Best way to sell a boat?

I don't know why everyone is so hyped up on Craigslist. Unless I'm missing something, there is no way to "customize" your list. If I'm a buyer, I want to put in parameters of what I'm looking for. Boattraderonline and Yachtworld let me do just that. I can put in that I want a boat in a specific size range, price range, type of boat, gas, diesel, single or twin engine, power, sail, etc. and exactly where I'm willing to go to look for it.
On Craigslist, I have to look at every boat that is listed in an area.

Anyway, Boattraderonline and Yachtworld are the 2 biggest but you have to go thru a broker to get on Yachtworld.
 
When I look at used boats on the internet, I look at boattrader, or maybe yachtworld. I have never looked at craigslist - for anything. Never been on the site.
 
Craigslist is more popular on the west coast where it started. I advertise my Lake Tahoe vacation rental on there and get more responses than people finding my website on google.

Since it is free, it is definitely worth putting it on there. More exposure does not hurt at all.
 
If you're setting your price based on your loan balance, be prepared to enjoy your boat for a long time to come. Buyers do not care whether your loan will be covered. New boats depreciate very fast. Unless you put down a large downpayment, if you're selling a 2005 already, chances are you're upside down and you'll need to bring cash to the table to pay off the loan.

If you need to sell fast, pretty much only one thing will do it: low price.
 
Well, I kind of feel like i have learned a little bit about selling a boat the last few months. Actually...I've only learned theory b/c the actual "sold" process has not yet occurred!
I must say...Regulator's list of the 3 methods seems to be the most accurate. I've whacked the price to where my boat is literally the lowest in the ENTIRE USA for the make/model of my boat and on top of that my boat is in awesome condition...everything works, she shows well, she is clean, etc. Every person on my dock when I see them literally is shocked it has not yet sold at the price I have her at (shocked b/c they know first hand her condition, etc.). So yes...even being the lowest price does not seem to cut it.

SO I will add one other suggested manner for selling a boat- part it out! I figure if I haul my boat to my house and put her on the hard and sell her piece by piece on ebay I may have her gone eventually. :)

Until then I am enjoying using my 3372 as a run about for weekday evenings! It's a zippy boat with the I/O's- in fact, the inlaws came over yesterday evening for a dinner cruise after I spent the day cleaning her (why do boats get so dirt if you don't go see them for a week or so???).
 
My loan is what the going rate for that boat is now. I have looked at many sites and what people are asking is more or the same as what I owe. I know I am going to take a loss but 20% is allot of money. I am trying to buy a house and need the money in the bank for a down payment. If I use it to pay down the bank note now I will not have enough for a down payment on the house.

I am stupid for buying this boat. I should have kept my old boat that was 1/2 the loan payments and value. I want to get a smaller boat shortly though. I dont think dealers will trade down though.
 
Pricing, condition, brand and records of professional (not dyi)maintenance are valued in the market. Pristene, well maintained boats with a strong brand sell at a premium. Many sellers think that a few little wear and tear items and no records are normal. Think of it as curb appeal with a house. The average shopper may be put off by the wear and tear. The informed shopper will know how much stuff costs to repair. There are many pristene boats for sale if you look around. They are the benchmark against which the others are measured.
 
boating_rob, the problem is those are asking prices. You need a broker to look at soldboats.com to know what they're actually selling for (probably about 80-85% of asking).

Here's a suggestion for your next step though. After this experience, why would you want to go back to a dealer for your next, smaller boat? Buy used so you're not upside down again immediately.
 
Here is my .02.

You need to advertize but you also need curb appeal and unfortunatly, luck.

My yard placed the boat within sight of a busy on-water restaurant and the road. I had as much traffic from people driving by as I did from $1,500 in advertizing. I ultimately sold the boat for less than I wanted to someone from out of state that was driving by the yard.
 
Price, price, price (plus it needs to be in good condition). Put it on Craig's list, the free magazines, etc. People that are really looking will find it.

I am in the market right now (for a 26ft downeaster)

Boats that are overpriced sit and sit.

Unfortunately I missed on one that was priced right....I was on a business trip and it sold in two days. It was about 40% below some comparable listings.

I think the people that are out there are like me....looking for a really, really, good deal, but are totally willing to wait.

I've had people say I can't accept x because I owe 20% more than that on the boat....I would never tell somebody that because if/when they become desparate enough to sell it my offer will be 80% of x.
 
