International Machinery Sales

Machinery transactions overseas call for an experienced broker to play trusted middleman, but that costs money. November 23, 2012

Question
I have been contacted by a potential buyer of a machine that I have for sale at WOODWEB. They are from United Arab Emirates. Does anyone have any experience with this and know whether it is legitimate?

Forum Responses
(Business and Management Forum)
From contributor E:
Why do you think they may not be legitimate? I have sold machine parts outside of the US without any issue.

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From contributor S:
Find a broker to set up the deal. They will use special bank accounts and contracts to make sure the money is there. I am an American but my shop is in Asia, so I import frequently. I always have to pay 100% before the machinery ships. On some very large and costly machines there will be a more complicated payment process that will include the machine being installed and running (I am talking about things like short cycle melamine press lines and panel producing lines).

Expect the broker to not be interested in anything less than $10,000 and expect his cut to be 5 to 10%. If it is small items, (less than 10K) they should cover all brokering and you only need to get it to the nearest trucking center. They should also pay 100% before the items leave the US. My experience with UAE is they are honest businessmen with lots of cash.