Broker

youen

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Can you tell me why a seller have interest to sell trough a broker.Whatcan it fears if we do the deal privately.And to register the boat in France i think I need only :the bill of sale and the proof the vat was paidThanks
 
Suggest you get information on buying and selling a boat from the RYA. There is some information on their website and they also publish a very useful little book, although as it is UK orientated it won't deal with registering the boat in France.

People use a broker for many reasons. Usually because they would prefer to have a professional handle the transaction including all the paperwork. There is no problem buying a boat direct from the owner provided you are confident of dealing with the paperwork. However, if an owner has instructed a broker he may only want to deal through the broker. In some cases the broker may put you in touch with the owner, for example to discuss details of the boat directly. However the transaction will be covered by the contract. Most brokers use a standard contract.

Hope this helps.
 
I sold through a broker earlier this year. The attraction of selling through the broker was

I had known him for over 20 years and trusted him
The boat was many hours drive away from us
He ensured all the paperwork was in order
He qualified all prospective buyers
The negotiation side was fronted by him and he used his experience to advise us
The money side was handled by him
He kept an eye on the boat for us
He organised the lift in and out for the sea trial that our buyer requested
He only handed over the keys and paperwork when we had cleared funds

use him again - yes
 
Similar -

Sold through broker as he took care of:
the lift
the scrub
hoseing down the outsides every week
handled all the comms/money & paperwork
had lists of prospective buyers to actively target

We did the thorough clean and antifoul

It left us the time to hunt for our new boat ...
 
Good morning:

While it is obviously easier to sell your yacht through a broker as the above posts have indicated it is also a very expensive business.

The brokers I know demand a 10% commission.

I think one should first consider whether the services performed are really worth the cost especially as there is lots of information available on the net these days.

Incidentally I have been present when a couple of buyers told the broker that there was no way they would agree to 10% and ended up with an agreement for a 5% commission. I was very surprised at the speed with which the broker accepted the reduction - I guess they assumed that 5% was better than nothing.

A 10% commission might have been valid once when selling a yacht involved a lot of advertising and expense but today the only advertising is likely to involve adding the specs to their web site.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention maintaining impressive offices.

Cheers

Squeaky
 
4 or 5% appears to be the norm if the broker is taking on a boat he can sell quickly. Clean and will be kept clean, if on the hard antifouled, complete documentation and a marque that is popular
 
Good morning:

but today the only advertising is likely to involve adding the specs to their web site.
y

Not quite true Squeaky.

Thanks to the web, advertising is cheaper and broker fees are cheaper as a result. But all the main portals, i.e Yachtworld, The yacht Market, YBW etc charge the broker monthly fees based on the number of boats the broker is advertising. A broker may be using and paying for anything up to 10 feeds and will still be paying for press advertising, banner ads on certain web sites, boat show attendance (eye wateringly expensive) and search engine ads in order to drive traffic to his own website.
 
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The brokers I know demand a 10% commission.

We have obviously not met then, as we charge 4% commission and almost never demand anything.

I suggest you meet some new brokers. :)

Advertising and pretty offices aside, there are lots of time consuming elements to being a good broker. The preamble can be long and you have to resist the human urge to judge people and treat all buyers as genuine, then the actual hand over (rightly) needs a lot of time dedicating to making sure everyone is happy.

I would say each successful boat sale takes around 5 days to see through, based on selling to the first person to view. Fortunately we have a great track record and sell almost all our boats to the the first serious buyer, but in areas where there are lots of "recreational shoppers" a broker could double the time taken.
 
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