Why Don't You Want to Sell Your Boat?

[seahag]

I've been looking at boats for sale for some time now, and I have to ask--while clicking through the various networks, it's apparent to me that boat owners and brokers must not get embarrassed too easily, and it must be ridiculously easy to sell boats despite uneasy economic times?

I base this conclusion question on the following:

1. Pictures-basically, I'm done looking after about the 10th picture. If you haven't got me somewhat interested by about the fifth, I'm gone. Here's why you lost me, even though I do want your boat:
-How old was the monkey who took the pictures?
-Was it really just too hard for you to move the crap out of the boat?
-Do you think I need 50 detail shots of every winch, shackle, gauge, etc.? How many shots of your dirty engine do I need?
-Did you think all that detail would help when you never showed a view of the cockpit, or an overall of the galley, or some of the interior is just omitted?
-Much worse than too many pics: too few--and here I have to ask if Europeans don't either know how to take pictures, or just don't care to see the boat before travelling to look at it? How can you show 5, 3, or in many cases, zero pictures? Duh.

2. Why don't you return emails and phone calls?
-And when you do, you act like you've done a great favor. Are you getting such an overwhelming response that you don't need to actually maintain contact with a prospective buyer? And, just because I don't happen to live three blocks away from the dock doesn't mean I can't make the eventual trip! I even had one owner ask me if I was serious enough to see the boat by appointment because I lived an hour drive away!

3. If you were selling a house, would you just leave it completely dirty and full of junk laying around? Really? I bet most boats are being sold by people who would never allow their house to look like this, much less be sold that way. It is shameful enough to let the boat get that way in the first place but to sell and show like that...man.

4. Brokers-
(See item 2 above also) I get it that owners are clueless about how to answer phones, return emails, take pictures, spell anything in clear english, know what the pictures are actually taken of and take the time to describe them as anything but "photo 48", but why are you just as bad? How do you ever sell anything? Do I need to just show up with a suitcase full of cash for you to act interested? Did you all fail in the real estate industry and use boat brokerage as a makeshift occupation while you are too busy flipping hamburgers to answer the phone?

5. Rant over, but I'm interested to see if people think I'm just cranky or if this has merit. It's just incredible how many boats are out there just not wanting to get sold.

[Doodles]

You might want to do a search ... we've been down this road many, many times.

[seahag]

Doodles,
My search function on the kindle doesn't work--when I click on it, as soon as I try to type the first letter, the keyboard disappears. So, no searching capability with it.

What do the threads tend to say?

Want to sell your boat?

[Richard5]

All you have said has merit. Rather than conjecture that folks don't want to sell, I think it is just poor marketing. I'll make that allowance for private parties but it is inexcusable for brokers.

Adverts are heavily influenced by visual aids, whether they be schematics, pictures, or videos. To not include pics is a grave error. To include blurry or grainy pics is 2nd to that. To include clear pics but without a clear 'reference' is poor planning. In that case it is quite difficult to distinguish what is being viewed. Most buyers know their way around a boat, it is still sometimes trying to figure out the pic, often accompanied with the thought of why am I being shown, as example, a close-up of a toilet handle?

Some pics are so poorly thought out they could be modern art masterpieces. More than a few listings come to mind; multiple pics all at differing odd angles of filthy head. I think, is there sometime prohibiting entry into the head or is it the latent tendencies of artistic expression that cause me to skip to the next listing?

All this accompanied by poorly written text...

[Doodles]

Originally Posted by seahag

Doodles,
My search function on the kindle doesn't work--when I click on it, as soon as I try to type the first letter, the keyboard disappears. So, no searching capability with it.

What do the threads tend to say?

Want to sell your boat?

They say you should have gotten an iPad instead of that cheap Kindle.

The answers (opinions) are all over the place with no real consensus as to why things are as they are ... it just is what it is grasshopper.

No, don't want to sell ... today.

[Gelfling]

I will agree. Can't understand it myself. Unless one clearly states " project boat" it would seem prudent to take pics of everything ONCE. And not that one pic of that one winch drum....but a overall pic of the cockpit should do. And lets not forget....the fields in the description should be filled as well. Nothing worse than finding a boat visually appealing only to find that the engine hours (or HP, make, age....etc) is omitted.

I also agree with pure laziness that brokers seem to take with there jobs. And when I have walked away from a deal I have gotten the cold shoulder because i didn't buy a boat that they couldn't provide information on.......hmmmmmm.

[seahag]

Christmas present! my Iphone works better haha.

[Tim R.]

This should help to brighten your day.


http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/8234829/yacht-broker

[tamicatana]

Here's a tip from someone on both sides of the fence:

No amount of pictures or text will tell you the truth about the boat. You must come see it. I learned that as a buyer.

