10%??? Seriously???

[Fishigan]

Well I know how real estate works since that is what I do. BUT, when I went to BUY my RV I got on RV Trader and another site as well as some pages like this and asked. We went to look at a couple so the expense was flight, rental car and hotel from Michigan to Texas and New Mexico. I look at sailboats that cost what that RV did and I kick myself because I could have had one helluva boat! BUT, I also learned a lot. Look at an RV as a boat on a road. Costs are probably very comparable. Now when I buy my boat I will go with half the budget of the RV. We decided last moth it was time to sell the RV and move on to the next adventure. I called the broker that I purchased it through. I asked what the fee was and he said 10%. I talked to a friend that does mortgages and who's husband worked in the RV industry for many years, and asked what the actual process would be. She said just like selling car. All we needed to do was sign the title. I went on RV Trader, paid $200 for the premium package and 2 days later the RV was sold. BUT, right now the RV market is SMOKING HOT! I will say this, Boat and RV Brokers are both doing 10%, RV inspector is about $800 and from what I have seen a SV Surveyor is $20 - $25 a foot so for a 40' SV it should be $1,000. I'm on the verge of getting out of real estate and becoming a RV/Boat broker or RV/SV surveyor.

[MicHughV]

Both buyers and sellers take it on the chin....true....and then there is the brokerage business...
and then there is the broker.
I've known brokers that have gone above and beyond in the boat deal....stellar service, even after the sale...
Sadly, as the above poster has stated, I've known brokers that are hard put to even pick up the phone, to the point where I refuse to deal with some brokerage houses and will endeavor to find a 3rd party..

But both the buyer and seller also play a part in this negotiating. Again, some folk are easy to deal with and others are the complete opposite.

It's a mixed bag for sure, with no clear resolution. I've done both, sold my first boat on my own, used brokers for the others.

The 10% commission is one thing....but the 6.5-7% sales tax is another. There is simply no more dreaded walk than the walk to the tax office after your boat purchase.
There is no negotiating with Uncle Sam.......

And there is the market. Being in the market myself for a new boat, I peruse several sources. Some boats I'm interested in have recently taken a big chunk of the ask, 10-15% reduction....so the question is....was the boat overvalued to begin with or is the seller getting ancy...

It boils down to what is the seller willing to take...and what is the buyer willing to give. A good broker can negotiate these rocky shores and usually arrive at an equitable deal for both parties....

[Happ]

Real life story. I found a boat online through a broker about 300 miles away. I went and saw the boat and made an offer. The negotiations were tough as the seller thought he had that one of a kind, perfect boat. It was a Beneteau. We finally struck a deal. As i was researching surveyors in the area I came across one that really stood out. When I told the Broker who the surveyor I was scheduling he suddenly mentioned that the heat exchanger had a slight pin hole in it and the owner was going to have it welded. When i looked up the price of the part and I caused a minor stink and the owner agreed to replace it. This made me question how the boat was maintained. I then asked the broker why I hadn’t gotten a copy of the contract. The broker explained the owner was currently out of the country and he had given a verbal agreement! Here I was scheduling a short haul and a surveyor without a signed contract! Then the Broker mentioned the boat had some engine work 5 years previously that sounded very much like a rebuild. That was it. I called the surveyor and the yard to cancel. When I told the Broker the deal was dead and I wanted my deposit back he started using his sales pitch that the boat was a good one. He knew so because he had sold boats for almost 30 years. That was the last straw. I called the owner of the brokerage company (also a new boat dealer) and told him what happened and I wanted a check mailed out that day! He tried to soft shoe me a bit and soon agreed to send the check out that day. He even followed up with me later that day to confirm the check had been mailed. I found out the boat was sold almost a year later for 20% less!