Selling a cheap boat - avoiding rip-offs and time-wasters?

[LittleSister]

Due to unfortunate circumstances I have to sell two cheap (under £5k) cruising sailing boats a.s.a.p. I would appreciate any advice, especially where/where not best to advertise them, how I can avoid being ripped-off, and how I can minimise agreed sales that aren't followed through (accepting a certain amount of time-wasted is near inevitable).

I don't want to give them away - I need the money - but more concerned to get them sold soon than to realise the absolute maximum price achievable. I don't know what they 'should' fetch these days, as the prices I see advertised are all over the place.

I don't have time/knowledge/patience/money to tidy the boats for best presentation, or to build a website to advertise them.

(The boats are both GRP shoal draft long keelers, well built and sound, -
(a) a 23 footer I've done thousands of happy miles in, has a modern replacement engine and a beautiful interior, but it has stood ashore for several years and the exterior looks it - needs external woodwork re-varnishing and faded gelcoat polishing, plus 2 or 3 minor jobs to be done;
(b) a 26 foot version of the above, very well equipped (incl. bow thruster and charcoal stove), old engine but starts easily and runs well, interior a bit scruffy, outside fairly tidy. It needs a fair amount of work (including finishing relining the saloon (forecabin done, all old lining removed), some plumbing, some electrics, etc.) but is not the typical 'project boat' wreck.

I have rarely used ebay as a seller, and then long ago. The attraction is a time limited auction, but I get the impression it is a haven of scammers and idle dreamers, and have heard of tales of sellers getting ripped off. I wondered about the feasibility of setting a relatively high % non-returnable deposit via bank transfer within 24hrs for auction winners, so they have significant incentive to follow through with a sale, and if they are just dreamers without the money I can move swiftly on to the next highest bidder or re-advertise. Balance to be paid cash on collection?

I'm also considering e.g. Apollo Duck. Given my uncertainty about the boats' value, should I be advertising tending high and accepting offers, or tending low and being firm(er?) on price.

 

[LittleSister]

Bump

 

[crewman]

If there is a class association try that. Alternatively try the "Sailing on a shoestring" facebook group

 

[NickRobinson]

Ebay can work. Lots of current pics, inside and out. State "£x hundred non returnable deposit within 1 hour of sale end or item will be relisted"

 

[Slowboat35]

Ebay will always find the current matket value of an item though you may not like the value it selects for you, but your item will always sell.
If you wait until they send you notification of either sell-for-free or the more frequent £1 seller's fee it maximises your take. I get these every couple of months or so.
I find it hard to imagine how a vendor can get ripped off in any sale if they are thoughtful about how payment is made. For big ticket items (such as these) imho there are two and a half ways of ensuring payment, either the vendor transfers the money electronically before the item is released to them or you spend £30 on a card reader and the vendor pays on arrival via that using a debit card. In either case your internet banking access will show the money in your account before you hand the goods over. The 'half' is Paypal - guaranteed too but takes a swingeing cut. Anyone who says they "don't do internet transfers/online banking" or "dont have a debit card" you can invite to go whistle dixie and go on to the next bidder. (You'll need to specify the payment method and a pay by date in the advert). Ebay terms and conditions make how to do this quite clear.
In general the longer the auction the better chance of achieveing a decent price.
There is no such thing as too many photos. Too few otoh looks like there's something not being revealed.
I suggest never using a reserve. Be confident. Reserves are hugely offputting. Start at 99p. Get them into a bidding war mindset.
Consider Gumtree and (apparently) Farcebook concurrently with Ebay. It just gets the news out more widely.
Encourage viewers and tolerate what you might regard as time wasters for as long as you can stand it. You never know...There are fewer time wasters out there than most people imagine in my experience. If there are lots of potential viewers set a couple of viewing slot times for them to atend. The serious ones will come, but enough photos and info on the ad will reassure that are too far away.

Get both boats scrubbed off outside so at least they look clean at first glance. An hours work with a pressure washer could add a grand to what someone will bid just on cosmetic condition alone.

Ebay may seem daunting if you are unused to it but if you read the Ts and Cs and carefully prepae your advert its a pretty solid and trustworthy marketplace.

Good luck!

