Is this a real company?

[Jackal]

Looking at small outboards for my daysailor, specifically a long-shaft Suzuki 2.5 HP.

Cheapest one I found (by $200) is on a web site called nautica gear specialist, out of Nevada.

Anyone used them before? Is it a legit company?

Thank you, sorry if already asked on here.

Cheers from Texas.

 

[Richard19068]

Never heard of them before but it looks like they sell used, surplus, and cosmetically flawed outboard motors.

"We specialize in used, surplus, and cosmetically flawed outboard motors from trusted brands like Yamaha, Mercury, Suzuki, Honda, Tohatsu, Evinrude, and Nissan, delivering top performance at a fraction of the cost of new models.

It all starts with sourcing quality outboards from a network of reputable channels:

• Boat Owners – Many upgrade their engines, leaving behind well-maintained motors with years of performance left in them.
• Dealerships – We acquire motors with minor aesthetic flaws that are showroom rejects but mechanically sound.
• Manufacturers – We purchase leftover stock, discontinued models, and overstock units directly from major brands, allowing us to pass on huge savings."

They might be fine but if you are comparing to dealer prices for brand new equipment you should be aware of that.

 

[Foswick]

Why would they not be a legitimate company? I will say that there are a few things about their web presence that raise some questions. I would say that they are likely, at very least, a very new company. I would call and talk to them. That will be your best evidence, I think, as to whether you want to do business with them.

I spent WAY too much time looking at this company and my verdict is that they are probably a real company or hoping to become one, but they are trying to appear larger and more-established than they actually are. They do some kind of sketchy things to try to appear that way. This would make me very hesitant to do business with them, if I could not visit them, in person. I am pretty sure I have figured out what is actually going on with the company, but I don't want to publicly make claims I can't substantiate.

Here are a few points, though, to consider:

• If you look up their address on Google Maps Street View, it shows a possibly vacant office in a light-industrial complex with an image from March 2022. So, they might be there, but if they were there three years ago, they had no signage. (That is entirely possible for an online-only business and not inherently suspicious.)
• Their domain name was registered on Nov 29, 2024. It was registered with privacy protection (which conceals the domain owner). This isn't really inherently sketchy. It is often used when the owner doesn't want to be contacted because, for example, they registered with their personal contact information. But it is less common with brick-and-mortar businesses. It doesn't suggest sketchiness but doesn't refute it, either.
• They have a Pinterest and a YouTube account, but no content and no subscribers - just suggests they are new. The YouTube account was just created (Apr 20, 2025)
• If you look at their Pinterest site, they show the picture of a well-stocked retail store that looks reassuring, at first. But, the items on the shelves do not appear consistent with their business - though it is bit hard to see clearly. It appears that they used the picture of some other store or maybe a prior business.
• If you look at their blog, there is a single entry from March 2025.
• Their website uses the label "Parts/Seervice" which suggests they haven't been live long enough for anyone to notice the spelling and correct it.
• But, the one thing that raises real red flags, for me is their "Our Team" page. Take a close look at it. A few things to notice:
  • The faces maybe don't match the names. That might be real, but there are a couple of apparent gender mismatches. That alone isn't inherently evidence there is anything disingenuous, but ...
  • All of the images have been doctored. Look at the logos on the shirts. The text is perfectly straight, even when the underlying garment is not flat. Sarah's and Ashleys have clear evidence where you can see some effort was taken to try to make the drawstring/hair go over the logo and look natural. All this really proves is that the logos were not part of the original image. Possibly, someone just decided that they wanted to put those logos on the images to make it look like they had company shirts. Still, this makes me wonder what else they are not being upfront about.
  • Do I believe that this company (that seemingly just started up within the past few months) has 11 employees and are hiring (according to their "Employment" page? It does raise some questions.
• They show 89 5-star reviews on their page. However, these are not real reviews from an independent site. It is just a Wordpress widget that shows a list of apparently machine-generated reviews. It would be very unlikely for a small business that has been online only a few months to actually have 89 reviews at all, when they have no other web presence to speak of.
• I searched for their business with Nevada's SOS, and could not find any such company.

 

[SV Temenos]

It is a good idea to have a healthy dose of skepticism with these non main stream websites. Last year I tried to buy some marine hose from www.marine-hoses.com which turned out to be a total scam. He just kept making excuses for why he wasn't shipping the product. Then when I asked for refund he said sure but never issued it but said he did. I had to put in a fraud claim with my credit card company. Not to say a lot of these companies aren't legit but you should make sure. If the price seems too good to be true it probably is.

 

[BigEasy]

Attempted to purchase a Baldor alternator & external controller at a very attractive price, from a similar store. The advertised amount was charged to my card; however, within a few minutes, my card was credited for the entire purchase price. Admittedly, the price was too good to be true. Was concerned that my card number was hacked, but nothing ever happened with regards to fraudulent charges.,

 

[Jackal]

Thank you both,

I thought they might be a scam type website as I looked up reviews on customer experiences and didn't find many. Also, when I was asking customer service about the price, it was at $ 490. Now 3 hours later in the same day, the price has jumped to $ 710 for the same outboard. I asked if they would honor the price it was at when we started communicating, but have not heard back yet. I will post when they reply and tell you what I found, thank you.

 

[pgandw]

Years ago, my father used to purchase a new engine from the prior year at a decent discount. I think the place was located on Long Island. Used them successfully for several motors on several boats.

Came time to buy an outboard for my 19ft Mariner. Everything was coming in around $1600+ for a new 4 stroke around 5hp. Saw several companies on line offering from their "huge" stock at around $900. Finally concluded after researching these super low prices were scammers operating out of Singapore.

Ask yourself this - why is this company selling for hundreds less when they could get a lot more for the motor? I couldn't come up with a good answer, nor could I find one on line. Cumberland Sports in Tennessee appears to have the best prices for a legit company with a real address. But other legit US discounters aren't much higher.

In the end, I bought a used Honda 5hp locally for $1K. Simply could not get it to dependably start despite ultrasonic carb cleaning and the like. Made me late enough often enough that I lost sailing partners. As I was taking it to yet another reputable dealer in hope they could solve my problems, I decided to take a chance on electric. Sold the Honda for $600, which made up the difference between a new gas outboard and the Epropulsion Spirit. My shoulders and ears have thanked me ever since.

Fred W
Stuart Mariner 19 #4133 Sweet P

 

[Foswick]

My hunch is this is not an intentional scam, but maybe not what it tries to appear to be. I think caution is warranted, but I don't think it is set up to intentionally rip people off. Would be kind of an odd niche scam to run. My gut on it is that it is an individual or very small team trying to make a buck by selling refurbished motors. They might have a hard time following through on promises, but not intentionally.

That is mostly instinctive speculation - not fact. I would be reluctant to avoid doing business with someone simply because their prices are low. While it does raise the question of why they are low, there might be perfectly good reasons. I don't believe the reasons they give on the site, but I am also not familar with how the OB motor business works.

I would call and just be frank about your concerns. If they are dodgy about the answers, then, there you go. If they are legitimate and just trying to make a living, they will learn something from the call that might help them improve. Of course, if it is a deliberate scam, they will also learn something that will help them improve the scam, but I just think it is better to have the conversation than to speculate.