Selling a boat yourself!

anthonybert

anthonybert

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Hi,

My wife and I are year round boaters and we finally made the jump and put an offer on a flybridge boat which has been accepted (hopefully the sea trial will be successful). No part exchange was possible, and we had to move fast. So now we have to sell our Princess V39! At the boat show we were under the impression that this boat is quite in demand!

Since there are no second hand V39 for sale at the moment in the south of England, we were wondering if it was a good idea to try to sell it ourselves or if it's best to stick with our broker for a faster sale and obviously a big brokerage commission?

Thank you

Anthony
 
I assume yours is a fairly new boat so worth somewhere between £250k and £300k?

The question is are buyers looking to spend that money going to be happy dealing privately with you or are they more likely to be thinking new boat and therefore already in the brokerage/dealer mindset. Finance is likely to be involved and the banks prefer to see dealer invoices to gain certainty on cost etc.

I'm not saying you can't, I've sold boat privately but not for anywhere near that value.
 
I would try it myself first. Warranties are a major issue but if your boat is new enough there will be balance of manufacturers but even so I would consider selling the boat with an add on warranty, at least as an option here is one that springs to mind https://www.boatsandyachtswarranty.com/?affiliateid=123.
Put a decent web site together, take some nice photo's and a stable walk round video.
Sell the dream not the boat, as long as the boat is sparkling it will sell itself.

Advertise it on all the free sites, Boats and outboards, Apollo Duck, Boatshop24 etc, probably an advert in Motor Boats and Yachting. Ebay may be counter productive. produces lots of watchers but nearly all dreamers and tire kickers, you just get silly low offers and I am fairly sure if you accepted one they would still disappear.

What have you got to lose, if you don't sell it give it to a broker, all it will have cost you is a bit of time and a couple of quid.

Sold both of our privately, no where near the value of yours but they were both sold within a month.
 
It does depend on how competant you feel, however I certainly would try and sell it myself or there is nothing to stop you doing both! Could save a deal of money if you find a punter?
 
I listed with a broker and did private add.
It went via the broker in the end and got very few enquiries privately despite being the cheapest in Europe so in my opinion nothing sells quick even if its the cheapest boat out there!
 
FWIW I have always sold our boats privately and am just about to go through the process again. Here's what I do.

Create a simple website that has some nice photos on sunny days and maybe some video of the boat.
List all the inventory and provide some additions like a previous survey, a boat review from a magazine and maybe scanned copies of all the service receipts etc... Just whatever is necessary to inform the viewer and preferably to give them a good feeling about you the seller and your boat. Nothing false or over exaggerated but just make it sound appealing.
Then I would price the boat at about 10% less than what brokers are normally advertising a similar boat for. The idea being they charge 6% to 8% plus vat, so I can strip that cost out which will hopefully be attractive to purchasers.
Then I advertise on all the free sites with a pointer to my web site. If they don't like you doing that, then you can try and get around it by using a slightly different wording e.g. have a look at my boat at xyz.com crucially missing out the www bit. Sometimes works, sometimes not.
That's it. Just keep the adverts going.
Always worked for me!

FWIW the reasons I do it myself is because brokers never seem to impress me when I am trying to buy a boat from them, so I assume that they will offer the same experience to potential buyers if selling mine. Further, they obviously don't know the boat as well as me and I reckon talking to a potential purchaser means if they are serious, I can help them get to know the boat. I will be honest and tell them everything good or not so good!

I find it hard to believe that someone is going to stumble into a brokers or a dealers and just go "I was thinking of buying a boat mr broker. Can I have that one please". I am sure there are the odd exception, but surely everyone nowadays does lots of research on the internet first before seriously looking. If what I say is correct, then I am confident they will find my boat and my website!

As one other poster says, you have nothing to lose except some time getting the information together and putting it on a web site.
 
Most buyers of such a boat will have something to trade in. Therefore I'd sell through James or Nick Barke

The last two boats I sold were mint and <2yrs old, and both sold to the very first person who came to view, so you could say I could have sold them myself. But at chunky values the buyer needs lots of hand holding and you need someone to process the trade in boat and provide the all-round confidence that the buyer wants. Paying Barkes's commission was money well spent imho, to get the sales done. Both sales were at record prices for the model of boat concerned.
 
asteven221 said:
FWIW I have always sold our boats privately and am just about to go through the process again. Here's what I do.

