To answer all the "why isn't my boat selling threads"

[Spi D]

Great add and a lovely boat... good luck. One other thing to explore however is a link to (or embed) a couple of short films. My previous broker (James Dickens) did a boat walk through and I added one of her underway on the Solent.... If you live on the continent, as so many buyers seem to these days, it might just be enough to get them to fly over! I understand that films also help push your ad up the Google system too.

Just a thought...

Huh. Well it wasn't the video that made us come over to view Thejoneseys' previous boat.

Closing a deal is a complex process. Making an ad that stands out will always attract more attention and initiate buyer expectations. Afterall selling a boat is selling a dream, so the best possible expo is important. And, honestly, why not if at all possible make an outstanding presentation?

No reason to aim for the lowest common denominator in the broker line of business.

Understanding both sides, a pragmatic and straighforward attitude plus obviously a pro selling effort made our deal happen.
If at any time we find ourselves in the market again, James Dickens will be our first choise.

A note on Henrys site: Remove your phone, email and mailto-link to avoid harvesting robots to submit it to the worlds spam/scam databases.

Instead, make a jpg or other picture of the info.

 

[petem]

Instead, make a jpg or other picture of the info.

Contact form with Catchpa would be better.

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

Contact form with Catchpa would be better.

No it wouldn't. You're trying to make it easier for people to contact you, not harder. The best solution is a disposable email address; you put up with any spam while your selling campaign is live; then once the deal is done, you simply turn off the email address.

Cheers
Jimmy

 

[SimbaDog]

I am interested but can't seem to find any pictures of the sails

 

[henryf]

Right then:

Implemented some changes. Photos now have titles, thought that was a very good suggestion - thanks. Some text changes. I will get the email changed a bit. The current one used goes to all my mobile appliances, I'll do the same with it's replacement.

An interesting slant on the ebay listing. We do currently use adwords with cctv42.

What I am finding is that the listings sites for boats for sale are really messy. Results are hidden in SEO designed links, search engines that don't work, etc. etc.

I've popped it on Pistonheads which is great for cars and super clean in the way it displays results. It also allows a link to the micro site.

In terms of the actual negotiations side of things I have no worries at all there. It's what I do for a living and I think I'm realistic. Happy to leave a bit of meat on the bone for both sides.

Once again many thanks for the feedback it really is appreciated. When I started this thread I worried it may have been taken the wrong way but I'm really pleased I decided to post. Some great ideas.

Henry

 

[jfm]

Very good stuff

Where it says "Boat lying South Coast (Gosport)" maybe add "UK", to help overseas folks who look at the website. And i can see you're insisting there is an apostrophe in "retains it's original carpets". Okay, okay!

 

[Spi D]

Contact form with Catchpa would be better.

Contact forms have a huge disadvantage in not leaving a copy with the sender. Very few offers a tickbox with "copy to myself" so once submitted you have nothing.

Ofcourse you can set up a dedicated mail somewhere-in-space for the purpose. Trust suffers, imho, when mails are @hotmail and the like.

 

[Seahope]

Henry,

I would have taken exactly the same approach as an alternative sales method.

A very nice boat so I hope you sell quickly at a good price. I'm sure we are all interested in finding out how successful you are

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

Contact forms have a huge disadvantage in not leaving a copy with the sender. Very few offers a tickbox with "copy to myself" so once submitted you have nothing.

Ofcourse you can set up a dedicated mail somewhere-in-space for the purpose. Trust suffers, imho, when mails are @hotmail and the like.

When you've bought a domain specifically for the sale (like Henry has) then setting up a henry@princess42.com address is v straightforward. Completely agree your point about hotmail addresses et al.

Cheers
Jimmy

 

[henryf]

Very good stuff

Where it says "Boat lying South Coast (Gosport)" maybe add "UK", to help overseas folks who look at the website. And i can see you're insisting there is an apostrophe in "retains it's original carpets". Okay, okay!

Ah yes, I'd forgotten about that one. Consider it done

Henry

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

I've popped it on Pistonheads which is great for cars and super clean in the way it displays results. It also allows a link to the micro site.

Fingers crossed then that the PH guys don't try and implement their new 'improved' classified site again - they've already tried twice, and had to roll it back twice, because it was so completely full of bugs. Worst pre-launch testing ever. (Apols for fred rift).

Cheers
Jimmy

 

[henryf]

Yes. A real shame. I think they have missed a bit of a trick. The search functionality of the new site is really good but they dressed it up in old technology - ignoring the performance issues.

I still have love for them though compared for the competition

Henry

 

[Nautorius]

Henry,

Great Ad and a beautiful P42! Simply Stunning. Can I be cheaky and ask which provider to buy the address and host you are using? I am about to do the same thing for my Bene 43 having sold the Centre Console Privately already.

I can not complain...

Paul

 

[henryf]

We used Go Daddy. It's about a tenner !

I don't think they offer instalments either. You have to do it all in 1 go !!!!

If you need it hosting I know someone who can do it for circa £20 a year.

All the best

Henry

 

[Tanqueray]

I don't want to appear over critical, but some of those trees could do with a bit of a prune

 

[David of Essex]

Henry thanks for sharing with us the way to help sell a boat. Really great photos and a lot of attention to detail. How can you improve to sell the sizzle more than the sausage on boats?
David

 

[Greg2]

As has already been said, great advert and clearly the way it should be done. We have sold all three of our previous boats privately and spent time preparing detailed particulars with good photos and it worked for us.

Small point on the photos (which are excellent BTW) - it might be worth putting a line above them to say click for larger images to cater for people who aren't totally familiar with the web environment . Also may be worth putting arrows on each picture so that it is clear that having opened the first pic you can scroll through them. I worked out that clicking on the picture again did it but others might not. Thinking about it I am using an iPad so maybe a technical issue?

 

[petem]

Contact forms have a huge disadvantage in not leaving a copy with the sender. Very few offers a tickbox with "copy to myself" so once submitted you have nothing.

Ofcourse you can set up a dedicated mail somewhere-in-space for the purpose. Trust suffers, imho, when mails are @hotmail and the like.

Building a contact form that copies in the sender is easy to do. The advantage of a contact form is of course you can capture additional info. But in this case the advantage over a temp email address is pretty marginal (or non existant).

 

[PaulGooch]

1and1 are also cheap for domain registrations and/or hosting. Personally, i'd register a domain and redirect to some free webspace, or a sub directory on existing personal or company web space. The domain registration will also include email redirect to an existing email account.

So, for about a tenner you can have it all.

 

[MedDreamer]

Good site.

I sold my boat without a broker in 4 months in 2009 by buying the website SealineS34.com and signing up for google ads. Had about 6 enquiries of which three viewed the boat and one bought.

The boat was in Mallorca so priced the boat below brokers prices but high enough to be able to offer a discount that satisfied the buyer and me.

The (English) guy who bought it did find it via google.

A similar S34 from the same year in the same marina was for sale at the same time through a local broker - and still is!