Where is the best site to sell a boat?

[Pixelpeep 135]

Friend has asked me to list his recently inherited Ocean 30 6 birth cabin cruiser which needs a bit of TLC - i was sure you could flog them on autotrader but looked today and nudda.

Any suggestions please? it's currently moored at St Ives, Cambridge, not sure if that makes a difference.

[RDM]

Apollo duck?

[Pixelpeep 135]

RDM said:

Apollo duck?

just looking now - thank you.

Any idea how i would categorise a cabin cruiser from the drop downs on that site? i've no clue, and neither has he :/

[RDM]

There’s a few of the superbly named Ocean 30 on there, just post in the same category, if the category is displayed, I’m not sure.

(Superbly named as in I’m not sure I’d take one on the ocean )

[dangerousB]

Genuinely wouldn't bother with Apollo Duck or boats and outboards - having sold/purchased a few boats, I've found Facebook marketplace outperforms both of them by a factor of 10:1 in terms of views/exposure.

I could have sold my last boat 8 times over on Facebook and didn't get a single enquiry from boats and outboards in the same timeframe.

[astroarcadia]

As much as I hate it, Facebook has a couple of groups that seem very active for buying/selling.

We found ours on Boatshed.

[Simpo Two]

Pixelpeep 135 said:

Friend has asked me to list his recently inherited Ocean 30 6 birth cabin cruiser which needs a bit of TLC - i was sure you could flog them on autotrader but looked today and nudda.

Any suggestions please? it's currently moored at St Ives, Cambridge, not sure if that makes a difference.

Jones Boatyard is the obvous choice - biggest brokers on the Fens and good to work with. That's where I'd take it. They sold my Freeman in 48 hours for a good price.

[Pixelpeep 135]

Simpo Two said:

Pixelpeep 135 said:

Friend has asked me to list his recently inherited Ocean 30 6 birth cabin cruiser which needs a bit of TLC - i was sure you could flog them on autotrader but looked today and nudda.

Any suggestions please? it's currently moored at St Ives, Cambridge, not sure if that makes a difference.

Jones Boatyard is the obvous choice - biggest brokers on the Fens and good to work with. That's where I'd take it. They sold my Freeman in 48 hours for a good price.

I don't know the politics, but that is where it currently is - i've suggested using them to sell it as they have big for sale adverts by their office window, seemed obvious to me, but he seems reluctant - i don't know if he owes them money for mooring, which is probably the case, since his dad died it's been kind of crazy sorting out his affairs.

Facebook seems the way forward then.

thank you all.

[Simpo Two]

Pixelpeep 135 said:

I don't know the politics, but that is where it currently is - i've suggested using them to sell it as they have big for sale adverts by their office window, seemed obvious to me, but he seems reluctant - i don't know if he owes them money for mooring, which is probably the case, since his dad died it's been kind of crazy sorting out his affairs.

Facebook seems the way forward then.

thank you all.

The Estate should pay any outstanding debts. I think Jones will get him a better price and more easily (they do all the work including viewings and handling the money) than messing about with Facebook, eBay etc where people only want 'bargins'. If Jones want to take any outstanding monies from the sale, well that seems a fair resolution to me and gets both problems over with.

Or he may be reluctant to pay broker fees - but IMHO they are worth it.

Try to sell it before winter because that brings extra problems.

[blue_haddock]

I can recommend a broker Called Adrian Nicolle.

https://www.yatco.com/broker/adrian-nicolle-nicoll...

[Jaguar steve]

Is there an owners association?

If so they might be able to help with a valuation and sale.

[Pixelpeep 135]

blue_haddock said:

I can recommend a broker Called Adrian Nicolle.

https://www.yatco.com/broker/adrian-nicolle-nicoll...

Thank you, but that looks a bit too posh for what we're flogging.

[Badda]

I’ve had success with eBay in the past.

[dangerousB]

Simpo Two said:

I think Jones will get him a better price and more easily (they do all the work including viewings and handling the money) than messing about with Facebook, eBay etc where people only want 'bargins'.

I simply don't think that's true and it's not been my experience, certainly in the market as it currently is. Personally I wouldn't use ebay as a primary selling platform, but the only reason for that is because I've had such success with Facebook (and there's no fees with them either). No harm in spreading the net though.

If you're uncomfortable with selling or find discussing money a bit "grubby", I can understand why you'd use one, but you'll pay a not insignificant sum for the privilege and certainly no guarantee at all that they'll net you a better price once their fees have been deducted.

If you do get anyone trying it on with the a low rent offer selling it yourself, it's really not difficult to say "no" and to reiterate, my experience has been quite the reverse. My last boat had 10 enquiries within 36 hours, one offer below asking (politely declined), 3 offers above and it was sold in 48 hours to a really nice guy that placed a 15% blind deposit and picked it up the next day after BACSing the balance across. The most difficult aspect of the whole process was deciding who to sell it to!

I've no agenda and have no particular like of Facebook, but their marketplace has been quite a revelation (and not just for boats).

[The ArtfulBodger]

If he’s not keen on using Jones move it downriver to the Fish and Duck, they seem to turn boats around fairly quickly there.

https://www.fishandduck.co.uk/our-boat-sales/

We’ve stayed there a couple of summers as short term moorers, Duncan is a very sound straightforward chap to deal with.

An Ocean 30 should sell fairly easily - even if it wants a bit of work.

[Pixelpeep 135]

The ArtfulBodger said:

If he’s not keen on using Jones move it downriver to the Fish and Duck, they seem to turn boats around fairly quickly there.

https://www.fishandduck.co.uk/our-boat-sales/

We’ve stayed there a couple of summers as short term moorers, Duncan is a very sound straightforward chap to deal with.

An Ocean 30 should sell fairly easily - even if it wants a bit of work.

That is really useful, thank you.

[Pixelpeep 135]

Badda said:

I’ve had success with eBay in the past.

Sellers fees, scams, wronguns etc just put me off.

[Candellara]

Badda said:

I’ve had success with eBay in the past.

My boat literally sold within one hour of being listed on Ebay for much more than i paid for it :-) Money transferred and the boat was collected on it's trailer - and went to Sweden.

[L_G]

Candellara said:

Badda said:

I’ve had success with eBay in the past.

My boat literally sold within one hour of being listed on Ebay for much more than i paid for it :-) Money transferred and the boat was collected on it's trailer - and went to Sweden.

Intriguing, I'd assumed that the loss of 'VAT paid' status for those buying from the continent had made UK boats a far less attractive.

A friend listed his boat for sale in March and promptly received 5 offers at the asking price 'unseen'

[Candellara]

L_G said:

Intriguing, I'd assumed that the loss of 'VAT paid' status for those buying from the continent had made UK boats a far less attractive.

A friend listed his boat for sale in March and promptly received 5 offers at the asking price 'unseen'

This was about 5 years ago now