Selling unseen

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navaho

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Ive just been offered the full asking price (not that its massive) for my gelding im selling, as the buyer is so far away they would be buying unseen (im west Wales they are a long way up in Scotland), i havnt given an answer to them yet, but have to admit im quite worried about letting him go.
I really want him to find a long term & happy home, he deserves it after the year hes had, & obviously there is a chance he may not suit them & could end up getting passed on again. On the other hand it could be a great home & he may be just what they are looking for.
Any advice, the money isnt important, though its always nice, but i really do want the best for him. Heart is saying turn it down & the head is saying take it.
 
From a personal point of view, I would want to meet the person and assess their suitability for taking on my horse. I'll never be a businesswoman!!
 
I have bought a few horses / ponies unseen over the years - one was a great success, but bought from a dealer who knew me, and I knew him, and the horse was cheap enough as well. I then bought 3 ponies unseen (from someone I knew a bit - cheap again, but possibly too expensive when they turned up - one I did not think would last the night......He was supposed to be 12 years - it later turned out he was possibly 40 plus) But again they turned out OK (in time......!)
If you have described your horse accurately, and are not asking masses of money for him - then the person is possibly taking a risk and hoping that all will be OK - but it could be a scam as well - so beware!
 
NO
Dont do it. If you are one of the profit rather than love bregade then yes but you sound like you want whats best for your boy so DO NOT DO THIS :)
 
Almost forgot - I once bought a horse from Ireland - it was described as having some minor confirmation faults - when my husband went to collect it from a stud in Dorset (where it was shipped too) he almost did not bother loading it - the minor faults turned out to be completely wonkey back legs, and a crumpled ear.......We did sell her on again for what we purchased her for - but not without plenty of angst. But then you are the seller not the buyer - so a different perspective.....
 
I personally wouldn't risk it... I'd want to meet the new owner & see how experienced / knowledgable they were, have a good chat (grill them!!), see how well suited they were to the horse, and I'd probably want to see the yard it would be going to as well... There are just so many dodgy people around and I wouldn't forgive myself if anything bad was to happen. A bit different if you're taking the risk of buying unseen, but I personally wouldn't want to sell that way. x
 
Thanks everyone, youve pretty much voiced all the things im worried about. He is for sale very very cheaply & i am worried about attracting the wrong people, but i also dont feel i can ask anymore than i am, given the current market & the circumstances of his sale. Ive already had one rather rude lady offer me £200 for him because she was offering a 5* home & i wouldnt find a better one....only thing is i happen to know she was a dealer.
I would really love to find a home where i can keep in touch with him (not stalk the new owners, just get little updates etc every now & again). I appreciate there are no guarantees when you sell a horse & peoples circumstances change, but i would like to try & do my best for him :)
 
Don't always knock dealers......I was sort of one for a number of years, and I always tried to match horses with the best buyers, and kept in touch with many of the horses / ponies I sold - there was a reputation thing going on as well!
If I read your advert from Scotland, and thought that it would suit, and I really did not want to travel down to say Devon - then I would take the risk. I once sold a horse from Devon to Northumbria - and they bought him unseen (£2K.....so not £200) and we are still very good friends some 5 years later!
 
Antw23uk said:
NO
Dont do it. If you are one of the profit rather than love bregade then yes but you sound like you want whats best for your boy so DO NOT DO THIS :)
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Not always the case, there can be good reasons why people don't or can't travel. I have now bought 4 horses sight unseen, because of the distances here. The one was a disaster from the start, but the others, I had to provide references, which were checked, we chatted a lot by phone and email, and it worked out great.