 

[superheat6k]

Time wasting is a two way phenomenon - i.e. sellers invariably waste more time of potential buyers than they will ever admit, so be careful what you are representing a concern of here.

 

[Jim@sea]

I came unstuck when I tried to sell a cheap boat.
Previously over a 40 year period I had sold more expensive boats without any problems, but I came across a cheap boat which needed work and as I can do stuff like that I bought it, paid a fortune to have it transported 100 miles and started paying for storage in a boat yard whilst I worked on it.
I never used it, the main reason I sold it was I had to take over a business I had rented out ,the tenant left and I had to take the business over again (at 73)
I would mention that previously when in the Motor Trade I had sold over 1000 cars, forklifts, 8 boats, houses I know my way round selling, so I thought.
Anyway after a year and dropping the price from £8000 to £5000 I realise I had bought the wrong sort of boat.
I realised that where cheap boats are concerned buyers dont want Long Keelers If a buyer only has £5000 to spend they dont want a boat which they will have to keep in a Marina at £3000 pounds a year.
I believe that had I bought a Bilge Keeler it would have sold straight away as Drying Out Moorings are easier to get hold of.
The last 2 boats I have sold have been on eBay. And all cash sales.
And with one I thought it was a scam as the enquiry was from Poland but they drove the 1000 miles from Krakow and paid me cash.
And when I sold a tractor for over £8000 again a foreign buyer paid me in cash.
Get these boats on eBay now, its summer anly take cash.
Good luck.

 

[NealB]

I have sold five boats, since christmas, through classified ads on ebay (NOT auctions).

The responses through ebay were of many multiples of those via ebay, and the vast majority were serious: very few time-wasters.

I was helping a close friend 'tidy up' his fleet. He doesn't have an ebay account himself.

A classified ad on ebay is now £19.99, and runs for 4 weeks. It's no different to an ad in YM, or in your local paper: ebay are not involved in any way in the transaction, and charge no fees, or commissions, other the cost of the ad.

Also, I think your ad needs to say what class boats they are. Hmmmmm....... 23 and 26 feet? ...... Snapdragons, maybe?

PM me if you want a hand. I'm not a broker, I'm not doing it for money, I'm not trying to build a business. I just enjoy trying to sell a boat (yes, seriously). I'm down to one now!

Anyway, good luck!

 

[NealB]

I came unstuck when I tried to sell a cheap boat.
Previously over a 40 year period I had sold more expensive boats without any problems, but I came across a cheap boat which needed work and as I can do stuff like that I bought it, paid a fortune to have it transported 100 miles and started paying for storage in a boat yard whilst I worked on it.
I never used it, the main reason I sold it was I had to take over a business I had rented out ,the tenant left and I had to take the business over again (at 73)
I would mention that previously when in the Motor Trade I had sold over 1000 cars, forklifts, 8 boats, houses I know my way round selling, so I thought.
Anyway after a year and dropping the price from £8000 to £5000 I realise I had bought the wrong sort of boat.
I realised that where cheap boats are concerned buyers dont want Long Keelers If a buyer only has £5000 to spend they dont want a boat which they will have to keep in a Marina at £3000 pounds a year.
I believe that had I bought a Bilge Keeler it would have sold straight away as Drying Out Moorings are easier to get hold of.
The last 2 boats I have sold have been on eBay. And all cash sales.
And with one I thought it was a scam as the enquiry was from Poland but they drove the 1000 miles from Krakow and paid me cash.
And when I sold a tractor for over £8000 again a foreign buyer paid me in cash.
Get these boats on eBay now, its summer anly take cash.
Good luck.

Interesting!

The boats I've 'sold' recently have been long keeled and wooden.

 

[Poecheng]

Take a video (on your phone) of starting the engine from scratch so you can send it to potential buyers even if you cannot put it on the sales site.
And as said above, lots of photos so buyer can see what it is and will be more prepared to travel

 

[Dutch01527]

Support the classified ad on eBay approach. Describe honestly, price low , make sure buyers can view easily. Take cash of a bank transfer that is cleared. I would supplement this with Facebook and owners association sites.

There will be people who look beyond external minor neglect at the fundamentals like engine, interior, equipment ect.

