boat brokers

[benjenbav]

tired and old.

Looks anything but.

 

[Bristolfashion]

It's always fascinating to read the one star reviews on sites where the organisation has received mostly 5 star comments. Usually, either it's a momentary lapse on the organisation's part or the complainant is a bit bonkers - before Steve jumps in, I suspect the former here!

 

[steveeasy]

It’s hard to stop. He the broker is at fault. He should have viewed the boat promptly.
He should be open and honest and do what he says or remove the reference to appraisals and market valuation.
He is a cherry picker taking his time and messing people about. He’s busy. It’s been raining. Oh dear. We all work and have to meet deadlines.
Id give him another chance but there is little point so he’ll be getting a bad review and he deserves it.

 

[dunedin]

It’s hard to stop. He the broker is at fault. He should have viewed the boat promptly.
He should be open and honest and do what he says or remove the reference to appraisals and market valuation.
He is a cherry picker taking his time and messing people about. He’s busy. It’s been raining. Oh dear. We all work and have to meet deadlines.
Id give him another chance but there is little point so he’ll be getting a bad review and he deserves it.

Out of interest, how many times did you chase him up during the “two months”? OK, perhaps in ideal circumstances you should not need to chase up. But after no news for a week, or certainly two weeks, most would have chased by email and/or phone.
Most businesses probably assume the requester or is no longer interested if not heard back after a couple of weeks.

More importantly, have you now found a broker to take on your boat sale? If not perhaps asking on here might get other suggestions (which might depend on exactly where the boat is located).

 

[sawduster]

I have dealt with Mark as a seller in the past and had a good experience. His photos are much higher quality than other brokers and this was a big plus for us.

I suspect here it's as simple as the boat is relatively low value and he's been busy selling more valuable boats, but done a bad job at communicating this to you despite initially being interested in taking you on. I don't understand why he would be rude about it though as this can easily blow up to something publicly visible like this.

I think the business is just him and one helper and it's more or less the same effort to put on the market a £10,000 boat or a £100,000 boat but the commission is much higher on the valuable boat so realistically I can see where he focusses his efforts. Lower value boats are also more likely to attract first time and speculative buyers where there is a higher time cost to him to conduct viewings so again when busy I can also see this affecting his priorities.

Hopefully you can find a different broker who you can work with to get the boat sold - perhaps by phone first so you can establish your mutual priorities up front early as I've felt this works better than email in my experience with dealing with the marine industry.

 

[Irish Rover]

Don't lose sight of the fact it was the broker who first approached the OP, and not the other way round. In my book, that fact renders the subsequent behaviour of the broker completely unprofessional and rude.

 

[steveeasy]

Out of interest, how many times did you chase him up during the “two months”? OK, perhaps in ideal circumstances you should not need to chase up. But after no news for a week, or certainly two weeks, most would have chased by email and/or phone.
Most businesses probably assume the requester or is no longer interested if not heard back after a couple of weeks.

More importantly, have you now found a broker to take on your boat sale? If not perhaps asking on here might get other suggestions (which might depend on exactly where the boat is located).

I have dealt with Mark as a seller in the past and had a good experience. His photos are much higher quality than other brokers and this was a big plus for us.

I suspect here it's as simple as the boat is relatively low value and he's been busy selling more valuable boats, but done a bad job at communicating this to you despite initially being interested in taking you on. I don't understand why he would be rude about it though as this can easily blow up to something publicly visible like this.

I think the business is just him and one helper and it's more or less the same effort to put on the market a £10,000 boat or a £100,000 boat but the commission is much higher on the valuable boat so realistically I can see where he focusses his efforts. Lower value boats are also more likely to attract first time and speculative buyers where there is a higher time cost to him to conduct viewings so again when busy I can also see this affecting his priorities.

Hopefully you can find a different broker who you can work with to get the boat sold - perhaps by phone first so you can establish your mutual priorities up front early as I've felt this works better than email in my experience with dealing with the marine industry.

My understanding is the fee is the same and not a pertentage.