And from the seller's angle: don't waste the seller's time by asking for more pictures of things already pictured. Don't dink me around with questions about things that really aren't important. It's irritating to deal with tire-kickers, which construe most of the responses, so yeah, I wanna sell the boat, but no, I don't wanna deal with buyers who aren't serious. Seriously interested buyers are obvious and get my attention.

Yeah, and what Mike OReilly (below) said.

[David_Old_Jersey]

From a Broker's listing..........

[Doodles]

Originally Posted by seahag

Christmas present! my Iphone works better haha.

Glad to have pointed you in the right direction.

Regarding your rant, I will say I experienced all you mentioned a few years ago when I bought my last boat. Some people used cheap internet brokers to save money and it showed in the presentation and the service. I've always used a well known and recommended broker for both buying and selling and I think the standard fee has been worth it. A good broker can save you a lot of headache and frustration. IMHO

[Mike OReilly]

As someone who has just sold (and also bought) a boat, here are some observations about potential buyers:

#1. There are a lot of tire-kickers out there. As a seller, you want your tires kicked, but in my experience too many of these people were simply not serious.

#2. Too many buyers don't bother to do the most basic of research and homework; and that includes reading the sales ad. The number of times I had to respond to a question whose answer was clearly stated in the ad (a full website) became frustrating. I always answered, but sometimes suggested they read the website.

#3. I got to learn that distance did matter. It probably depends on where you are in the market, but for my old boat, I learned that someone emailing/calling from more than 1000km away was very unlikely to be serious.

#4. I agree about the state of the boat, and pictures. However, my experience was that buyers are all over the map with pics. Some wanted more, some wanted different, many didn't care (or were happy with what was presented). I would say it is impossible to anticipate all needs. I provided a number of pics of the kinds of things I would want to see. And I always tried to get others as requested.

#5. I always responded to every inquiry, but if it became obvious the person wasn't really serious, I would become less enthusiasitic. BTW, as a seller I got way too many scammer responses who seem to swarm like flies around any boat ad. I always gave people the benefit of the doubt at first, even if their spelling was terrible, and they wanted to buy the boat sight-unseen. "Oh, and I'll just send you a cheque larger than the asking price so you can pay my shipper. Oh, don't worry. It will be a certified cheque..."

#6. Attitude meant something to me. If someone came in with an "I'm doing you a favour" attitude. Or worse, if they started playing silly games with price, etc. I usually suggested they look elsewhere. There are a number of people who think they are negotiating whiz kids. You learn pretty quickly to spot these folks, and to not waste your time with them.

[RabidRabbit]

Yes your spot on, but this is old news. Its basicly nothing, so take a deep breath, and except it. Boats is boats, not houses or cars. I prefer the ones with 150 pics, that way I can really see what I'm up against. Recently I've met a class of sailor I didnt think exsisted. The guys who buy a boat, and then get right to using it, like its a used car. I meet these new (used) boat owners and am surprised when I hear they felt no need to spend $3k changing all thru-hulls, seacocks, hoses. For me thats just the way it goes. So for some 5 pics is all they need, others like myself rather enjoy all 200 pics.

[Anonymous7500]

Originally Posted by seahag

I've been looking at boats for sale for some time now, and I have to ask--while clicking through the various networks, it's apparent to me that boat owners and brokers must not get embarrassed too easily, and it must be ridiculously easy to sell boats despite uneasy economic times?

2. Why don't you return emails and phone calls? Your email needs to say "I am interested in seeing this boat. Before I drive out this weekend, can you answer a couple of questions?" The seller immediately knows that you are a serious buyer.

3. If you were selling a house, would you just leave it completely dirty and full of junk laying around? You haven't looked at many houses that aren't older than a few years. Home sellers in lower price ranges show them completely dirty with junk laying everywhere.

4. Brokers-
Do I need to just show up with a suitcase full of cash for you to act interested? Yes, you need to actually show up. I don't think it is necessary to bring a suitcase full of cash.

5. Rant over, but I'm interested to see if people think I'm just cranky or if this has merit. It's just incredible how many boats are out there just not wanting to get sold. Yes, you seem to be rather cranky.

It doesn't take much junk to make a boat appear to be full of junk. A boat is much more than the junk that is cluttering up the other stuff. While pictures are nice to look at, seeing the boat in person says much more. For example, odor does not show in a photo.

I would take a drive to see some of the boats that you have been looking at. You will find many more boats at the marinas for sale that are not listed online.

[Tim R.]

I don't get the too many photos thing. It is easy enough to just skip a photo by looking at the thumbnail. I usually open the full description page where all the photos are listed down the left side.

When I sold my last boat(privately), I provided a few nice photos to get folks interested and then pointed them to my website for more detailed photos and description. I took a lot of 10mp photos so potential buyers could zoom in to see the details. That boat sold to the first looker for 20% more than I paid(purchase price) for it.