Selling a boat - ebay?

[TTwiggy]

Hello all

It has come time, I think, to say goodbye to 'Mirage Of Thames' our old Mirage 28 yacht.

Long story short, we may be buying a house in the Algarve and part of the deal will involve a nice shiny Bav/Ben/Jen 36-footer in the sun.

In the meantime though, how to dispose of the old girl?

The market for used boats at this end of the spectrum is very slow, and while a Mirage 28 would generally be advertised for £10-15k on the usual sites, I'm not into the idea of spending out years' worth of hard standing costs in the hope of a buyer eventually coming along.

So, having sold a little day-sailor in the past on ebay, I'm quite keen to go down that route again. But my issue is - to 'reserve' or not 'reserve'. I'm thinking I'd feel sick to see her go for less than £3k, so that would seem like a nice low reserve, but do you think it puts people off, and is there the danger of getting just £3001 for her too?

Any other advice or suggestions most welcome!

[village idiot]

Apollo duck is your friend here.

http://www.apolloduck.co.uk/

http://www.apolloduck.co.uk/search.phtml?search=mi...

[TTwiggy]

village idiot said:

Apollo duck is your friend here.

http://www.apolloduck.co.uk/

http://www.apolloduck.co.uk/search.phtml?search=mi...

Is it though? I don't wish to sound ungrateful for the advice, but some of those boats on there have been for sale for years.

[Fittster]

TTwiggy said:

village idiot said:

Apollo duck is your friend here.

http://www.apolloduck.co.uk/

http://www.apolloduck.co.uk/search.phtml?search=mi...

Is it though? I don't wish to sound ungrateful for the advice, but some of those boats on there have been for sale for years.

But is that because of the sites or the prices being asked for yachts which have hung around?

[TTwiggy]

Fittster said:

TTwiggy said:

village idiot said:

Apollo duck is your friend here.

http://www.apolloduck.co.uk/

http://www.apolloduck.co.uk/search.phtml?search=mi...

Is it though? I don't wish to sound ungrateful for the advice, but some of those boats on there have been for sale for years.

But is that because of the sites or the prices being asked for yachts which have hung around?

I imagine the price, as always in sales, will be the driving factor. Thing is though, if I'm going to undercut every other Mirage 28 on there, I may as well take my chances on the bay of fleas!

[951TSE]

Just start it at the minimum price you're willing to accept, that way you won't pay the reserve fee and if you list in a category other than 'motors' you may not pay a listing fee either.

As far as I can see there's currently two mirage 28's listed, one as a buy it now with 24 watchers and one as an auction with 13 bids but no where near the price you've mentioned.

As with cars on ebay don't take more than a small deposit with Paypal. Put up as many pictures as you can, don't forget to picture and describe the bad bits.

[village idiot]

TTwiggy said:

Is it though? I don't wish to sound ungrateful for the advice, but some of those boats on there have been for sale for years.

apollo duck is the 'go to' resource for yachts of that type and it works really well. The reality is that the market sector in which your yacht fits is absolutely saturated with the hoards of 'yesterday's yachts' which nobody really wants to buy. If you do want to sell, you need to put it on there at a VERY attractive price, and it will then sell.

I know this coz a yacht broker told me ;-)

[chedder]

Why not simply put it on Ebay as a classified advert?
Have previously sold two boats that way, fairly quick too.
Chedder

[TTwiggy]

Cheers for all the advice chaps.

I think I'll try eBay first. I must admit that being a bit of a Luddite with respect to internet shopping, I didn't realise you could put a starting price or classified ad on there.

I will look at Apollo duck in more detail however!

[rs4kev]

Agree with cheddar's suggestion. I had mine for sale for months on the usuals last year but sold it for near asking price on eBay. Took one as a p/ex and again sold that quickly on eBay.