If you need to sell something, you will want to know how to make a bill of sale template that you can use to complete the sale process. A printable bill of sale can be a big help when you are selling an item that you want to certify has changed hands. This is common for use in a variety of different kinds of sale processes, even when selling to friends or family. No matter what kind of item you are selling, knowing the bill of sale format can be a big help to you when you are writing this document.
You do not have to be selling something expensive like a car to need to use a bill of sale to finalize and clarify the details of the sale. There is no reason that you should avoid backing up the sales process for any item with a bill of sale, especially if you are selling something “as-is” or with some blemishes or repairs that are needed. A bill of sale can be used in court to prove that a sale was completed as well, which can be a really nice benefit for those who are selling things on their own without an agent involved.
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Bill of Sale Templates
What is a bill of sale?
A bill of sale is a legal document that is used to transfer the ownership of an item from one person to another person. You can look at the bill of sale examples when writing your own sales document, but you will need to be aware that a generic bill of sale might not include all the details that you want to have in your own document.
A bill of sale is recommended for any sale that is in the amount of $500 or more, but you can make a bill of this kind for anything that you want to transfer from yourself to someone else. Even if you just want to prove that you gave an item away for free rather than asking for payment, you can use this document to detail this exchange. A completed bill of sale is required for many kinds of ownership transfers, and even if you are giving a car to someone for free, the DMV will require a bill of sale to prove that the transfer happened and that the car can be retitled in a new person’s name.
Insurance companies will often also require a bill of sale template that has been completed in order to allow someone else to begin insuring an item. This document will also be needed to end the insurance contract that was in place for the original owner in some cases. This is part of why knowing how to write a sales document correctly can be so important. No one wants to have to struggle to ensure or to transfer legal ownership of an item that they have already purchased just because the bill of sale is not properly created at the time of the sale.
Bill of Sale Forms
Kinds of Bills of Sale
There are various kinds of bills of sale that you might need to know how to write, depending on your goals:
- General Bill of Sale
- Vehicle Bill of Sale
- Boat Bill of Sale
- Trailer Bill of Sale
- Motorcycle Bill of Sale
- Firearm Bill of Sale
- Horse Bill of Sale
Always be sure that you check on the requirements in your state as well before writing a sales contract document. There might be various additional sections or details that need to be included in your bill of sale template. These things are not usually complicated to add to your document, and you just want to be sure that you do not leave them out and make your bill of sale invalid.
What happens if you don’t have a bill of sale in hand?
If you don’t have a document for the sale on hand when you are transferring ownership of an item to someone else, you might run into problems. There are various downsides to skipping this step when selling an item that you should be aware of.
- Legal action being taken against you as the new or former owner of the item
- Inability to insure an item or to get state registration for it
- Trouble proving ownership of the item in question for other reasons
- Issues with legal action being taken against you for actions of the new owner
There are many instances where a vehicle sale can lead to legal troubles for the person who has not correctly transferred ownership to the purchasing entity. If you have not correctly transferred the ownership with a signed bill of sale, you can be asked to pay for traffic violations and other kinds of issues that are related to a lack of action on the part of the new owner.
A sales document can be really essential to preventing issues with legal actions of all kinds later. This is a protective document for both buyers and sellers. You should consider even a basic bill of sale a must-write item to protect yourself from issues down the road. This is such a simple document to make as well, so there is no reason not to make sure that this document is on hand for your needs when you are going to sell an item to someone.
Bill of Sale Examples
How to write a bill of sale?
- Sale Terms: These will be the terms of the sale. You will want to indicate the condition of the item as well as the agreement that was made about anything that you are selling “as-is”. If you do not disclose the status of the item when you are drafting your document, you could run into issues with the seller complaining about the item later and being able to take legal action against you. You and the buyer will need to chat about the condition of the item and make sure that everyone agrees on the state of the item before the contract is sold. You can even leave some blank spaces in this part of the document if you think you might need to add some stipulations that were not originally discussed or disclosed prior to talking to the buyer.
- Add Buyer and Seller Information: Put the full legal name of both buyer and seller on the document, as well as addresses and contact numbers for everyone involved in the sale. Do not leave out any information about the contact or location of the buyer and seller. Legal documents need to include all the buyer and seller information to make sure that there is no confusion about the parties involved.
- Information About Item and Price: The description of the item needs to be complete, and the price needs to be clearly stated. If you are accepting payments for the item, this information must be included here, as well as the description of the item itself. Vehicles will need to be indicated by make, model, year, body style, and color. You will want to put as much information as you think is needed to identify the item in question into this part of the contract. Having incomplete or inaccurate information in this part of the bill of sale template can lead to the contract being invalid.
Make sure as well that you are very clear about the details of the payment. If you are accepting cash, you will need to indicate this. If you are willing to accept some other kind of money transfer, like a wire transfer, you will need to indicate all of the payment details for this transfer in this section as well. - Completion of the Sale: Once everyone involved in the sale have agreed on the price and the details of payment and has verified that the information about the item is correct. You will need to make sure that everyone signs the document and dates their signature. The payment will usually be exchanged at this time, and if the sale is for a vehicle, most people will take the sale contract and head to the DMV to have the car transferred into their name.
Remember that a document that is not signed is not legally valid, so you will want to be certain that you take care of the signature part of the document with care. An unsigned bill of sale is the same as not having a sales document at all.
Some other terms that you might want to know:
- Buyer – This is the person who is purchasing the item and might also be referred to as the purchaser.
- Seller – This is the person or entity who is selling the item.
- As-is – When this sales condition is indicated for an item, this means that the current condition of the item has been disclosed as imperfect. The flaws and defects, as well as the condition of the item, have been made clear, and the buyer cannot come back and ask for the seller to address flaws in the item later on.
- Warranty Provision – When you add this information to your bill of sale template, it means that the seller will agree to repair or replace the item if there are issues with defects or imperfections at some future time. This warranty will typically be for a set period of time and not for a long duration of time in the future. There is no warranty provision on items that have been sold as-is.
- Certificate of Title – The certificate of the title indicates that the party selling the item has the title in hand at the time of the sale.
- Sales Tax – Most states charge a sales tax for all goods that are sold within the state or to state residents. You will need to include this information if you are selling something that will have tax applied to it.
- Notary – Some sales contracts are verified and witnessed by a notary to give them added legal weight. This is not required for all sales, but it can be a requirement or an added perk for some sales processes.
- Notary Public – This is a state-appointed representative who can notarize documents for the notary process.
- Promissory Note – this mote means that someone promises to pay a set amount of money for an item. This is typically only included if you are going to allow someone to take out a loan instead of paying in full at the time of the sale.
Not all of these terms will apply in your sales situation, but knowing what the terms mean can make a big difference in your ability to create a document that will be useful and hold up in court if there should be any need for it to be used in court proceedings. The more detailed the information in your bill of sale, the better off you will be if there is ever any question about the way that the sale was handled in the future.
Bill of Sale Format
Bill of Sale Documents Can be Very Useful for All Sales
No matter what kind of sale you are taking care of, you will want to be sure that it is properly documented. This eliminates confusion and problems down the road and ensures that you are not going to have to deal with conflict with the person that you sold the item to down the road. No matter what conditions you use to limit the sale or if the sale is done as-is, a document that details the information about the sale is essential.
Knowing how to make a sales document is critical for any kind of sales process that you enter into. You will have a much easier time when selling any item if you have a document that details the information clearly and correctly. This is a key aspect of taking care of sales processes responsibly, and you will be glad that you have used this guide to make a correct bill of sale for your needs.