POP Yachts

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walterv

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I am caught between a rock and a hard spot. SIYS is a customer of mine, I bought my last boat from them as well as a new boat in 2004. I am presently trying to sell my Silverton 45C. I am doing this on my own through my marketing on the internet.
So here is my problem.
SIYS, being my customer gave me there work after Sandy because of my loyalty to them and my purchases. Now to be honest, that was somewhat a bullsh$it statement. I did find out another customer we had in common gave the green light for us (my company). But even so, I appreciated what the owner (Frank) did and continues to do. Not to mention, I really like him, his sales people and his staff, awesome company to deal with and they pay their bills.

So, back to POP Yachts, they are offering me this:

Dear Walter,

When last we spoke, you were very interested in the unique marketing program we offer here at POP Yachts International. As you requested, I forwarded to you our marketing agreement for you to review, sign and send back to us so that we can kick-start this marketing plan to sell your vessel.

We have not heard from you in some time, and I am just wondering what concerns you might have that have delayed you from moving forward?? Please remember, working with us means:

1) There are absolutely no out-of-pocket costs for you. We pay for all of the marketing and listing costs to put your vessel on more than 100 international marine MLS sites, from Australia to Europe to the Middle East.

2) Should you sell your vessel on your own, you pay us absolutely nothing. We only get paid when we perform and bring you a buyer.

3) If, for some reason, you wish to cancel our agreement, you can do so at any time with no penalty or cost.

We have put together an excellent and proven program that is truly a win-win. The overseas market has been very strong, and we are taking full advantage of this.

Are you ready to get going?

Click the link below to authorize POP Yachts International to market your vessel and bring you a buyer. We will be notified instantly, and we'll start marketing your vessel to our vast pool of buyers.

I am thinking that SIYS is not really into the international sales, I further think that SIYS is not really good at selling used boats.
So I guess I need to call the owner , Frank, before I list my boat anywhere. But in the mean time, has anyone ever dealt with POP yachts?
 
I bought my boat from SIYS and I was very happy with both the deal as well as the staff! Frank is an interesting character but that's OK he has earned the right to be whatever he wants.
As for POP Yachts I never heard of them but if you think they are going to make it happen for you what do you have to loose.
Does SIYS get a commission if you sell it on your own? If not can you list it with both and whoever sells it gets paid?

Best of luck selling!
 
Not a big fan myself but again, looking for my next boat there are few out there that impress.

Having said that, do a search on THT. There is a recent thread about them. Good and bad.
 
Mark,
You do know you would get my listing,before anyone else but this guy is pumping the "international sales", may be smoke and mirrors, just not sure. The SIYS is more about me doing the right thing with Frank, I owe him that. I emailed him and he responded, he is out of the country now and will chat with me next week.
Guess in my old age I am getting soft, I do remember the days profit was king and screw anything else. Guess my time is over :(
 
If a "good 'ol gal" brought you to the dance and knows your clumsy feet leave with her as well. Halter tops and Daisy Dukes usually just support saggy breasts and hold in fat butts courtesy of some underlying spandex. In the age of the internet, all listings are "international".
 
A question....

"I am presently trying to sell my Silverton 45C. I am doing this on my own through my marketing on the internet."

You market your boat on your own trying to get and give a reasonably good deal on both sides. You are very knowledgeable about your boat and boats in general and you can and will represent all of that information to a prospective new owner which is also very valuable to true boaters who cruise often.
Along comes POP which offers the marketing deal but says you can 'get out' with 5 days notice no strings attached and/or sell on your own.
A buyer comes along that clearly learned about your boat from a sign ,friend, your internet add, a marina it was at ,etc and you go into a deal with that buyer.
Unknown or unrealized by the two of you this buyer had 'signed up' for the POP site so he could look at a number of boats while he searched - maybe months or even a year ago. He never spoke to anyone at POP or maybe he did but not about your boat specifically. The folks at POP yachts send you a list or 'potential buyers' by internet ID but they mean little to you unless you actually get a person on the phone with a real name and number,

Here is the question - What the heck happens now? Who is going to have a problem and what happens with
potential commission?

IMHO - work any deal that makes sense to you with people that you know at SIYS. Write whatever you both agree to in simple English on their agreement and both of you sign it.

Just my 2 cents

Hope this helps
 
Boy you have a bad memory!
We talked about Pop Yachts.
My boat is listed there.
I listed it when I thought I wanted to sell it due to the draft.
Now that I am happy with boat, and good with draft, I don't want to sell it anymore.
I called POP and wanted to remove the listing, but they convinced me to leave it and see.
Basically, if the offer comes thru I like, then I can take it or leave it.

My opinion, its a good service.
They give me a great report every week of every view my boat had, their name, location, and their interest level.
They listed the boat with over 200 pics.
They have it on all the major sites.
And don't tell them I told you this, they are negotiable on commission. I had some lowball offers come thru and I tried to beat them up and they were negotiable to help move it, but I still could never get to my number.

