# Anyone bought a motor from onlineoutboardshop.com?



## The10Man (Sep 21, 2017)

Has anyone bought a motor.from onlineoutboardshop.com (not onlineoutboards.com)?

I was doing some research and came across the website which has really low prices. The 20 hp Suzuki I was looking at is about $1,000 ($1,600 vs $2,600) less than other places I've looked at online. You have to pay for shipping which is a standard $200 but still that's $800 in savings. 

It's sounds too good to be true and so I looked at the about page on the site and it says that the company is located in Japan. 

I sent them a message and asked how long it would take to ship and I got a reply saying it ships air freight to my address in 5 working days and they have a 30 day money back guarantee. There aren't any taxes either. 

I'm pretty apprehensive about this and just wanted to ask if anyone has experience with this company.


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## nccatfisher (Sep 21, 2017)

The10Man said:


> Has anyone bought a motor.from onlineoutboardshop.com (not onlineoutboards.com)?
> 
> I was doing some research and came across the website which has really low prices. The 20 hp Suzuki I was looking at is about $1,000 ($1,600 vs $2,600) less than other places I've looked at online. You have to pay for shipping which is a standard $200 but still that's $800 in savings.
> 
> ...


You can just about bet if it is too good to be true it is. Don't forget about customs charges either.


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## SeaFaring (Sep 21, 2017)

nccatfisher said:


> The10Man said:
> 
> 
> > Has anyone bought a motor.from onlineoutboardshop.com (not onlineoutboards.com)?
> ...



+1. The customs thing can be a nightmare if they aren’t paid up front with the shipping. Your motor could get held up at the border for an extended period, and the penalties for a fraudulent declaration can be large. Keep in mind you’re basically talking about smuggling. It’s conceivable that they rolled customs into the price already (as is the case for all imported motors bought from US dealers) but that would make the price even more impressive. 

Would they be selling a US model with a US warranty, or would it be a no-warranty grey market unit?


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## nccatfisher (Sep 22, 2017)

There has been a few other posts like this on here, to the best of my recollection none have come to fruition. Usually if the buyer does his due diligence he finds the seller is a farce or what he is actually buying isn't really what they are advertising.


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## Stumpalump (Sep 22, 2017)

They are legit. I bought a chipper shredder directly from China that had to be shipped by container. The trucking companies take care of everthing including customs. Easy peasy. You would run into custom issues if importing a non USGA boat. Ever seen how cheap those bitchin China alloy boats cost? Can't get them because of no USCG approval yet. Before I bought that outboard I'd call tohatsu USA and verify warrenty. See if you can buy the extended three year warrenty from your local dealer so they are on the hook to help you for 6 years. Better yet tell the local what you are doing a get them to sharpen their pencil.


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## The10Man (Sep 22, 2017)

> +1. The customs thing can be a nightmare if they aren’t paid up front with the shipping. Your motor could get held up at the border for an extended period, and the penalties for a fraudulent declaration can be large. Keep in mind you’re basically talking about smuggling. It’s conceivable that they rolled customs into the price already (as is the case for all imported motors bought from US dealers) but that would make the price even more impressive.



I sent them an email and was told that the motors ship from Indonesia. Also, was told there aren't any customs fees or additional taxes. 



> Would they be selling a US model with a US warranty, or would it be a no-warranty grey market unit?



On the site it says it comes with the 3 year warranty. 



Stumpalump said:


> They are legit. I bought a chipper shredder directly from China that had to be shipped by container. The trucking companies take care of everthing including customs. Easy peasy. You would run into custom issues if importing a non USGA boat. Ever seen how cheap those bitchin China alloy boats cost? Can't get them because of no USCG approval yet. Before I bought that outboard I'd call tohatsu USA and verify warrenty. See if you can buy the extended three year warrenty from your local dealer so they are on the hook to help you for 6 years. Better yet tell the local what you are doing a get them to sharpen their pencil.



Stumpalump, did you buy a motor from this site or are you just saying that you've ordered other items directly from overseas? 

I like your idea to call the manufacturer before hand and verity the warranty.


