Yachtworld ?? Good or Bad?

[Prairie Virgin Sailor]

Do serious boat buyers actually use Yachtworld.com for anything more than a "Sailor's Porn Magazine"? Is there some "boat searchers etiquette" traditionally followed for people wanting to buy a sailboat that I am not aware of?

I bought my current boat off Kijiji and am now browsing about for a more serious boat. I am constantly looking at boats for sale on Yachtworld.com. I have made 4 general enquiries re boats I have found on their website. Three of the enquiries I heard nothing back on, and the forth, I received an acknowledgment from the broker telling me he would be happy to help me out. I asked for clarity on a Pacific Seacraft Dana 24 which is listed as a 27 foot vessel. I asked for clarity on this ... he never responded. Finally, I sent a statement/complaint to Yachtworld.com in general explaining the lack of response regarding boat enquiries I have made. Surprise ... I heard nothing back. What's up??

 

[JohnShannon]

I bought half my boats through Yachtworld. I did not share your experience, maybe it is the Covid

 

[Prairie Virgin Sailor]

Really ?? Well now I feel it's personal (smile). Interesting???

 

[JamesG161]

Most Brokers are part of a Multiple Listing Service. Pick one to find who has a Boat's Listing as a Broker.
I bought mine through this Broker by shear accident.
Here is his Hunter Sailboat listing today.
https://masseyyacht.com/search-resu...=0+9999&_sfm_Price=0+9999999&_sfm_is_massey=1

I called his number on a weekend. He is in Florida. He then called the Listing Broker in Biloxi MS.

Here is our testimonial for the Head Broker, Ed Massey.
https://masseyyacht.com/1997-hunter-430/

Jim and Sue...

 

[DArcy]

@Prairie Virgin Sailor I had the same experience as you from Yachtworld. In fact, I had extremely poor response from all the brokers I contacted. My guess is my budget was below their level of interest although I'm not sure why they bother listing boats if they don't plan on selling them. I ended up buying my boat privately off kijiji. I was concerned about buying without the oversight of a broker and used a purchase agreement I found online, modified a bit to better suit the sale. Everything went very smooth but the seller was a really great guy and was open to negotiation from the deficiencies found in the survey. I'm not sure it is always that easy.

 

[JohnShannon]

i bet you would get a snappier response on a 50 ft Benehuntalina than you do on small cheap boats.

 

[Prairie Virgin Sailor]

@Prairie Virgin Sailor I had the same experience as you from Yachtworld. In fact, I had extremely poor response from all the brokers I contacted. My guess is my budget was below their level of interest although I'm not sure why they bother listing boats if they don't plan on selling them. I ended up buying my boat privately off kijiji. I was concerned about buying without the oversight of a broker and used a purchase agreement I found online, modified a bit to better suit the sale. Everything went very smooth but the seller was a really great guy and was open to negotiation from the deficiencies found in the survey. I'm not sure it is always that easy.

Yes, I would imagine you are 100% correct. I am looking at smaller boats in the $20 - $50,000 range. I would agree, don't know why they would list boats they have no intention of selling ???? Oh well, I guess it simply is what it is.

 

[shemandr]

Some of those online listing services never take a listing down. It's really irritating to get interested in a boat only to find out it sold three years ago. You have to pay attention to the listing date. If it's more than a year ago it may be stale. That may be a reason you're not getting responses. Or maybe it's just that brokers don't perceive it's worth the effort on a cheap boat. But 10% of $7,000 is $700. Yeah, sure - I'd rather earn $7,000 but I've done plenty of work for $700 or less.

 

[william24424]

I believe it's a seller's market out there., if I may use the Real Estate analogy, Zillow for browsing and a reputable Realtor/attorney to represent your interests. Find a trusted Yacht broker, stay until he/she finds your boat & let them negotiate, might be the way to go. You might Use Yachtworld to browse and if you find something you like have your broker contact owner. IMHO.

 

[rgranger]

sailboatlistings.com is another place to look for lower end sailboats. But as @shemandr said, some of the listings are never taken down. I've used sailboatlisting.com with good results. Just look at the very bottom of each listing to see when it was posted. If it is more than 6 mo old, it is probably a dead listing. Then proceed with a buyer-beware attitude.

 

[dlochner]

Yachtworld is a listing service for boat brokers much like the multiple listing services for real estate. The Brokers side of Yachtworld has important information about boat sales, like asking price and actual selling price and how long the boat sat on the market.

The standard commission for a broker is 10%. In terms of paper work and closing the sale there is just about as much work to do on a $20,000 boat as there is on a $200,000 boat. As a result, brokers are much more inclined to work on selling $200K boats. The broker typically works on commission and he does not get the full commission, the owner of the brokerage takes some to cover overhead. Thus on a $20,000 sale the selling broker may put much less than $1000 in his pocket.

For low value boats, and in the brokerage world anything less than about $50K is a low value boat, brokers have little incentive to spend a lot of time educating a potential buyer about a particular boat.

You may ask, if they are so uninterested in selling a boat, why do they take the listing? A good question. Mostly it is a courtesy and a sales lead. If you buy a more expensive boat and you have to sell yours, they will list it. If buy a boat a low value boat now, you may come back in a few years a buy a higher value boat. But they are not going to spend a lot of time and effort trying to sell a low value boat to someone far away. And they won't spend much time with tire kickers (keel kickers?).

For boats in your price range, identify a few boat you are interested in that are in the geographic area. Call the brokers, not email, and tell them you will be in their area on XXXX and want to look at a particular boat. Schedule a meeting time and then go there. You should get a better response from a broker who knows you are interested enough to invest the time and money to travel.

