Selling a Boat - what to do?

[Long Shot]

Hi Guys,

Just a quick one. I am selling my boat and have listed it on Ausfish. However, my dilemma is that I am wondering whether I am better off giving it to a yard like Wynnum Marine or should I list it myself on Boatsales, Boatpoint the trading post or any other suggestions?

Most yards will take 10% which is a fair wack, but then are they more visible to the buying public.

I would appreciate your thoughts and help as I have never sold a boat privately before, I have always traded for another.

Thanks for your experience and help.

Matt

[frankgrimes]

Hey Matt - Sell it privately, you'll potentially get more $ for it, but you have to deal with all the tire kickers etc...Sell it through a yard/trade, less stressful, but you'll get less for it.

Mick

[Vitamin Sea]

Hey Matt

I would try the trading post and Boatpoint / Boatsales before putting it on consignment, $4200 pays for a lot of advertising.

Looks like a good boat with a very good motor, I have no real idea what it's worth though.

My thoughts

Bill

[PADDLES]

i agree with these guys matt, another thing too is to try the trading post first for a few weeks before using boatpoint, it's heaps cheaper and when i sold our last boat most of the enquiries came from people who saw it in the trading post.

[PinHead]

I have sold 2 boats..one through trading post and one on boatpoint. The trading post one was a tinny..the other a bit larger and a bloke for Vic bought it so they both do work.

[Micadogs]

Hi Ultimate, last time I sold a boat privately, I used Boatpoint, trading post and eBay. Most of my enquiries cam from Boat Point. Just about everyone that came to see the boat told me they had seen it on all 3 sites. I think they are just about the same in terms of effectiveness. A boat yard, to get the same exposure would only advertise on probably two of these mediums boatpoint and trading post. Therefore you really aren;t getting any better exposure with a yard. As above has mentioned, it is less stressful letting someone else sell the boat for you.

Good thing about boatpoint and trading post is that you can do you reasearch prior to set your price and consequently speed of sale.

Regards Adam

[Flex]

Selling it privately also allows you to use it if it takes 3-4months to sell.. :)

[Marlin_Mike]

privately through boatpoint, trading post or ebay. My brother in law consigned his through a yard and took them 5 months to sell. They said the market leaned towards smaller boats at the time. They took their commission, PLUS $350.00 detailing fee before it went in the yard, PLUS $350.00 to inspect it hull motor etc before it went in the yard. So thats alot of bikkies to give away.

Mike

[finga]

If your thinking of selling through a dealer try it in the popular publications first and if it doesn't sell in the time frame you need drop the price to a tad under the magical $40,000.
You will still be better of then if you sold in a yard as they'll slug you $4,200 for the privilege. And that's $4,200 before the bullcrap fees that Mike has mentioned.

[rosco1974]

to be honest i have only sold private using ebay and boatpoint but these where only up to $10000 boats i think if its a more expensive boat say around the $30000 and up i would prob put it in a big boatyard like john crawfords..is easier to get the missus in a boatyard than to go to a complete strangers house to look at a boat..will prob cop some for this comment but the end of the day how many of us fishoes buy exspensive boats without the missus nod of approval..they normally get the final say in most cases
cheers rosco

[Long Shot]

Muchas Gracias fellas.

I guess if you consider you would pay $4,000 to have a yard sell it, that makes for a lot of room for negotiation on the price if listed privately.

[honda900]

Crawfords, were are after 20%.. think twice..

Regards
HOnda.

[nigelr]

IMHO put some quality high-vis signage on it and try and sell it locally first.
If you are a buyer, it is a far more satisfactory situation to easily access and view a local boat, than travel untold klms only to find you have made all that effort just to view what then turns out to be an over-described POS.
Cheers and good luck.

[Pete82]

Hey bud , have been tryin to sell mine as well and have tried most of these options.
Got frustrated and tried to sell it on consignment and probably spent about 6 months of the year at the yard and those blokes talked all the usual bull for no result. Got mine on trading post n boatpoint etc, had a couple of people call after seein it on trading post, aswell as those scammers( look out for those Nigerians).
Have nt sold it yet but to be honest have had more phone calls from hangin a dirty great big FOR SALE sign off it where i keep it.
Advertise it as much as you can i guess.... good luck champ;)

[Moonlighter]

Hi Matt

I advertised my last boat here on Ausfish and later the same day on Boatpoint. This was around March this year.

Sold it in 24 hours to a guy who saw it on Ausfish, but also got 3 calls within 24 hrs from people who saw it on Boatpoint before I could take it off. Should have stuck with Ausfish and kept the $85 that Boatpoint slugged me.......

I think mine sold quickly because it was a well known/regarded plate boat brand, it was in VG condition, and I took time to take and post some good photos - and I priced it to sell.

I could probably have stuck out for more $ but would rather sell quick than mess around.

I did research on Boatpoint and Trading post for the same/similar boat and that gave me a good idea of the price to ask for mine. Also I looked at how the boat yards photograph their boats for their Boatpoint ads and this helped me to take a good professional looking set of photos that I used for my adverts.

We also sold a car thru Carsales a month or so ago, it took 3 weeks to sell and at first it didnt attract much attention, we dropped the price a bit, so the lesson is also to be patient.

Good luck!

ML

[Alchemy]

Definitely Boatpoint. I sold a 6m Quinny there about 6 yrs ago for mid $30k. First person to inspect bought that one. Earlier this year I sold my last platey for mid $60k. Took just over two months from when I first advertised with a number of lookers, but when the right person came along there wasn't much haggling on price. Just be patient and if your price is ok then there will be a buyer out there somewhere.

Regards,
Dave.