What I can say for sure is my boat looked wonderful when I arrived last night. It was madness to call her tired she is in good order. But only I know that.!!
I’m not leaving a bad review but I’ll be posting a video to show that she looks nice and bright. I wonder if he even looked quite frankly and if he did he decided no point . Either he let me down which he is entitled to do but it does not deserve brownie points. Yes I am dissapointed with his actions and a little embarrassed over mine.

Steveeasy

 

[steveeasy]

I have dealt with Mark as a seller in the past and had a good experience. His photos are much higher quality than other brokers and this was a big plus for us.

I suspect here it's as simple as the boat is relatively low value and he's been busy selling more valuable boats, but done a bad job at communicating this to you despite initially being interested in taking you on. I don't understand why he would be rude about it though as this can easily blow up to something publicly visible like this.

I think the business is just him and one helper and it's more or less the same effort to put on the market a £10,000 boat or a £100,000 boat but the commission is much higher on the valuable boat so realistically I can see where he focusses his efforts. Lower value boats are also more likely to attract first time and speculative buyers where there is a higher time cost to him to conduct viewings so again when busy I can also see this affecting his priorities.

Hopefully you can find a different broker who you can work with to get the boat sold - perhaps by phone first so you can establish your mutual priorities up front early as I've felt this works better than email in my experience with dealing with the marine industry.

She should really be marketed for 20,000 and removes tyre kickers , CO 32s should also appeal to a particular market. Bit like a fulmar and Twister.
Steveeasy

 

[sawduster]

My understanding is the fee is the same and not a pertentage.

What I can say for sure is my boat looked wonderful when I arrived last night. It was madness to call her tired she is in good order. But only I know that.!!
I’m not leaving a bad review but I’ll be posting a video to show that she looks nice and bright. I wonder if he even looked quite frankly and if he did he decided no point . Either he let me down which he is entitled to do but it does not deserve brownie points. Yes I am dissapointed with his actions and a little embarrassed over mine.

Steveeasy

My experience was a % fee but it may move to a flat fee at a certain level to cover costs.

She should really be marketed for 20,000 and removes tyre kickers , CO 32s should also appeal to a particular market. Bit like a fulmar and Twister.
Steveeasy

I wonder whether it wasn't really to do with you and your boat but that there are quite a number of similar boats on the market - I can see 8 CO 32s on Apollo Duck plus more that won't be advertised there. I wonder whether his associate was too enthusiastic initially and the boss was more pragmatic with their time having looked at the market later on, but very much made a hash of explaining it to you.

 

[ylop]

I don't understand what the brokers cost is other than an hour at most to load up the details on his website and the time he has taken to view the boat.

I'm not sure where on the coast steve is - but I expect its not particularly close to where Mark is based. So rightly or wrongly the visit probably got fitted in when there was more lucrative work in the area, and future visits to show potential buyers were going to be a PITA for little reward. I dealt with Mark as a potential buyer and found him by far the most helpful of the West of Scotland brokers so was surprised it was his name being suggested here, but whilst they do sell "cheaper stuff" I think quite a bit of that has been when someone was buying from them - so it was part of a "deal". It doesn't look good to have loads of boats on your books that aren't selling so I can see why he might not want a boat he won't shift easily. He'll know what's selling at the moment. Perhaps when he was on the pontoon months before he had someone in mind who would have snapped it up, but then at the end of the season there's no obvious matches to make.

Out of interest, how many times did you chase him up during the “two months”? OK, perhaps in ideal circumstances you should not need to chase up. But after no news for a week, or certainly two weeks, most would have chased by email and/or phone.
Most businesses probably assume the requester or is no longer interested if not heard back after a couple of weeks.

And I think Mark is quite good at working out who's a tyre kicker and who's real. If his perception of steve was he was only "thinking about selling" it won't have helped him believe this was going to be a great deal. My understanding was he worked on "no sale no fee", but perhaps there's a "listing fee" too...

More importantly, have you now found a broker to take on your boat sale? If not perhaps asking on here might get other suggestions (which might depend on exactly where the boat is located).

I guess if steve was really keen to sell and there were obvious choice brokers nearby he'd already have gone to them rather than waiting for Mark! But certainly I think I'll have a "potential buyers experience" for exactly that sort of size/scale of boat from I think almost every scottish broker so can tell him how much effort they'll actually put into selling it!