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## Stumpalump (Sep 22, 2017)

I never bought from them but I have Google! The hull truth and other places have threads about people buying from them. One guy got his with a busted cowl from a fork lift. New Cowl was in the mail pronto.


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## CedarRiverScooter (Sep 22, 2017)

Local boat dealers need to feed their kids too . . .


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## hipster dufus (Sep 23, 2017)

bought a 9.8 tohatsu back in 08. no issues at all with the company. actually called them before i ordered and got an extra 200$ off by phone , just asked em cause i saw it online to ask for a deal. i would look at the tohatsus, you wouldnt have to worry bout the importing.


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## The10Man (Sep 25, 2017)

I did some more research on the website and it seems pretty scammy. The site has only been around for 8 months. I emailed the company several times and things just didn't add up. I asked about additional fees, duties, customs taxes, etc and he said there is none of that. However, I found on the site where it says there are customs fees. All of this was written in broken English. 



hipster dufus said:


> bought a 9.8 tohatsu back in 08. no issues at all with the company. actually called them before i ordered and got an extra 200$ off by phone , just asked em cause i saw it online to ask for a deal. i would look at the tohatsus, you wouldnt have to worry bout the importing.



I called Tohatsu today and they were super helpful I. Additionally, I called a big online dealer and the guy had nothing but good things to say about Tohatsu in terms of their products and their customer service. He said the Suzukis are great motors but the customer service isn't the best. Before today I was thinking Suzuki because it was a little cheaper and the particular motor I'm interested in has been on the market for several years and is proven. However, after talking to Tohatsu and the dealers I think I'm leaning towards the Tohatsu. I took your advise when talking to the manufacturers and I asked if they had any incentives/promos or could knock off a few bucks and they said no. It never hurts to ask.


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## MrGiggles (Sep 26, 2017)

If you do buy one use a credit card so you have some protection, they can reverse payment if they are fraudulent.


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## randyo3629 (Oct 6, 2017)

i purchased a 2017 suzuki FI 20 hp long-shaft electric start tiller from Porta-bote in California, last March.
they deal in Suzuki only.
I paid $2850.00 out the door..no tax and free shipping, to Indiana.

this about $600.00 less than the local Suzuki dealer, and that doesn't include tax. Plus they wanted to charge shipping since they didn't have one in stock.

they have many models of suzuki to choose from.

you have to request a price and they e-mail you back with the price......but really it was no hassle and i had the motor in about a week.

would buy from them again, no question..

cannot see buying from someplace overseas.


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## PATRIOT (Oct 11, 2017)

I'll chime in with my experience with these people.
I have a thread on here somewhere where I lay out the play-by-play.
Anyway, their website has gone by several names over the past 4-5 years, most recently it was universaloutboards.com 
Funny thing is, they didn't even change the font style on some of their ads. I especially liked their showroom pics full of outboards.
Long story short, I called a neighbor of theirs down the street in Singapore (middle of the night here in the US) and had him go over to their address and the building was empty.
Then I got into a heated email discussion with their "company president" over their authenticity and he said he'd supply me and all my friends with FREE MOTORS just to prove he was legit. Needless to say I never received a motor. Was ready to use my credit card but they "only accept bank transfers" unless you are physically in Singapore.
At the time, they were using the GoDaddy verisign logo on their website so I called GoDaddy and was told they were not even a client.
The end.
(just found my thread . . . 2015 Suzuki DF30ATL Purchase Notes)


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## The10Man (Oct 20, 2017)

Patriot this is great info. After looking into the site and going back and forth with them a few times via email, I realized it wasn't legit. 

I hope these scammers don't fool anyone. It would be a shame if any TinBoaters or anyone else for that matter got duped by this. 

Randy, I pulled the trigger on a new Suzuki EFI 20 hp. Porta-boat gave the best price but they were on back order for a few weeks and so I was able to get Boats.net to match their price and bought from them since they had one it stock. 


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## nccatfisher (Oct 20, 2017)

Hmmmmmmn, so yet another one bites the dust. I was wondering if this one was going to wind up like most if not all the rest.


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