I can sell on my own, but the issue before you sell on your own is to make sure that person did not register with POP. If they did, then you will be on the hook to pay them!

On another note, your selling your boat? Last week you were moving it out east.
You change your mind more than I change my underwear! Let me guess, your selling your boat and buying a new porsche?

I will buy your slip!!! :)
 
Walter,
You want to sell your boat so if the present broker isn't making that happen get someone else. I also get that feeling when I look at POP Yachts, they just seem to be too good to be true. I'd go with my gut on them. Your boat is mint you just need someone to get the word out to the potential buyer. If you contact a broker down in Florida maybe they will have a better chance of selling your boat. I know the internet is king but buyers like to touch what they're buying. I don't have the answer but if what your doing isn't working it's time to do something else.
Rob
 
quote:
Originally posted by CurrentSea

Boy you have a bad memory!
We talked about Pop Yachts.
My boat is listed there.
I listed it when I thought I wanted to sell it due to the draft.
Now that I am happy with boat, and good with draft, I don't want to sell it anymore.
I called POP and wanted to remove the listing, but they convinced me to leave it and see.
Basically, if the offer comes thru I like, then I can take it or leave it.

My opinion, its a good service.
They give me a great report every week of every view my boat had, their name, location, and their interest level.
They listed the boat with over 200 pics.
They have it on all the major sites.
And don't tell them I told you this, they are negotiable on commission. I had some lowball offers come thru and I tried to beat them up and they were negotiable to help move it, but I still could never get to my number.

I can sell on my own, but the issue before you sell on your own is to make sure that person did not register with POP. If they did, then you will be on the hook to pay them!

On another note, your selling your boat? Last week you were moving it out east.
You change your mind more than I change my underwear! Let me guess, your selling your boat and buying a new porsche?

I will buy your slip!!! :)

Click to expand...


Slip is yours,
86k, and I will pay you 4.2k to rent it this season
 
Walter
I used POP yachts twice in the past. I have nothing bad to say, they did exactly what they said they would do.
The first boat, a Bayliner 38 MY, the sold in about 4 weeks. They even cut there commission a little to make it happen.

2nd boat a 34 Silverton, they brought people to see it, but Iended up selling it off of Craigs List.
I called them and they emailed me a list of people who contacted them about the boat and asked if anyone on the list bought the boat.
No, and that was that. No commission.

Would definitely use them again.
Tom
 
From a buyers perspective, I have had a terrible experience with them.
No call backs on some inquiries, every salesman I talked to was the "regional Manager" just jacking up the hype of who they are. I dealt with about 5 different reps from Southern Maine to Maryland when I was looking for a Trawler a year ago.. The reps were located in different states than the boat was located in and did not know anything about the boat I was inquiring about.
They still send me "I found the perfect boat for you" emails after numerous calls and emails to have me removed from their mailing lists
 
I see no reason why a local broker to the boat cannot perform the task they claim they can.

In our region, most of the pop yachts boats are overpriced because in my opinion appeal to the bottom of the barrel boats or owners trying to think they will save a buck and go around them when a sale completes.

Any broker that gets the boat on yachtworld is reaching the same market they claim they are overseas. I have a little experience with this. I also believe pop yachta is basically a spinoff or possibly even the same as boatshed that was around in full force a few years ago and basically vanished.

I called on a boat listed by them to make a co brokerage deal, they didn't know a thing about the boat and basically told me where the owner told them the keys were and said to call them if I have an offer. That's unacceptable.
 
Hmmm, as an "International Buyer" who just bought a boat through PopYachts, maybe I can give my input. The broker I dealt with "Gary" was/is great. I previously inquired about a different model but rang him when I decided to go a different direction as he seemed very easy to deal with. From looking around to finding a boat to put an offer on, everything went smoothly. I bank transferred the deposit to their account once the offer was accepted and then went for the survey. I guess Gary spoiled me because I was less than impressed with their "closing" department. After we had an offer, it took awhile for the closing department to respond to my surveyor and set up an appointment so my time after the survey to make a decision was next to nil. Didn't have time to get the fluid samples back etc... Not a massive deal because I'm sure I could have canceled the deal, made a new one with a new deposit and extended the timeline, but with the logistics of it all (boat berth etc...), I decided to proceed with the purchase. My call.

As an "international Buyer", you pay a higher closing fee than you would if you were purchasing domestically. $499 Vs (I think) $199. I'm not sure what this was for, so I asked early on in the process if it included the attestations etc... I'd need here in Dubai. Gary forwarded my requests promptly to the closing department but received no reply. After we finalized everything with the buyer, I emailed the closing department again asking about the documents etc... and they didn't know what I was talking about until they "asked around the office". And the answer was no. No problem, just asking.

