Best way to sell a boat advice please?
 

Hi -
I am a year round resident in Alton. I have just hit 70 so I am thinking about selling my 19' Regal Bowrider with trailer. I bought it brand new in 2000 (yep!).
Over the years it has been seldom used. Have a records and info. It has a bimini top, new covers and a winter cover too. Woodgrain dashboard along with like new upholstery. The trailer comes with brakes and a spare tire.
It is in the water now at Robert's Cover Marina.

Wondering what advice you might have as to how is the best way to go about pricing it and selling it?

Thanks!
Paul

Having done this a bunch of times, the easiest way to do it is to broker it through a marina. They deal with showing it, the paperwork, etc. Also, likely they will be able to get you a higher price. Obviously the down side is you have to pay a brokerage fee (which is somewhere in the 10 to 15 percent range depending on the price of the boat). Your other option is to run adds on Craigslist (free) or BoatTrader or equivalent(at a cost).

I just sold a boat through a marina and glad I did. He priced it a lot higher than I would have ever thought and sold it in less than a week. Yes, I had to pay his fee but I didn't deal with anything else.

If you sell it yourself, probably half the calls you will get are from either brokers/dealers offering to sell it for you or tire tickers who like to talk about boats. If you have the time to deal with that then consider that option.

I agree with the above! My wife and I had our marina sell our Tritoon this spring basically because we never bought a trailer with it so it was either buy a trailer, bring it home, list it ourselves and deal with all the idiots and low ballers.
We set a price with the marina, they advertised it and within a few weeks had a down payment on it. They sold it and paid off the remainder of our loan and sent us a check for our profit! Easiest sale I ever made made and well worth their commission!

Thank you Hillcountry!
 

Would you please let me know what person/marina you used- so many to pick from!

Thanks for sharing your experience!

Paul

Ditto for me
 

Newcomer, ditto for me. I sold my boat this past winter. I brokered it through the marina where I bought it. 10 % brokerage fee.

I didn't want to deal with phone calls, tire kickers, buyers looking for an unreasonable deal, etc.. That's what they get for their brokerage fee. For me it was worth it. They knew the boat, the history, and the manufacturer history.

All I did was wait for to call it was sold and went and got the check. :)

Dave

I agree with DesertDweller, the easiest way to sell your boat is to broker it through a dealer. I used Irwin Marine in Laconia. Ask for Justin, he sold my boat in two days for my asking price. Painless

I have bought and sold many different items on Craigslist over the last 20yrs and never had a problem. To save time for everyone, I just tell anyone interested in coming to see my item for sale (over the phone) that I am FIRM on the price. If they are still willing to come check it out after you tell them that, you know they are serious, they will come with the cash, there is no bartering, and everyone is happy. Usually the only low ball offer's you get are over the phone, usually a text, or they will send you an e-mail. Nobody likes talking to you when they are trying to "beat you up" on the price. Those are people that are just "fishing" for a deal, and I have not got to many of them on CL over the years. The only "scam" I see on CL is the e-mail you get from someone telling you that they are fine with your price, and will send a shipper to come pick up your item because they are in the Army, Merchant Marines, etc,etc, and can't do it themselves, then they ask you for personal info to steal your identity. It's hard for me to believe that anyone still falls for that stuff, but they are out there. I just text them back saying that I am sending their number to the police. Most people are to lazy these days to actually take the time to come check something out, and then try to low ball you in person. That can never happen if you tell them up front you are FIRM on the price. I agree that selling it through a marina is easier, but will any marina broker a boat they are not familiar with? If so, then I would probably broker it as long as the dealer thinks he can get you what you want for it. Good luck.

This happened to be Winnisquam Marine (which is the same as Winni Marine on the Weirs channel) we valeted out of the channel location but the sale was handled by the winnisquam location.

Hi Paul, I sold mine through Trexler's in Moultonborough. They have taken very good care of me through the years. Give Denise (Trexler) a call and she can coordinate for you.

Good luck with the sale.

I sold my 2000 Regal 25 foot cuddy (in excellent condition) last year very easily on craigslist. First person to view it paid asking price.

I used Irwin’s in Laconia and agree with the broker concept. Everything was handled over the phone and I was pleased with price and service.

Just look and see what your boat is worth on nadaguides and see what others are listed for online. Boats are very easy to sell right now. Fresh water only is a big plus. Do it now because nobody wants a boat in September. If the boat looks really good you could maybe get 8k plus for it. You just have to decide if you want to deal with people to pocket the 1k or so in commission. I did recently sell a boat on consignment and it was gone within a few hours of posting on Craigslist.

