Quote:
Originally Posted by bwiencek
POP Yachts and other aggregators typically make their money by inserting themselves in a FSBO deal - if you search the area facebook marketplace, craigslist or other places owners list their boats for sale you'll usually find the listing that goes direct to the owner's original listing. They operate in 2 ways that I've heard of: (1) They mark up the listing price and advertise it - then when someone contacts them they contact the owner with the offer and take their cut or (2) do the hard sell on the owner to let them take xx% commision or $xxx from the sales price so they can keep the same listing price.
They know nothing about the boats, the ownership, maintenance, etc. and they have never had an employee lay eyes on the boat - they are really just electronic middle-men so don't expect any real answers from them other than ones that convince you to buy
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Unless you are dealing high end, late model boats, most brokers dont know much more than what the seller tells them. They dont want to know. If there is a problem, and your
surveyor doesnt find it, easier
sale for them. If the problem is discovered, hey i didnt know. 90% of what you are getting with a broker is multiple listings, and someone to answer the
phone or
email, to schedule showings or answer basic questions. As the seller you live your life until someone actually sets a showing appt.
In my
buying case, i was glad not to have the broker under foot while getting the tour from the seller and getting to talk about so many aspects. If it had been a big brokerage, where the broker shows the boat not the owner, i might well have passed. Getting to know the seller a bit, his 26 years of
history with it, (and generally backed up by the survey) were tipping points that made the
sale. Sorry for the run on, but i understand
parts of the experience i find positive, may not be for everyone, hence the boring details.
In my case, yes the seller listed it himself, and pop approached him. I would have never known about the boat if pop didnt pick it up, so it wasnt a bad deal for the seller, even if he
lost a boat unit or 2 in commission.