Seller Until You Watch This Oct 11, 2026 [ Twitter ](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet/?text=Don%26%23039%3Bt%20Wire%20Money%20to%20a%20Boat%20Seller%20Until%20You%20Watch%20This&url=https%3A%2F%2Fboattest.com%2Farticle%2Fdont-wire-money-boat-seller-until-you-watch.md&hashtags=boattest&via=&related=&in-reply-to=)[ WhatsApp ](whatsapp://send?text=Check%20out%20this%20page%20-%20%20https%3A%2F%2Fboattest.com%2Farticle%2Fdont-wire-money-boat-seller-until-you-watch.md)[ Share on facebook ](https://www.facebook.com/dialog/feed?app_id=966242223397117&name=Don%26%23039%3Bt%20Wire%20Money%20to%20a%20Boat%20Seller%20Until%20You%20Watch%20This&link=https%3A%2F%2Fboattest.com%2Farticle%2Fdont-wire-money-boat-seller-until-you-watch.md&caption=&description=&picture=&source=&ref=&display=popup)[ Email ](mailto:?subject=Share%20this%20article&body=Check%20out%20this%20page%20%22Don%26%23039%3Bt%20Wire%20Money%20to%20a%20Boat%20Seller%20Until%20You%20Watch%20This%22%20-%20https%3A%2F%2Fboattest.com%2Farticle%2Fdont-wire-money-boat-seller-until-you-watch%0D%0A) Content Courtesy of [Current Yachts](https://currentyachts.com/ "https://currentyachts.com/") ### **Video Summary** In this eye-opening episode of Full Displacement, the hosts sit down with Kelly Curtis, founder of Paykeeper, to expose the hidden financial dangers lurking in private boat and yacht sales. From wire fraud risks and bouncing cashier's checks to international payment complications, the discussion reveals why traditional handshakes and blind bank wires can cost you everything. Discover the crucial safety measures every boat buyer and seller needs to know—before you transfer a single dollar. ### **Video Transcript** ## The Danger of Cashier's Checks in High-Value Sales ****Maryline:**** What is your advice to someone selling a $60,000 boat and willing to accept a cashier's check? ****Kelly:**** Just don't do it. Just don't do it, plain and simple. You don't know if those are going to be good funds, and you don't know the disputes that could arise. ## Defining the Role of an Escrow Agent ****Maryline:**** Can you sum up for us the role of an escrow company or service? ****Kelly:**** Yeah, an escrow agent—sometimes called a fund control agent—is a fiduciary. That means we're licensed and regulated to hold money on behalf of parties in a transaction, whatever that transaction may be. We are governed by the transactional documents or the contract, and we administer those terms to make sure everything happens as agreed before money is disbursed. ****Maryline:**** What is the single largest project that Paykeeper has ever handled? ****Kelly:**** The single largest project is probably in import/export, where single transactions are in the millions of dollars. Our largest client is on the home improvement side; we process maybe $200 million to $300 million a year in escrow projects for them. ****Maryline:**** Hey, let's get those boats sold! ## Introduction to Yachting and Private Boat Sale Risks ****Maryline:**** Welcome to **Full Displacement**. Today, we're talking about the possibility of wiring tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars to a total stranger for a boat that you've potentially never even seen. What could go wrong? Money protection in private boat transactions is underserved and misunderstood, and due diligence is skipped entirely most of the time. Without further ado, I want to introduce Kelly Curtis from Paykeeper. Welcome, Kelly! ****Kelly:**** Thanks, Maryline. It's good to be here. ****Maryline:**** We’d love to ask you all our questions about safeguarding money when buying boats, whether through private party transactions on the FSBOAT platform or with Current Yachts. To begin with, tell us your story with Paykeeper, how you founded the company, and your background with money-related projects. ## The Origins of Paykeeper: From Construction Lending to Escrow ****Kelly:**** I’ve had a business partner for over 20 years. We started a construction lending business back in 2001, where our role was managing funds for construction projects, like new home builds. The biggest concern for a construction lender is that the project doesn't get built and their collateral doesn't exist yet. You use a fund control agent to manage the funds, ensuring the hole is dug and the foundation is poured before paying subcontractors and suppliers as progress payments throughout the project. We learned a lot during the Great Recession in 2008, 2009, and 2010 about how to protect funds and get them to the right place. Depending on their disbursement policies, lenders either survived or didn't during that time. Later, we entered the home improvement industry and founded Paykeeper out of a necessity for those same fund control policies. They didn't exist in home improvement because the projects were smaller—remodels ranging from $50,000 to $150,000—unlike building a new home. When a transaction was made directly between a homeowner and a contractor, it was like the Wild West. Contractors would ask for $50,000 upfront to start, or homeowners wouldn't want to pay anything until the end, leaving the contractor exposed. We founded Paykeeper as an escrow platform