Create a simple website that has some nice photos on sunny days and maybe some video of the boat.
List all the inventory and provide some additions like a previous survey, a boat review from a magazine and maybe scanned copies of all the service receipts etc... Just whatever is necessary to inform the viewer and preferably to give them a good feeling about you the seller and your boat. Nothing false or over exaggerated but just make it sound appealing.
Then I would price the boat at about 10% less than what brokers are normally advertising a similar boat for. The idea being they charge 6% to 8% plus vat, so I can strip that cost out which will hopefully be attractive to purchasers.
Then I advertise on all the free sites with a pointer to my web site. If they don't like you doing that, then you can try and get around it by using a slightly different wording e.g. have a look at my boat at xyz.com crucially missing out the www bit. Sometimes works, sometimes not.
That's it. Just keep the adverts going.
Always worked for me!

FWIW the reasons I do it myself is because brokers never seem to impress me when I am trying to buy a boat from them, so I assume that they will offer the same experience to potential buyers if selling mine. Further, they obviously don't know the boat as well as me and I reckon talking to a potential purchaser means if they are serious, I can help them get to know the boat. I will be honest and tell them everything good or not so good!

I find it hard to believe that someone is going to stumble into a brokers or a dealers and just go "I was thinking of buying a boat mr broker. Can I have that one please". I am sure there are the odd exception, but surely everyone nowadays does lots of research on the internet first before seriously looking. If what I say is correct, then I am confident they will find my boat and my website!

As one other poster says, you have nothing to lose except some time getting the information together and putting it on a web site.
Click to expand...

Excellent answer! Well done that man, I've been a salesman all my life and that is the best advice and explanation! If the OP does not follow your above advice he doesn't deserve to sell his boat! :)
 
Thank you all for your answers.

I have finally decided to work with my broker despite some of your sound advice. I had to take quite a few thing into consideration and in the end there was more pros in going with my broker.

Selling a boat is always take longer that we expect. There will be quite a few people and potentially time waster wanting to visit her and I live quite far away, so logistically not easy. Also as suggested in a reply, people will most likely feel better dealing with a broker for deposit or if finance is involved!

Thank you again.
 
anthonybert said:
Thank you all for your answers.

I have finally decided to work with my broker despite some of your sound advice. I had to take quite a few thing into consideration and in the end there was more pros in going with my broker.

Selling a boat is always take longer that we expect. There will be quite a few people and potentially time waster wanting to visit her and I live quite far away, so logistically not easy. Also as suggested in a reply, people will most likely feel better dealing with a broker for deposit or if finance is involved!

Thank you again.
Click to expand...

Good luck and let us know how you get on.
 
jfm said:
Most buyers of such a boat will have something to trade in. Therefore I'd sell through James or Nick Barke

The last two boats I sold were mint and <2yrs old, and both sold to the very first person who came to view, so you could say I could have sold them myself. But at chunky values the buyer needs lots of hand holding and you need someone to process the trade in boat and provide the all-round confidence that the buyer wants. Paying Barkes's commission was money well spent imho, to get the sales done. Both sales were at record prices for the model of boat concerned.
Click to expand...

I agree. If selling a Princess, using boats.co.uk would be a no brainer.
 
I have just last week completed the sale of my boat ( a Lagoon 380 S2 moored in Turkey) and and have had a really positive experience using an excellent UK broker whose advice and judgement I firmly believe was the reason I sold mine for a good price when so many are out there on the market right now. I decided from the outset that I would use a UK broker as I had no intention of putting my trust and the eventual sale proceeds - my life savings- in the hands of a foreign broker I knew little about. I knew from the concerns I had 4 years ago when buying her that a reputable and trustworthy broker was essential when handing over such a vast sum so I refused to even look at boats being offered privately or by some of the highly dodgey foreign brokers I came across during the long boat buying process. Most I would not have trusted with a bargepole. For that reason, when we found we had to sell this summer I did a 'Find a broker' enquiry via Yachtworld and from the numerous replies I choose Imperial Motor Yachts in Poole as I was so impressed with the broker Henry Mackenzie-Green. Everything he said about the process, his judgement of the time wasters, and the advice about the viewing etc. was spot on and I have recommended him to good friends who are now thinking of selling. He even came out to Turkey for the viewing and spoke directly with the purchaser to close the deal. I am sure that my boat would still be on the market along with all the others if it were not for him and he handled the negotiation perfectly in a way I know I couldn't which resulted in a sale price well above what I thought she would have to let her go for. To me he earned his 6% and some. I am more than happy to discuss the details of my sale (which also went through in record time!) with anyone if you care to contact me.

Good luck

Bob
bob@yachtwise.org
 
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