I agree on a used smaller boat. My though behind that was to get out of this boat and still have a boat. If I take a 20% loss of what I owe then I will not have any boat ever again. Plus I will not be able to buy the house. I guess I am stuck but the best is probably dump this boat for what I can get and loose $25K and not sell my condo and forget a house until maybe 10 years to recover the 25K.
 
quote:
Originally posted by boating_rob

My loan is what the going rate for that boat is now. I have looked at many sites and what people are asking is more or the same as what I owe. I know I am going to take a loss but 20% is allot of money. I am trying to buy a house and need the money in the bank for a down payment. If I use it to pay down the bank note now I will not have enough for a down payment on the house.

I am stupid for buying this boat. I should have kept my old boat that was 1/2 the loan payments and value. I want to get a smaller boat shortly though. I dont think dealers will trade down though.

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Why don't you advertise that you want to trade your boat for smaller. I would guess that would get a lot of attention from people who want to buy bigger.
 
Nobody has suggested a trade. We got out current boat in a trade. I had a later model 30' express cruiser and wanted an older larger boat in the 40' range. I was prepared to give my boat and $ for the new one. We ended up with an even swap. There may be somebody out there with a smaller boat willing to pay the difference. If you wind up with a smaller boat it's easier to sell.
 
When were shopping for a specific make and model (Silverton 351) a few years ago, everyone we saw that was less than 5 years old was overpriced. We made offers on 2 that were turned down because the sellers were upside down and wanted to get out of the boat without going out of pocket. Well, it's not the smart buyer's responsibility to make the seller well again on their boat loan. I know for a fact that one of those boats is still unsold and deteriorating on the hard because the seller still hasn't dropped his price. Think about it, you can either take a hit and go out of pocket to pay off the loan and sell the boat now or you can go out of pocket for storage, maintenance, loan payments, etc while you wait for a buyer at "your price"... make your choice.

BTW, when we sold the Silverton last year I spoke to a broker friend who very honestly told me that the market "sucked" because gas prices were up, interest rates were up and the weather had been bad but he said he'd put some feelers out if we liked. We priced the boat about 10% under the least expensive similar boat listed on YW at that time. That was on July 4th last year.... we had a contact at $1K less than our asking price on July 9th. For the smart buyer it was the right boat at the right price.
 
When we sold our last boat three years ago (a 98 Bayliner 2855), we had it listed with a broker and had the lowest price on Yachtworld ($5K lower than the next to the lowest price on that site). Needless to say, the boat sold in just 10 days and because our asking price was so low to start with, we did get our full asking price. The buyer knew it was the lowest priced one in the country (by far) and our broker made it clear that they would need to come in at the asking price. Everyone has access to the internet, so I'm sure in this case the buyers felt like they were getting a great deal and just went ahead with taking it at our asking price.
 
I will list on some online sites next week. As far as a broker is concerned. I can't drop the price 20% and give 10% to the broker. I will really be in a hole.
 
I wouldn't mind hearing what people here think about using brokers. On a smaller (<40 footer) boat, the broker probably plays a smaller role; but if the boat is not near your home, the broker will do a lot of the legwork to let buyers see it. Selling also requires that you deal with a lot of callers, and associated paperwork.

I've never been a seller, but I do not look forward to the paperwork and harrasment aspects of this process.
 
I listed my 30' Cruisers on Craigslist last September, at what I thought was a decent price. The boat was also in very good condition, too. I got 3 e-mails in the first 24 hours, and by the 4th day the buyer emerged. We closed the deal 2 weeks later and I received my full asking price, with no commissions. Craigslist is a great resource for selling!
 
I sold my 1995 25 foot Chaparral last summer. I listed it on boat trader and I-boats.com. I got equal number of hits of both but boat trader was mainly us residents and I-boats were more canadians and europeans. I ended up selling to boat from a guy who found the add on I-boats who lives in Canada but I also had one serious inquiry from Europe (not the scams, I got some of those too). We had 2 boats in our marina that went to Europe and it was still a good deal for the buyer to the because the Euro has been so strong.
 
I sold the Sea Ray using craigslist.

After meeting with a few brokers and hearing how bad the current market is, I priced the boat at what I figured was a fair price. I had one offer that seemed a bit low and two that were just plain crazy.

However, after considering the 10% broker commission and the additional expenses the broker suggested I incur, I ended up accepting the bid that initially seemed low. I ended up with about 12% less than I would have netted by selling through a broker at the higher price - which wasn't guaranteed in the first place. I closed on the sale last Wednesday, the day prior to my flying up to Maine to pick up the new boat. That 12%, which amounted to around $4,000 was a small "price" for me to "pay" - I don't have the headaches of owning two boats and I'm free of worrying if she'll sell.
 
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