equipped with software tools and a full API suite to support any transaction where fund control didn't exist. Last year, we did around 17,000 to 18,000 home improvement projects through escrow, so we're operating at scale. ## Why Yachting Needs Escrow: Real Estate Parallels and Risk Factor ****Kelly:**** Why do we use escrow in real estate? Because the transaction is so large that nobody can recover from it going bad. If your transaction is similar in size or complexity, we can step in and provide escrow functionality where it previously didn't exist. ****Maryline:**** We actually recorded a podcast episode comparing yachting to real estate because there are so many parallels. We're so glad we found you to provide a solution that works well in real estate and can be applied to yachting through Current Yachts or FSBOAT. Yacht transactions are inherently risky. Not only is a boat a sinkable asset, but in private boat sales, it's even riskier. Oftentimes, people show up in your front yard with a thick wad of cash, or they want to pay with a cashier's check that might bounce. ## Trust Accounts vs. Licensed Escrow Companies ****Maryline:**** In the brokerage industry, we are required to have a separate trust account, which is a bit different from an escrow account. Can you explain the difference between the two? ****Kelly:**** As a licensed real estate agent or yacht broker, you can set up a trust account in your name, which keeps funds segregated from your operational money. However, a licensed escrow company must report to a regulator similar to a bank. We have to reconcile accounts to the penny every day and submit call reports. There is a much higher standard of compliance and security. With a broker's trust account, an agent could potentially commingle funds or dip into the account to make payroll if they're going out of business; you have no guarantee they won't. With an escrow company, the standard is much higher. We are SOC-2 compliant with our technology, undergo financial audits, and file regular call reports. When dollar amounts are large enough, you need that level of peace of mind. ## Offering Flexible Escrow Solutions to Boat Buyers ****Maryline:**** That’s super important. At Current Yachts, like most yacht brokerages, we maintain a segregated trust account where it's up to us to keep funds separate. As a buyer preparing to remit money to a broker, you need to do your due diligence to ensure the brokerage won't disappear. In addition to our trust account, we now offer clients the Paykeeper solution for a small fee—a few hundred dollars depending on the price of the boat, compared to around $1,500 for an attorney. Because Paykeeper handles all compliance, checks, and audits, we let our clients choose how they wish to operate. Above a certain price point, using a third-party escrow company like Paykeeper makes total sense. ## Checklist: When Should You Use Escrow? ****Kelly:**** When evaluating a transaction, you should look for specific red flags or checkboxes: 1. ****High Ticket Amount:**** My wife once bought a camera online that was $300 off, paying $100. It turned out to be a complete scam. We lost the dispute, but $100 is an amount we can recover from. If it's an amount you cannot or do not want to recover from, that’s checkbox number one. 2. ****Unfamiliar Parties:**** If the seller or brokers are unfamiliar, or if it's a one-off transaction with no prior payment history, you need escrow. 3. ****Existing Loan Payoffs:**** Many boats have existing bank loans. If the loan isn't paid off properly, the future buyer will face severe issues down the road. Escrow ensures the loan payoff is handled correctly. 4. ****Required Inspection & Due Diligence Period:**** Buying a boat isn't an instant transaction; it requires inspections and time. Every used boat is custom and in a different mechanical state. If there are conditions that might require you to back out, you need escrow. ## Handling Survey Disputes and Escrow Holdbacks ****Maryline:**** In yacht brokerage, we frequently use an **escrow holdback**. If a survey reveals issues on an agreed-upon vessel, we might hold back $50,000 in escrow to prove those items get repaired or are working properly. If they aren't fixed, the cost is deducted from the holdback; if they are, the remaining funds go to the seller. Paykeeper helps us facilitate this flexibility seamlessly. There are always going to be hiccups in boat deals—whether it's a dispute following a survey or missing equipment upon handover. Knowing money is held in escrow until specific milestones are met eliminates those disputes. ## Step-by-Step: How Escrow Works in a Brokerage Deal ****Maryline:**** Amanda, can you break down what a brokerage deal looks like and where escrow steps in? ****Amanda:**** A buyer signs a Purchase and Sale Agreement, which is sent to the listing broker. Once the seller countersigns, the first 10% deposit is due and transferred to an escrow or trust account like Paykeeper. The money is safely held while we go through boat surveys. If the buyer decides to reject the vessel for any reason during this contingency period, the 10% deposit is returned directly to them. ****Maryline:**** To