What is a bill of sale?

A bill of sale is a legal document made by a ‘seller’ to a purchaser, reporting that on a specific date, at a specific locality, and for a particular sum of money or other “value received”, the seller sold to the purchaser a specific item of personal, or parcel of real, property of which he had lawful possession. It is a written instrument which evidences the transfer of title to personal property from the vendor, seller, to the vendee, buyer. Under Australian law, bills of sale are regulated under the laws of each of the states. In New South Wales, from the Security Interests In Goods Act 2005 (NSW) replaced bills of sale and trader’s bills of sale with security interests. A bill of sale must now be registered as a security interest.

A bill of sale can be a very important document because it can be used later on evidence of the purchasing of good. If the goods are damaged in transit or stolen, the new owner will want to be able to verify that they had in fact purchased the goods at the time and that their insurance would therefore be liable for replacing any lost or damaged goods. Also, it can later be used in court as evidence of the terms or existence of a transaction if there is any doubt about this.

How do I obtain a bill of sale?

These are now quite standard documents which can be drafted cheaply by a lawyer according to a standard template. The bill of sale does need to be customised to the jurisidiction in which it is supposed to operate because there are slightly different laws in operation in different areas of the world which govern the validity of a bill of sale. However, we have lawyers available online now who can assist you with the process of drafting an appropriate bill of sale for your business.