In the end, brokers are just trying to earn a living. Given a choice to spend roughly the same amount of time on a sale the will earn $1000 or one that will earn $10000, which one is going to get the attention.

 

[Prairie Virgin Sailor]

Yachtworld is a listing service for boat brokers much like the multiple listing services for real estate. The Brokers side of Yachtworld has important information about boat sales, like asking price and actual selling price and how long the boat sat on the market.

The standard commission for a broker is 10%. In terms of paper work and closing the sale there is just about as much work to do on a $20,000 boat as there is on a $200,000 boat. As a result, brokers are much more inclined to work on selling $200K boats. The broker typically works on commission and he does not get the full commission, the owner of the brokerage takes some to cover overhead. Thus on a $20,000 sale the selling broker may put much less than $1000 in his pocket.

For low value boats, and in the brokerage world anything less than about $50K is a low value boat, brokers have little incentive to spend a lot of time educating a potential buyer about a particular boat.

You may ask, if they are so uninterested in selling a boat, why do they take the listing? A good question. Mostly it is a courtesy and a sales lead. If you buy a more expensive boat and you have to sell yours, they will list it. If buy a boat a low value boat now, you may come back in a few years a buy a higher value boat. But they are not going to spend a lot of time and effort trying to sell a low value boat to someone far away. And they won't spend much time with tire kickers (keel kickers?).

For boats in your price range, identify a few boat you are interested in that are in the geographic area. Call the brokers, not email, and tell them you will be in their area on XXXX and want to look at a particular boat. Schedule a meeting time and then go there. You should get a better response from a broker who knows you are interested enough to invest the time and money to travel.

In the end, brokers are just trying to earn a living. Given a choice to spend roughly the same amount of time on a sale the will earn $1000 or one that will earn $10000, which one is going to get the attention.

Excellent information. Thanks so much.

 

[Tim22]

I have bought boats I found on both sailboatowners.com and yachtworld and was very happy in both cases. I have also had success selling on sailboatowners.com.

Tim

 

[Prairie Virgin Sailor]

I have bought boats I found on both sailboatowners.com and yachtworld and was very happy in both cases. I have also had success selling on sailboatowners.com.

Tim

That’s encouraging to hear. Maybe I’ve just had some bad luck this far.

 

[Sanfelice]

The problem is not with Yachtworld. However, I do not like Yachtworld's new format which makes it more difficult to use. Like so many others, I have had issues with non responsive brokers. Many brokers are doing it part time (retirement hobby) or just not trained in the profession. If a boat is sold, they neglect to remove the listing. Makes no sense. Then you look at some of the pictures of boats that look like trash bins. Wonder why they don't sell ??. Why would a broker take on such a listing? I know of brokers that take listings on boats that are 2 hours away and expect the owner to show their own boat. ??? Sailboat Listings and Texas Sailing seem to work well.

 

[FastOlson]

I have known several brokers over the decades. While none would want to be quoted, they do not like the poor PR caused by some of their competitors. i.e. lazy competitors.

And then, there are brokerages that will list "anything that floats" in order to constantly have huge listings. A lot of newbies equate the number of listings with the worth of the brokerage service. Within their peer group, some of these are known by the same slang term as those used car lots with big inventories of dubious cars... known as "pot lots".

Having done a little part time boat selling, a long time ago, I figured out quickly that I would never leave my day job for that! It's really an uncertain way to actually make a living. Fun and interesting, tho, on most days.

As others have hinted at here, find a good broker and form a working relationship. He/she will do some real searching on your behalf.... and be sure of your intentions....
YachtWorld is good for looking and pondering.
Fact is, that selling used boats is still an old fashioned face to face sort of business.

 

[Jackdaw]

@dlochner hit all the big points.

Like anything in life, there are great brokers, and crappy ones. No way of knowing what you'll get. Wanna get a brokers attention? Call them.

A Dana 24 with the very common bow sprit is 27 feet long

 

[Prairie Virgin Sailor]

@dlochner hit all the big points.

Like anything in life, there are great brokers, and crappy ones. No way of knowing what you'll get. Wanna get a brokers attention? Call them.

A Dana 24 with the very common bow sprit is 27 feet long

Thanks

 

[Scott T-Bird]

I contacted at least 8 to 10 seller's brokers via Yachtworld last spring when I was searching for our boat. I called at the same time as sending an e-mail. Every time I left a voice mail, I got a return call within the hour, and I'm talking about evening calls. Every single one responded. I was very specific about my inquiries and I got honest replies, as far as I could tell. So, I had a very good experience with Yachtworld. I'd say they all had bigger fish to fry, but I had a good impression that they were going to provide approximately same level of service as they would dedicate to purchasers of more expensive boats.

 

[dlochner]

I contacted at least 8 to 10 seller's brokers via Yachtworld last spring when I was searching for our boat. I called at the same time as sending an e-mail. Every time I left a voice mail, I got a return call within the hour, and I'm talking about evening calls. Every single one responded. I was very specific about my inquiries and I got honest replies, as far as I could tell. So, I had a very good experience with Yachtworld. I'd say they all had bigger fish to fry, but I had a good impression that they were going to provide approximately same level of service as they would dedicate to purchasers of more expensive boats.

Scott, glad it worked out for you. I think you did 2 things that made this a better experience, you called on the phone and you were specific, it was clear you were not a tire kicker and there was a good chance at making a sale.