clarify, if a buyer opens an escrow account and backs out, there is a $199 cancellation fee retained by Paykeeper, but the rest of the deposit is remitted back to the buyer. Once all contingencies are lifted at closing, the buyer remits the remaining 90% along with the balance of the full escrow fee (ranging from $249 to $849 depending on the purchase price). It provides all the protections of an attorney escrow account at a fraction of the cost. ****Kelly:**** It's been great applying our escrow process to the boating industry. It really feels like this market is primed for it. ## International Transactions and Cross-Border Security ****Maryline:**** Paykeeper is also extremely helpful when dealing with foreign brokers across different time zones, regions, and currencies. We recently had a complex transaction involving multiple international parties, and using an escrow service ensured all deposits were collated in one secure place. ****Kelly:**** We can handle international wires, make international payments, and perform full compliance screening, including KYC (Know Your Customer) and KYB (Know Your Business). This ensures the transaction is completely above-board without any post-deal blowback. ## Streamlining Peer-to-Peer Sales with FSBOAT.com ****Maryline:**** Now let's break down how the For Sale By Owner (FSBO) process works on the FSBOAT platform, where Paykeeper is embedded directly into the workflow. FSBOAT offers two options: - ****Option A (Free Contact):**** Buyers and sellers can trade contact information and handle the transaction off-platform. However, this leaves you on your own like a Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace transaction, with no support or safety net. - ****Option B ($6.99/month Membership):**** Members get access to transaction management tools, e-signable sample documents, step-by-step guidance, and direct integration with Paykeeper escrow. The platform guides both parties through every stage, including deposit reminders, inspection periods, and final settlement, removing the fear of scams or unvetted buyers. ****Kelly:**** The FSBOAT platform uses Paykeeper’s API suite to handle background connections for money movement, milestone check-offs, and document retrieval in one seamless process. Users don't have to toggle between two separate systems. ****Maryline:**** There is an inherent trust gap in peer-to-peer boat sales between strangers, especially when dealing with $120,000 center consoles without a broker safety net. Having an automated, secure process bridges that gap. ## Transparent Disbursements and Human Customer Support ****Maryline:**** When disbursements are triggered, users log directly into the secure Paykeeper environment to input their wire details. In the past, we've had to hunt down lost wire transfers simply because someone typed an account number wrong in an email. Having the user directly manage their remittance details prevents those human errors. ****Kelly:**** On top of that, we have a real customer service department reviewing these transactions. Even though processes are automated programmatically, real people oversee every transaction to pause and resolve any potential account errors or party disputes. ## Additional Industries Supported by Paykeeper ****Maryline:**** What other industries does Paykeeper currently support? ****Kelly:**** Beyond real estate and marketplaces like FSBOAT, we work in: - ****Home Improvement:**** Managing contractor funds and progress payments. - ****Film Industry:**** Escrowing investment funds, talent arrangements, and handling revenue distribution "waterfalls" to various investors and stakeholders. - ****Import/Export:**** Managing large-scale overseas product shipments that require inspection upon arrival before releasing funds. - ****Banking:**** Supporting international transactions through established payment rails like JP Morgan Chase. ## Real-World Impact: Protecting Funds from Contractor Bankruptcy ****Maryline:**** Can you share an example of where Paykeeper saved the day for a client? ****Kelly:**** A national home improvement contractor recently filed for bankruptcy with thousands of active projects. Normally, if a homeowner had paid a $25,000 upfront deposit directly to the contractor, that money would be lost or tied up in bankruptcy court. Because those funds were held in individual Paykeeper escrow accounts, we were able to verify incomplete projects and issue full deposit refunds directly back to the customers so they could hire new contractors. ## Final Thoughts and Key Takeaways ****Maryline:**** The biggest takeaway today is: ****Do not wire money directly to a boat seller, and do not accept a cashier's check if you are selling a boat.**** The risk is simply too high. Instead, safeguard your money using an escrow provider like Paykeeper. Kelly, thank you so much for joining us. Any final words of wisdom? ****Kelly:**** I'm just excited to see pictures of all the fantastic vessels you guys are facilitating deals for! ****Maryline:**** Thanks again for joining us. Check the links in the description below to learn more about Paykeeper's transparent fee structure and try out FSBOAT.com. Until next time, fair winds!