I am just about to use that approach to sell two boats, both of which are in good condition. A Dehler Duetta 86 and a Macgregor 26X.

 

[oldgit]

Make sure it is a Classified Ad and preferably the only method of contact via Ebay messaging or email.
This means time and effort on the part of the prospective purchaser and helps to weed out most of the timewasters and chancers.
Make sure the location of the boat is crystal clear. This weeds out a few more.
Make it very plain you are not interested in doing any P/Xs or swaps of any description .
Finally , you are not interested in any offers unless the buyer has seen or is preferably standing in front of you and the boat(s)
ApolloDuck and Boats & Outboards are also good places to try, both cost around £20.00 ? for a months advert.

 

[Wansworth]

As a potential boat buyer in your range of boats my initial serach was the notice board of the local marina .A for sale sign with the telephone number big enough to see if the boat is locked away on a marina pontoon.Appolduck etc.Shame your not in Galicia ?

 

[ghostlymoron]

Ebay will always find the current matket value of an item though you may not like the value it selects for you, but your item will always sell.
If you wait until they send you notification of either sell-for-free or the more frequent £1 seller's fee it maximises your take. I get these every couple of months or so.
I find it hard to imagine how a vendor can get ripped off in any sale if they are thoughtful about how payment is made. For big ticket items (such as these) imho there are two and a half ways of ensuring payment, either the vendor transfers the money electronically before the item is released to them or you spend £30 on a card reader and the vendor pays on arrival via that using a debit card. In either case your internet banking access will show the money in your account before you hand the goods over. The 'half' is Paypal - guaranteed too but takes a swingeing cut. Anyone who says they "don't do internet transfers/online banking" or "dont have a debit card" you can invite to go whistle dixie and go on to the next bidder. (You'll need to specify the payment method and a pay by date in the advert). Ebay terms and conditions make how to do this quite clear.
In general the longer the auction the better chance of achieveing a decent price.
There is no such thing as too many photos. Too few otoh looks like there's something not being revealed.
I suggest never using a reserve. Be confident. Reserves are hugely offputting. Start at 99p. Get them into a bidding war mindset.
Consider Gumtree and (apparently) Farcebook concurrently with Ebay. It just gets the news out more widely.
Encourage viewers and tolerate what you might regard as time wasters for as long as you can stand it. You never know...There are fewer time wasters out there than most people imagine in my experience. If there are lots of potential viewers set a couple of viewing slot times for them to atend. The serious ones will come, but enough photos and info on the ad will reassure that are too far away.

Get both boats scrubbed off outside so at least they look clean at first glance. An hours work with a pressure washer could add a grand to what someone will bid just on cosmetic condition alone.

Ebay may seem daunting if you are unused to it but if you read the Ts and Cs and carefully prepae your advert its a pretty solid and trustworthy marketplace.

Good luck!

I think that scams on eBay are exaggerated. I've bought and sold loads of stuff including relatively expensive cars without reserve (it was slightly unnerving when my Merc was less than £100 with a day to go but in the end I was satisfied with the selling price).
For cheap boats I use Apollo duck or boats and outboards thinking those two are more focused than eBay.
It's worth doing a bit of tidying before viewings - no sweaty pants or rancid milk bottles as first impressions matter.
The advantage with eBay is the auction format - it'll always sell at the market value whereas the other two you have to give a price.

 

[steve yates]

They are samphires, and I know the 23 footer because I looked at her seriously when I was after a bigger boat than my bradwell 18. I would buy her if I was in the market and didnt already have 2 boats She is a smashing boat! Im actually surprised she is still there!
the problem is not having the time to clean them, dirty boats will usually only sell for very little as people assume the rest the boat is neglected.