 

[steveeasy]

Yes yes and yes. 7 weeks is too long to dilly dally. Hey it is what it is he should have cracked or made his mind up earlier.
It’s a nice boat and will sell to a Certain market. No point keeping sellers waiting like clowns and then tell them when he got round to it. Sorry it’s poor. Now I’ve got over. My boat looks great inside.

If he had any sense he’d understand. Thats for him to judge.

How’s that.
Steveeasy

 

[Irish Rover]

Yes yes and yes. 7 weeks is too long to dilly dally. Hey it is what it is he should have cracked or made his mind up earlier.
It’s a nice boat and will sell to a Certain market. No point keeping sellers waiting like clowns and then tell them when he got round to it. Sorry it’s poor. Now I’ve got over. My boat looks great inside.

If he had any sense he’d understand. Thats for him to judge.

How’s that.
Steveeasy

Could you clarify please who it was who approached you first? Was it the man himself or an underling? Did you have a for sale sign on the boat?

 

[dunedin]

Yes yes and yes. 7 weeks is too long to dilly dally. Hey it is what it is he should have cracked or made his mind up earlier.
It’s a nice boat and will sell to a Certain market. No point keeping sellers waiting like clowns and then tell them when he got round to it. Sorry it’s poor. Now I’ve got over. My boat looks great inside.

If he had any sense he’d understand. Thats for him to judge.

How’s that.
Steveeasy

But how often did you chase during the 7 weeks ? If didn’t then perhaps might have suggested not really keen to sell.

 

[steveeasy]

But how often did you chase during the 7 weeks ? If didn’t then perhaps might have suggested not really keen to sell.

Ok.
Yes I can just imagine how annoying having an English chap on the phone every week. You should not have too.
It is what it is, he did not want to take it on and I found it frustrating as I could have contacted another broker and she may have sold by now. Perhaps not. Nothing happens till you get it live.
Id do it myself but I can’t do the viewings. Anyway I’ve contacted another chap but I’ve now got to come back up 400 miles to meet him. That’s why it’s anoying to me.
I’ve moved on. His loss.

Happy days
Steveeasy

 

[ylop]

Ok.
Yes I can just imagine how annoying having an English chap on the phone every week.

I doubt very much your nationality would have any bearing on Mark - he's very much in the selling to/for middle class folk business, and in West of Scotland yachty world that involves lots of English people.

You should not have too.

I don't think anyone is saying you should, but its difficult to seem keen to sell if you don't follow up. You've now gone online and publically criticised a broker when it seems you instructed him once, he cancelled a viewing and you never followed up, then eventually he turned up and said (in words which may not have been as tactful as this) "not really the market MCyachts sells to".

It is what it is, he did not want to take it on and I found it frustrating as I could have contacted another broker and she may have sold by now. Perhaps not. Nothing happens till you get it live.
Id do it myself but I can’t do the viewings. Anyway I’ve contacted another chap but I’ve now got to come back up 400 miles to meet him. That’s why it’s anoying to me.
I’ve moved on.

If you spoke in riddles like this to the Broker no wonder he lost interest! Which broker are you now going to use?
Are you really making a 400 mile trip to see a broker, or given its end of season would you have had to come up to winterise the boat etc anyway and the timing has been influenced by the meeting? Why does this broker need a meeting?

His loss.

Or perhaps not!

 

[steveeasy]

I doubt very much your nationality would have any bearing on Mark - he's very much in the selling to/for middle class folk business, and in West of Scotland yachty world that involves lots of English people.

I don't think anyone is saying you should, but its difficult to seem keen to sell if you don't follow up. You've now gone online and publically criticised a broker when it seems you instructed him once, he cancelled a viewing and you never followed up, then eventually he turned up and said (in words which may not have been as tactful as this) "not really the market MCyachts sells to".

If you spoke in riddles like this to the Broker no wonder he lost interest! Which broker are you now going to use?
Are you really making a 400 mile trip to see a broker, or given its end of season would you have had to come up to winterise the boat etc anyway and the timing has been influenced by the meeting? Why does this broker need a meeting?

Or perhaps not!