The disaster one we ended up euthing, long story, poor old girl:mad: One mare has since been sold on again, due to a change in direction here, and the other two will be here for a long long time.
 
dressedkez said:
Don't always knock dealers......I was sort of one for a number of years, and I always tried to match horses with the best buyers, and kept in touch with many of the horses / ponies I sold - there was a reputation thing going on as well!
If I read your advert from Scotland, and thought that it would suit, and I really did not want to travel down to say Devon - then I would take the risk. I once sold a horse from Devon to Northumbria - and they bought him unseen (£2K.....so not £200) and we are still very good friends some 5 years later!
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Im not knocking dealers at all, please dont get me wrong. However i do take exception to the emails that were sent from her, they were extremely rude, mainly because i turned down her £200 & as i said, she was welcome to view him & discus the price (had it of been the right home i possibly would have taken the £200), it didnt help that i was fully aware of who she was & she was giving me some old flannel about giving him a 5* home, when the chances are he would of ended up at Brecon or Carmarthen mart today. Thats not the sort of person i want having him.
 
You could ask the people in Scotland for more details about what they are interested in, and ask if they can send you photo's of where he would be kept etc. (Maybe one of the people who post on here would know the area etc?)

I supose the other option is if you travel him up, you might have to bring him back, but I would not let an animal go anywhere without seeing where they were going to live.

Do rely on you own gut feelings, they are usually right!
 
I sold my mare to a lovely lady in Devon (about 8 hours away) a couple of years ago. I sent videos of her and loads of pics. She already owned a Haffy so knew what they were about. I asked for pictures of their current horses, references from vets and farrier they were also members of the breed society and were known on the circuit when I checked and I also gave her the same. A relative came from Wales (about 4 hours away) to pick her up and I gave her the option to try her but they were more than happy.

They were pleased with her and we kept in touch so it can work.
 
Are you sure it's not a scam? I'm always wary of people who will buy things unseen. You hear horror stories of the money being stopped or recalled by the banks and the items for sale are in the hands of the buyer.
 
Have you thought what you will do if they don't like him when he arrives? I have just been caught out terribly selling a horse (not unseen) and will never sell another one unseen or seen.
 
If the horse is cheap and being bought unseen it is inevitable the buyer will be thinking " oh well if it doesn't suit we could easily sell on."

They may even just be seeing a profit and not a horse to keep all.

Potentially the only difference between them and the lady offering £200 is the money you will get.

Can you afford to wait for a bit and see if a buyer you are happy with comes along?
 
I bought unseen. He was perfect, stayed with me until he was pts just shy of his 37th birthday. In fact I am toying with the idea of buying another unseen as I have a foot injury and can't make the drive from Surrey to Wales. I've seen a video of him, photos, talked to the owner at length. I have a gut feeling he is right for me. The only thing that is stopping me frankly is this weather and trying to give my fields a chance to recover before putting another horse on them.

I would ask the buyer what they would do if the horse turned out to be unsuitable or that they encountered a problem.
 
And try a google search for their name and mobile number. I would also ask to speak to their vet but I have gone from being very naive to completely cynical having read a lot of the desperate threads in tracing missing horses. Good luck with selling your horse.
 
Its a long way from Scotland to Wales & for that reason we buy unseen.
However, we get pics etc sent & speak to the owner and base a judgement on that.
If you pm a few of us Scottish peeps you may get a heads up on them or befriend them on FB, that gives a good view on them :)
Personally I wouldnt discount it.
 
Personally I would never sell a horse without meeting the prospective buyers. That said I am currently in the process of buying a wee ex racer unseen from a trainer in Devon (Im in Scotland). My agreement however is if I dont get on with her, the trainer will have her back. :)
 
I would never buy a horse unseen and would never sell a horse unseen. I want to see and try what I am buying and would want to make sure the horse I was selling was suited to the potential buyer and would have a good home.
If we decide to replace my horse of a lifetime, we have thought about a welsh d but we will be making the trip and spending the time necessary to find the right one for me. Do not want to make an expensive mistake!
 