Same here. Sold my 22 foot Regal on Craigslist. Listed it on a Saturday and the first person to view it on Wednesday gave me my asking price.

Try buying a used pontoon boat on Craig's list or Facebook Marketplace.
If you do not call within the first 10 minutes of posting, it's already sold!

Agreed
 

Mostly people looking for a used XYZ will look at a an XYZ dealer listing. Sold a boat though Irwin Laconia a couple of years ago because they were the dealer and trey could say "sure, we'll fix that". Nothing to fix, but it gave the buyer coincidence that any small stuff was "no problem". It's worth something to go thrugh somebody who can help you stand bend the deal.

Boat Buying and selling.
 

Do what is comfortable for you. When selling a boat, I advertised on Craigslist and Boattrader.com. I also buy from various sites. If need be you can ask a marina to broker your boats.
Last boat I sold was on Craigslist. The Liberator was listed on Thursday sold on Saturday to a guy from Cape Cod. I bought a boat on EBay. Half the NADAGuide price. The Formula was auctioned off by a Maryland marina when the owner failed to pay 7 years of storage fees. Stored indoors, it just needs a general cleaning, replace gas, that's it. I drove down and hauled it back here.

NADAGuides will give you a fairly decent starting point on the value of boats. Almost always the boat sells for a higher price so do some online research on selling price.

Always have your new boat surveyed, especially when buying from a distance. Always buy a boat used only in fresh water. Saltwater boats tend to have problems although some folks beg to differ.

If you have Facebook there is a group called "I boat on Lake Winnipesaukee, NH". There are 23k members in this group! Join the group, tell your story, post a few pictures of the boat on the discussion board. Guarantee you'll sell fast.

List it on Facebook Marketplace for a fair, realistic price. I can pretty much guarantee it will sell in a day or 2. Boats are super hot right now.

List it here
 

I didn't think of it earlier, but you can also list it on this site for FREE in the Classifieds.

When my boat was being sold, the marina listed it here. Don't know where the lead came from when the boat sold.

Dave

I sold one on Craig’s List years ago. Major PIA! I stated in the ad that my price was firm but still had people haggling with me. Had one potential buyer waste at least an hour and a half of my time. Called me a couple of times and then came over to see it and wasted nearly an hour of my time. Having me start and stop the engine, etc... I vowed I would not sell on Craig’s List again. I actually ended up taking less on the boat just to be done with the ordeal!


Sent from my iPhone using Winnipesaukee Forum mobile app

The biggest mistake most sellers on Craigslist are guilty of is not providing a ton of pictures and not putting in a lot of information in the ad.

I've sold a number of big ticket items on Craigslist, cars, boats, sleds, ATVs etc... and all were posted with a ton of pics and nice long descriptions of the item, how long I have had it and all the stuff that has been done to it while in my possession such as repairs or maintenance. This saves you a ton up front as anyone who after all that asks stupid questions especially if they are asking something already answered in the ad.

The last boat I sold was in the middle of January and ironically while not a big dollar boat - I sold it for nearly twice what the dealer I bought my new one from thought it could fetch if they consigned it for me.

Honestly it all comes down to what you have too, Craigslist is perfect for selling stuff that is "relatively inexpensive". I'm not sure that is a good place to attempt to sell a 30K + boat. Folks in that market are likely to want to buy through a dealer. I could be wrong on that. Many dealers do advertise on Craigslist!

Worst thing about CL is the rude and ignorant people that ask “do you still have this for sale?” Or “what’s your bottom line?” Or (stating ridiculously lowball offer) for cash today!” Or “yours is too much money...there’s a much cheaper one in (name of nearby state)” or “why are you selling it?” Ad nauseum...

I’m sure MAXUM is right that there is an “art” to selling on Craig’s List. I will say that I provided a lengthy description of the boat I sold but was probably short on photos. Anyway, it absorbed more of my time than was worth the return in the long run.

Thanks to Cal Coon (special help to me!) and everyone else - Boat sold yesterday!
 

Cal Coon offered to help me list it on CL - (real nice guy!)- I was about to use his expertise - when I received very close to my asking price- by someone in the marina. Sold yesterday. Thanks Everyone for all the support and advice!

Congrats on your second of the two best days in boating!

Yes...but why do I continue to repeat the cycle? :):)

It is a call of duty for the few, the proud, the boat-a-holics...

Glutton for punishment :emb:

I used Irwin's in Laconia. Irwins sold my boat for more than I thought I would ever get, the process was easy and hassle free. YMMV