BLOG: Buyer beware

The digital age has made life so much easier - information is now readily available whilst technological advances have dramatically impacted the way in which we conduct our day to daily lives.

Paying bills or purchasing goods can be completed with the click of a button, however, the ease with which credit is available and the lack of forking out your hard earned cash then counting out the bills can make one lose sight of the amount of money being transacted - it's easy to transfer large sums of money without a second thought.

If the global financial crisis has taught us one lesson it would be to never part with a large sum of money without taking delivery of the end product. During the GFC there were an unprecedented number of boat builders that went under and with the failure of these businesses, many hard working people lost vast sums of money.

If you were in the unfortunate situation where you handed over a deposit and a boat builder went bust prior to completion, you would join the list of creditors and generally be placed down the order of priority for repayment...

It's a tricky situation as the boat builder requires funds to purchase materials and obtain some security over boat buyers walking away from an unfinished hull, whilst boat buyers want to hand over minimal amounts to safeguard against the boat builder going bust... Having recently been through the process of buying a boat during the GFC and thinking through all manner of scenarios I would be happy to offer my assistance to the relevant governing bodies - as fishermen and boat owners we all have a vested interest in improving the industries that we support.

A similar tale could be told about purchasing goods online from foreign countries, low budget stores or unscrupulous peers via the myriad of classifieds available online - it might cost more to deal with your local tackle store but at least if something goes wrong you have their support and the support of the local wholesalers to fall back on.

It's a case of buyer beware.