selling a boat

[baggypipes]

hi has anyone tried to place an advert for their boat on ebay? we have been trying for days only to have our account suspended, as they say the advert was being placed by a third party. we were told to RING them (yer right) from a mobile & told we have to wait for 20 mins for someone to talk to us. We have it on another well known site but thought ebay would work just as well. Any thoughts welcome thanks

 

[yachtorion]

Mine has been on ebay for 20ish days.... 1200 views.... 56 watchers... not a single bite. I'm not convinced it's the best way of selling them!

 

[V1701]

I wonder if it's anything to do with the type of ad, mine's on as a classified ad with best offer & was no trouble to place. Or maybe to do with IP addresses, are you accessing your ebay account from different places all the time, e.g?
In just over 2 weeks from the ebay ad I've had 2 offers, one silly & one reasonable, over 2000 views & 107 watchers. I also have ads elsewhere & a dedicated website specifically for the boat (see link in signature). I think a dedicated website is a great way to sell particularly good examples of older, lower value boats that don't get much input from brokers, my other site has info on how to DIY, I've also done quite a few sites now for other owners:

http://boatselling.wordpress.com/

 

[Caer Urfa]

hi has anyone tried to place an advert for their boat on ebay? we have been trying for days only to have our account suspended, as they say the advert was being placed by a third party. we were told to RING them (yer right) from a mobile & told we have to wait for 20 mins for someone to talk to us. We have it on another well known site but thought ebay would work just as well. Any thoughts welcome thanks

Why E-bay?
I have been involved selling two nice Colvic Watsons recently, one on Apollo Duck sold in 11 days under the 'motor sailers' section and the other one sold in 7 days on FAFB (find a fishing boat) under the' sailing yacht' section.

But, show plenty of good 'up to date' photos with an 'honest description', if anything broke fix it first!

Good luck
Mike

 

[NUTMEG]

Ditto Apollo Duck, sold both my two previous boats there, not even a nibble on FleaBay.

Would not bother with auction sites to be honest.

 

[obmij]

Lovely Hurley James - I had one as a first boat. Nearly 30 years older than yours and looked it!

At nearly £7k though, I suspect you'll need to find a Hurley 22 enthusiast who is willing to pay a premium for a top quality example. Hurleyowners would be the best place, but I suppose ebay is good at presenting the yacht to a wide audience.

The non Hurley obsessive, someone who sees the sun in the sky and sails on the water and takes a stroll down to the local yacht brokers or marina and who wants a great condition boat ready to live the dream might also be a catch worth fishing for..

I bought my latest boat through boatshed - they followed up what I was looking at online with an email, and were usually very accurate with their descriptions of condition when I called to express interest. I would describe them as proactive and realistic.

My experience as a very keen potential buyer - boats that came on the market, in commission and with no outstanding jobs - but at the same price as the average example - would sell within days. I'd make an appointment to view and then get a call that the boat had gone a couple of days later. Time after time.

Boats priced at a premium, with just a 'bit of tidying' required..pretty much all of the ones I viewed are still languishing unsold. I'd turn up with a chequebook (or willingness to get a bankers draft) and look in dismay at the list of 'it only needs' jobs and get back in my car.

 

[V1701]

Lovely Hurley James - I had one as a first boat. Nearly 30 years older than yours and looked it!

At nearly £7k though, I suspect you'll need to find a Hurley 22 enthusiast who is willing to pay a premium for a top quality example. Hurleyowners would be the best place, but I suppose ebay is good at presenting the yacht to a wide audience.

The non Hurley obsessive, someone who sees the sun in the sky and sails on the water and takes a stroll down to the local yacht brokers or marina and who wants a great condition boat ready to live the dream might also be a catch worth fishing for..

I bought my latest boat through boatshed - they followed up what I was looking at online with an email, and were usually very accurate with their descriptions of condition when I called to express interest. I would describe them as proactive and realistic.

My experience as a very keen potential buyer - boats that came on the market, in commission and with no outstanding jobs - but at the same price as the average example - would sell within days. I'd make an appointment to view and then get a call that the boat had gone a couple of days later. Time after time.