 

[DFL1010]

Ebay will always find the current matket value of an item though you may not like the value it selects for you, but your item will always sell.
If you wait until they send you notification of either sell-for-free or the more frequent £1 seller's fee it maximises your take. I get these every couple of months or so.
I find it hard to imagine how a vendor can get ripped off in any sale if they are thoughtful about how payment is made. For big ticket items (such as these) imho there are two and a half ways of ensuring payment, either the vendor transfers the money electronically before the item is released to them or you spend £30 on a card reader and the vendor pays on arrival via that using a debit card. In either case your internet banking access will show the money in your account before you hand the goods over. The 'half' is Paypal - guaranteed too but takes a swingeing cut. Anyone who says they "don't do internet transfers/online banking" or "dont have a debit card" you can invite to go whistle dixie and go on to the next bidder. (You'll need to specify the payment method and a pay by date in the advert). Ebay terms and conditions make how to do this quite clear.
In general the longer the auction the better chance of achieveing a decent price.
There is no such thing as too many photos. Too few otoh looks like there's something not being revealed.
I suggest never using a reserve. Be confident. Reserves are hugely offputting. Start at 99p. Get them into a bidding war mindset.
Consider Gumtree and (apparently) Farcebook concurrently with Ebay. It just gets the news out more widely.
Encourage viewers and tolerate what you might regard as time wasters for as long as you can stand it. You never know...There are fewer time wasters out there than most people imagine in my experience. If there are lots of potential viewers set a couple of viewing slot times for them to atend. The serious ones will come, but enough photos and info on the ad will reassure that are too far away.

Get both boats scrubbed off outside so at least they look clean at first glance. An hours work with a pressure washer could add a grand to what someone will bid just on cosmetic condition alone.

Ebay may seem daunting if you are unused to it but if you read the Ts and Cs and carefully prepae your advert its a pretty solid and trustworthy marketplace.

Good luck!

I wish I could share your enthusiasm of Ebay's invisible hand. Certainly it'll settle on a price. Whether that's the 'current market' price or not is a different question (unless of course you narrow 'current market' to that one individual item at that one individual time, which may not be that useful a definition).


I've seen many items go for well under the going rate, and I've seen more than a few items where there are a couple of 'motivated' bidders and the seller's been very lucky.

 

[ylop]

I don't have time/knowledge/patience/money to tidy the boats for best presentation,

At that price point I doubt anyone is looking for pristine but please, tidy the rubbish out the boat, make the bed, put the dishes away etc. if its not worth an hour of your time to do that and take some decent, well-lit photos and perhaps even a video (good for showing something working, or the layout etc) its not worth an hour of my time to come and view it. Work needing done like headlining replaced is not necessarily a killer if you clearly describe it, take lots of pics etc. And again if the old headling is still around remove it from the shots so people can see what they are buying.

On top of my pet hates of dreadful pics, the "pictures available on request" is another gripe. I'm looking at your ad now - I want to see them now, not at some indeterminate time in the future when you might send them.

or to build a website to advertise them.

It would be irrelevant if you did - the challenge is not the website its getting the buyers to find it and you'll never compete with the major sites for search engine traffic.

 

[wombat88]

If Ebay go for a classified ad, this cuts out a lot of rubbish but be prepared to negotiate.
Apolloduck buyers seem to take ages to say no, they are probably the more discerning.
Surprisingly Facebook Marketplace has worked for me.
And of course, a nice big sign on the boat.

See all four as advertising, ie getting the boat out there. Price it a bit high and see what happens. Plenty of pics. Cash on collection only.

All require effort on the part of the vendor but that is nothing new in the world of sales....

 

[Capt Popeye]

Being in the business of selling a few boats this year (plus Buying of course) might mention that where the Boat is presently lying is a major factor in making a boat 'right for a Mr Buyit'; transporting a boat will usually cost hundreds of pounds , poss incure Craneage at either end , so point of delivery has to have suitable cranage ; this all can cost hundreds of pounds ; so poss a major factor when buying a 'cheap' boat

I found using Facebook Marketplace very good in getting results , mostly its fairly local (not like where is Dawlish Then ? oh bgr me) I always want to get into a conservation with proper prospective buyers , so we can discuss and review the issues relevant to my Sale ' what gear to include ? delivery /collection time frame ? jobs requiring doing ? etc etc

Anyways happy selling

 

[Slowboat35]

Unless the buyer is willing to hand over the money and wait days for it to clear into your bank account (which no-one but an utter idiot would do) taking cash if the very best way to get robbed.
Unless you have a counterfeit checking machine of course.
And I'd be ten times more suspicious of cash from a foreign buyer who couldn't possibly be followed up.