Why You Should Sell Your Boat with a Broker

Selling your boat can be a very stressful time, especially if you already have your eye on another boat. In any large sales item, you usually have two options, sell it yourself or obtain the skills of a professional. Selling it yourself seems easy but you are alone and need to make any decisions yourself. When working with a professional there are many advantages:

Makin’ it Easy

Using a broker means you need to do very little besides fielding offers. You won’t need to show every person who requests a viewing, often by people that may not be serious buyers.

• Convenience – a broker will take care of everything you need, they’ll get it listed and prepare any advertising on your behalf. You still have control over what is spent and how the boat is presented.
• Customer Relations – Not everyone is suited to dealing with the ‘public’, a broker is expert at talking to clients, they can offer exceptional degrees of customer service. Keeping the right people happy, no matter what questions they ask, is imperative to making the sale.
• Emotionally Free – Selling a boat can be quite emotional. A broker, while passionate about selling boats, has no emotional attachment to your boat. They are interested in getting you the most value out of your sale.

Speed of the Sale

Often using a broker will decrease the time that your boat is on the market. With many boats in their yard, buyer tend to go to brokers first to see many boats at one time.

• Time – Generally a broker sells a boat faster and with less input from the seller. This means that you can have back the time that you would have otherwise put into the sale of the boat.
• Paperwork – As with any large item, there is a substantial amount of paperwork to fill out. When you gain the experience of a broker, they will take care of all the nitty gritty stuff and just tell you where to sign.

Associated Costs

Selling a boat and doing it yourself is ‘free’, and a broker will cost a portion of the sale therefore lowering the sales price. While this is true, when you consider everything that a broker can do for you, the cost becomes unsubstantial.

• Cost – It does cost money to hire a broker, but often this is gained back due to a higher sales price and a faster turnaround.
• Experience in Sales – A broker knows the market, they can set a fair price for your boat to make sure you get offers that are suitable.
• Negotiating – A broker is a skilled negotiator, if a broker knows your limits, they will not waste your time with low-ball offers.

Know-how

Most brokers have been selling boats for years. They know the market and how best to advertise your boat. In the best scenario they may have a list of potential buyers and what they are looking for, so when your boat is listed that sale might be a lot quicker than anticipated.

• Sales Prep – A broker can help with getting your boat ready for sale. They want to sell your boat, and preparation is key to finding a good buyer.
• General Knowledge – Having knowledge of sales and the local area is of great benefit to finding the right buyer.
• Talking the Talk – Buyers can ask all sorts of weird and wonderful questions; a broker has experience dealing with this and can respond to many questions with deft answers.