Politely your speaking a lot of tosh.
For clarity.
I contacted him to sell boat.
He discussed Contessa 32 saying they sell well regardless of market.
He sent me a request to provide all paperwork. Vat status. Bill of sales. Id check and quite a bit more.
I returned everything for him.
He then said he would appraise her on a date 2 weeks later.
I then chased him up a week following this to see if he had indeed viewed boat.

I then was counted last Friday to say he popped over tired and old. Thank you for offer no thanks.
So now you can see I followed it up. Happy?.
By the way for clarity mr M however did not cancel a meeting he just did not turn up. So I acted just like you would have I guess.
My bit about an Englishman is a bit of Humour.

Additionally I might need to come back up for maintenance later but I’d have preferred to meet someone earlier not in a few weeks time.
Perhaps I should ask the next broker why he wants to meet me. Think it’s obvious really but if you think I should ask him I will.

The fact is he advertised a brokerage service. I spoke with. He requested loads of stuff up front. I responded . He did not turn up. I chased him eventually he showed up. Probably for another reason and decided he did not want to sell my boat.

Do you not think a broker should act as swiftly as possible ?. 7 weeks is a very long time if he is local. Would you not agree.

So he deserves the criticism I have highlighted.

That’s it. Finished no bad review.

Tell me I’m wrong.

Steveeasy

 

[steveeasy]

I doubt very much your nationality would have any bearing on Mark - he's very much in the selling to/for middle class folk business, and in West of Scotland yachty world that involves lots of English people.

I don't think anyone is saying you should, but its difficult to seem keen to sell if you don't follow up. You've now gone online and publically criticised a broker when it seems you instructed him once, he cancelled a viewing and you never followed up, then eventually he turned up and said (in words which may not have been as tactful as this) "not really the market MCyachts sells to".

If you spoke in riddles like this to the Broker no wonder he lost interest! Which broker are you now going to use?
Are you really making a 400 mile trip to see a broker, or given its end of season would you have had to come up to winterise the boat etc anyway and the timing has been influenced by the meeting? Why does this broker need a meeting?

Or perhaps not!

I’m in Oban.
Thank you
Steveeasy

 

[ylop]

I’m in Oban.
Thank you
Steveeasy

OK I thought you were further North. You are still about 1h40+ north of Mark, so a half day round trip if it was just to see your boat but I would have expected he'd have been up that way sooner than 7 weeks. I would have expected him to call you if not coming. There's not many brokers in that part of the world. That might make Mark complacent, but its more likely because there aren't enough transactions to keep multiple brokers going, and he does a good enough job to keep most sellers happy.

If I was looking to sell quickly, didn't want to use Mark and couldn't be local, I'd seriously consider moving it to the Clyde. Perhaps the obvious choice is BoatShed. They do take lots of pics, video etc so should save some of the tyre kicking questions - indeed I probably spoke to Ian less than any other broker because I could actually see what the story was rather than having three pics and "ask for more details". I think he's the only W of Scotland broker I didn't meet in person - but online he did seem genuinely interested in selling boats, and he did follow up.

Michael Schmitt / Euroyachts / Great Harbour Yachts all seemed quite happy to show me stuff that was "on site" but it wasn't their opening gambit for stuff that was 30 minutes away, never mind 3 hrs. Whilst I think they do all sell "cheaper" stuff, their core customer base is higher value. I found DDZ the least responsive but they seemed to have a reasonable turnover of "stock" so suspect they had a list of buyers waiting (boom times!). Boatshed seem to be much more "open" to selling anything. Boatshed say they'll sell a boat anywhere in Scotland, but I'm not sure it is economical for them to go all the way from Ayrshire to Oban to show someone a £20K boat, so you might want to explore that with them - the only boat of "theirs" I viewed, the owner showed me round.

I can see why a broker would want to meet in person BUT if most of their value proposition to you is "we'll take care of it so you don't need to make 400 mile trips" then making it a condition of listing is a bad start!

The other option would be to "DIY" the sale but have an arrangement with the yard/marina for viewings? I actually don't think that will get your boat sold as quickly/easily though.

 

[steveeasy]

Yes I’ve spoken with another broker and he is keen to list it. Easy.
Steveeasy