I was then forwarded an email sent to the Coast Guard (from the closing dept.) requesting my Deletion Certificate. After a few weeks, I asked the closing department if I should follow up directly with the person she emailed and the only response I got was (verbatim) "I would". So I email the Coast Guard (and Cc'd the closing dept) and they said they sent the letter to a address I wasn't familiar with somewhere in the states. I responded that the address was foreign to me and I didn't think Popyachts had an office there either. I received an email saying it went to Yacht Services because that's who requested it. Who?? I'm thinking the closing dept would step in here and sort things out, but nope. So I Googled this company and found a point of contact listed on their Facebook page. She was extremely helpful but had no idea what I was talking about. After another round of emails, the Coast Guard sent me a FedEx tracking number to the same address. Another call to Yacht Services... The nice person on the phone found the package in the office but it contained information concerning a vessel they were working on, not mine. After the second email to the Coast Guard, the person responding said to contact someone else in their office. Long story short(er), I was finally able to track someone down in the Coast Guard, send them my credit card number and they sent it out to me via FedEx (or maybe UPS). That was fun.

So all in all, how was my experience with Popyachts? Great except when I had to deal with the closing department and even that wasn't so bad in the grand scheme of things. As a company, they make the process very streamlined and efficient with everything (for the most part) clearly laid out in front of you. Before dealing with the closing department I'd give the company a 10 out of 10. Even after (why let 1 person spoil it), I'd still give them a 7.5 out of 10.

Why did I pick Popyachts? Did they come to me etc... I began my search for a boat and looked at every site I could get my hands on. In the end, I think the reason I completed my purchase with them was because they had the boat I wanted and the agent I was dealing with was a well informed, polite and responsive. If this same boat was listed on multiple sites would I still have went the Popyachts route? Yes, and here's why.

Their website is better than most and very easy to navigate. Actually I can't think of a better site. You can download all of the pictures of a boat your interested in with a single click. You can also download a brochure on the boat which comes in handy when trying to decide which boat is for you. The free boat report may be a gimmick, but I downloaded it and no one else seems to offer it for free. And even if it's not accurate or in depth (no reason to doubt it, just saying), it gives us internet buyers a little more of the warm fuzzy feeling of security we're ultimately craving. Also, Gary the agent, laid out the entire process ahead of time and promptly replied all of my questions.

And in response to the OP, did they find me? No. Are they an "international company" with the corresponding footprint? Well... not quite sure. I found them because I was deliberately searching for boats Stateside.

Anyway, hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions

Edit:

And would I use them again? Not sure but I think so. If I could deal with nothing but Garys and avoid the closing department then absolutely! I have a few friends looking to buy and import boats as well and I'm debating on how to steer them. But if anyone wants the brokers info who I dealt with, just let me know.
 
destinationhere,
Thank you for the time you spent to to type out and share your experience as a buyer. I do have a few questions if you don't mind.
1- Where did the boat come from in the states and did it go to Dubai?
2- How was that handled and what were the costs involved for that?
3- I am thinking it is not cheap to transport a boat overseas, with that said, are boats so cheap here in the states this makes sense? Or is it the lack of inventory overseas?

Thanks again for posting your experience.

Regards
Walter
 
Walter the value of the dollar is so reduced that things like boats seem cheaper here!
 
quote:
Originally posted by walterv

destinationhere,
Thank you for the time you spent to to type out and share your experience as a buyer. I do have a few questions if you don't mind.
1- Where did the boat come from in the states and did it go to Dubai?
2- How was that handled and what were the costs involved for that?
3- I am thinking it is not cheap to transport a boat overseas, with that said, are boats so cheap here in the states this makes sense? Or is it the lack of inventory overseas?

Thanks again for posting your experience.

Regards
Walter

Click to expand...


No problem.

The boat should have made it here but I had a problem with the person who was supposed to make the trailer and transport the boat from the yard to the port. Caused me to miss the first boat and canceled two days before delivery on the 2nd! Luckily I found someone else to pick up the slack and get it to the port just in time. With that being said, it should arrive in a few weeks.

And it was handled 100% by me. The broker did get a shipping quote, but for some reason I used another company. Really regretting that!

The costs are very high, from 15 to 20k! The boat market here is severely lacking and I'm sure when I go to sell it I'll get all the costs back and then some. Boats here are crazy expensive! As an example, my friend shipped a brand new wake boarding boat here, used it for 3 years and sold it without taking a loss!

And to answer someone elses question, the currency is pegged to the US dollar, so there's no fluctuation.

Hope this helps
 
Wow. Sounds like we should just ship boats there to sell.
I hear the boating is amazing.
And I bet the fuel is dirt cheap.
 
quote:
Originally posted by CurrentSea

Wow. Sounds like we should just ship boats there to sell.
I hear the boating is amazing.
And I bet the fuel is dirt cheap.

Click to expand...


Absolutely!

The gas is regulated here but the diesel is not, so diesel is a lot more expensive (hence me going with gas engines). So it's about... $1.75 or so per gallon (gas).
 
$1.75. I would do a lot more boating if I paid that. Wow.
Any pics of boating destinations and your boat?
Dubai has always impressed me.
Don't want to be rude but do women have to be covered up there?
Seems that would be no fun on a boat!
;)
 
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