A youngster that can't really be 'tried' I'd probably do it if they sounded like they knew what they were on about on the phone and asked all the right questions.
An older cheaper horse then no, I'd want him not to be passed around and therefore I'd want to see they could and liked to ride him.
There must be 100's of similar horses in their areas (unless I've missed something in your description of him - sorry if that's the case) so why him???
 
In these days of unwanted and cheap horses, have you wondered why they would want one from so far afield, assuming they are going to pay the transport that will cost them more than many many horses in their own area? As Polos Mum says, there will be plenty local to them that could fit the bill.
I wouldn't - for me, the secret of a succesful sale is to match horse and rider, see them together, see them ride, otherwise it could do horribly wrong and the horse could get a reputation and end up in that awful downward spiral of bullying owners and cruelty.
 
Years ago I was selling my mare as a brood mare. She was advertised relatively cheaply on a website (without photos) and I had a lady ring up, offer the price I was asking and saying she would 'send' a lorry the next day to collect the mare. She wasn't even planning on collecting her herself!

Needless to say, my heart ruled my head (as it always does with horses) and I turned her down. I think you'd be right to turn them down unless of course you feel they're genuine and can be trusted. I'd never buy a horse unseen so I'd never sell one that way either (although I appreciate it does work out sometimes for some people - I'm just too fussy!)
 
I had one of my homebreds adertised, he was as described and meant a lot to me. A potential buyer was very interested and wanted to buy the horse unseen. I refused as I had to be sure they were right for each other.
 
AMW said:
Its a long way from Scotland to Wales & for that reason we buy unseen.
However, we get pics etc sent & speak to the owner and base a judgement on that.
If you pm a few of us Scottish peeps you may get a heads up on them or befriend them on FB, that gives a good view on them :)
Personally I wouldnt discount it.
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^^ This.

On the map. Scotland looks huge. But I used to boast I could find out what anyone in the Highlands had for breakfast with fewer than half a dozen phone calls! I could tell you a few stories confirming this. PM a Scottish member here and see what some research can reveal!

I purchased my stallion from someone in the Midlands, unseen for a four figure sum and vetted by the seller's own vet. One of the best buys I have ever made! But I did my research.

Surprisingly, most people in this world are honest - or want to be -- it is only when they are forced into dishonesty (poverty, marriage breakups, legal issues, etc) that you have to watch out. Get photos, videos, speak to them over the phone, search Google, and get your spies out there!:) We do a lot of business at long range on trust up here.

Edited to say, Google is so good, you can even peep into the prospective purchasers back garden and see what car they drive these days if you have an address!
 
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Im another who has done it, Im also in the far NE of Scotland, I was very wary to begin with,however i sent videos, buyer sent me videos of their current horse and set up, we swapped emails, lots and lots of calls, checked each others facebook etc, I gave her references, she got in touch with our vet/farrier, she was well known in showing circles and she has invited us down to see him in the summer!
Ours was quite a lot of money, which was a bit nerve wracking especially at the thought of what if she doesnt like him when he comes off the lorry, however it has worked really well for us and from the piccies and updates she has sent he is in a lovely home and is spoilt rotten!!
It depends how much you want to sell, but anything can happen once money has changed hands, wether thats just round the corner or 800 miles away :(
 
In your circumstances no I wouldn't. I think you stand a beget chance of making sure the home is right for him if you can meet them.
 
Polos Mum said:
There must be 100's of similar horses in their areas (unless I've missed something in your description of him - sorry if that's the case) so why him???
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Depends where they are. I live on the north coast of Scotland and when I was looking last year there were precisely zero ponies locally that fit what I was looking for (safe Highland mare, age immaterial). The nearest one was Dry Rot's lovely mare, Breagha, who was 2 hours south, but I was searching all the way down into England.

I do keep an eye on the local equine market and there are maybe 10 horses/ponies for sale at any time in this area and often they'll be either Shetlands or unbacked 2/3 year-olds.

So if they're somewhere remote, don't discount them, they may well be genuine :)
 
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