Boats priced at a premium, with just a 'bit of tidying' required..pretty much all of the ones I viewed are still languishing unsold. I'd turn up with a chequebook (or willingness to get a bankers draft) and look in dismay at the list of 'it only needs' jobs and get back in my car.

I agree - at least with Boatshed potential buyers can see lots of (presumably) up to date photos. Most older boats (in my experience & I've looked at dozens) are at best a bit of a disappointment. The good ones are few & far between...

 

[tjanna]

+1 for apollo duck, sold my last boat within a week.

 

[V1701]

+1 for apollo duck, sold my last boat within a week.

Apollo Duck is the probably the best site for most private sellers. If you have a dedicated website (which is effectively what an Apollo Duck advert is, so you could use that), you can link to it from lots of different places, thereby getting maximum exposure. I have ads on Apollo Duck, ebay, Boats & Outboards, Boatshop 24, Preloved & Gumtree, linking to the dedicated website where it's permitted to do so. I bought my first boat from Preloved...

 

[yachtorion]

Lovely Hurley James - I had one as a first boat. Nearly 30 years older than yours and looked it!

At nearly £7k though, I suspect you'll need to find a Hurley 22 enthusiast who is willing to pay a premium for a top quality example. Hurleyowners would be the best place, but I suppose ebay is good at presenting the yacht to a wide audience.

The non Hurley obsessive, someone who sees the sun in the sky and sails on the water and takes a stroll down to the local yacht brokers or marina and who wants a great condition boat ready to live the dream might also be a catch worth fishing for..

I bought my latest boat through boatshed - they followed up what I was looking at online with an email, and were usually very accurate with their descriptions of condition when I called to express interest. I would describe them as proactive and realistic.

My experience as a very keen potential buyer - boats that came on the market, in commission and with no outstanding jobs - but at the same price as the average example - would sell within days. I'd make an appointment to view and then get a call that the boat had gone a couple of days later. Time after time.

Boats priced at a premium, with just a 'bit of tidying' required..pretty much all of the ones I viewed are still languishing unsold. I'd turn up with a chequebook (or willingness to get a bankers draft) and look in dismay at the list of 'it only needs' jobs and get back in my car.

Thanks - and of course you're right, fleabay is not the place really - but it's a relatively cheap experiment. She is on the HOA website, but no bites yet. I don't expect her to sell quickly and am carrying on using her in the meantime... I ended up with her (from boatshed) because I was willing to pay a small premium to get a Hurley in good sailaway condition.. the revised "club" open plan interior also helped make the decision I've been in touch with Boatshed Yorkshire and I think that's where she'll be going next, though I might try Apollo Duck first.

Sad to be selling though, really brilliant little boat, just now want something a bit bigger so it's more comfortable to be at sea longer and go a bit further afield - and easier to persuade others to come with me.

I agree on the bit-of-tidying thing. I'm planning to go and tidy up the paintwork on deck which is a little bit tired in places. Apart from that she is in commision, and will still be in use by me right up until she sells!

 

[baggypipes]

hi guys n galy thanks for all the replies. Yes we have our boat a westerly solway for sale on apolloduck & that is getting good response, we just thought ebay might also help. Our problem was, yes we had to use a different computer, that did confuse the isue as ebay thought someone had got into us, so thier security stoped it, fair enough. We also had real problems putting the pictures on. However now at last it has been sorted & all 12 pics are there. As someone on here suggested & we agree from past experience when looking for boats, some are in poor state of maintenance, very frustrating when you travel miles to view. Ours is fully equiped, ready to go with regular recorded upto date mainenance. Thanks again & wish you all happy safe sailing

 

[Fantasie 19]

hi has anyone tried to place an advert for their boat on ebay? we have been trying for days only to have our account suspended, as they say the advert was being placed by a third party. we were told to RING them (yer right) from a mobile & told we have to wait for 20 mins for someone to talk to us. We have it on another well known site but thought ebay would work just as well. Any thoughts welcome thanks

Sold the last one on eBay... sold within 3 weeks, cash buyer... I'd certainly do it that way again.