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best site to sell a boat

6K views 23 replies 16 participants last post by  S/VNirvana 
#1 ·
Hey everybody,

i have just decided that i need a bigger boat, so my current one (catalina 27) needs to find a good new home. Any suggestions on which site to advertise?

Since this is the first boat i am selling i don't have experience on what works and what doesn't. While looking around I just noticed there is 1000 or so "sell your boat" sites, assume some work better than others.

thanks for any help.

Chris
kalinski@comcast.net
 
#8 ·
Pigslo-

I'd have to agree... given that the OP and the two backing the site suggested are all under 4 posts each, and two of the three just joined in the last three days.
 
#9 ·
It was obvious to me since I frequent the yachworld, trader online,etc. and know what a good site looks like. They are just trying to get traffic. It works in the short term but when superlatives are used to describe anything...best site, #1 rated, I always ask... best in whose opinion, highest rated by whom, the founder.
pigslo
 
#11 ·
Since we live in a very popular boating area, I've had great success selling my past boats quickest through the local newspaper classified sections. However, I found our last boat on yachtworld.com and sold the previous boat on craigslist. No 10% brokerage fee, but craigslist shoppers expect to pay less - and I had to waste my time with all the hull-kickers.
 
#12 ·
No experience-but I always read through the classys in Good Old Boat. Most of the others I just toss, but then I'm not really in the Swan market anyways. And, since my local paper isn't much good for anything else, I usually look through the classys-gets my attention for something I might like and it's not 500 miles away. Hope that helps from a prospective buyer standpoint. Oh-the thing about GOB is that I think I tend to transfer my good impression of the magazine to the adverts and classys. I'm not sure if that's rational thinking or not, but assume that the sellers are people who actually sail their boats and while over the side looking for their wife's lost wedding ring do a quick hull inspection. Maybe the word "rational" and "thinking" shouldn't collide in the same sentence in my case!
 
#13 · (Edited)
I must disagree, lol

pigslo said:
sailingtexas.com is a difficult to navigate site that has limited # of boats for sale and this thread is

probably spam.
pigslo
I was perusing my logs and found I was getting hits from this thread so I took a look, and find I'm accused of spamming! LOL, pretty funny, I have no need to spam, and I find spammers rather distateful. I worry about running out of bandwidth as it is.

I don't claim Sailing Texas is the #1 boating site, I just happen to be #1 on the "Top 100 Boating Site" website, not the best judge I'm sure. I'm sure there are many more popular sailing sites than Sailing Texas, they just don't participate on that ranking site.

To just criticize the navigation on Sailing Texas and claim a limited number of boats for sale is just being negative. I get comments from users on how EASY the site is to navigate, and today I have 286 sailboats listed for sale, early December. I admit navigating Sailing Texas can be difficult, it is not easy to organize 4,000 webpages to make them easy to navigate.

Sailing Texas is a different website, part of it is where I help people sell and buy sailboats, but it's not for everyone. It is not possible to buy an ad on Sailing Texas to sell your boat.

Yall have a Merry Christmas!

David
Sailing Texas
 
#14 ·
David,

I've used your site in the past, it worked wonderfully for me, you do a great job ;)

Paul
 
#16 ·
pigslo said:
Well I found it difficult to navigate but then I have cloven hooves so don't pay attention to me.
Pigslo
Really!? What a coincidence! I just started a new class, and my students all have cloven hooves too. Perhaps you can give me some pointers, as they're having a bit of trouble with the knots!

http://www.sailingtexas.com/Movies/Deer/deerlessons.html

David
 
#17 ·
One experience I'd like to pass on is that when posting a private ad on the 'net, be prepared for fraudulent responses such as:

" I will buy your boat - please send bank info, we will send a cheque and look after shipping - don't you worry about it"

Fortunately these often originate in bizarre locales like Nigeria, Switzerland etc, but when you put your email address out there, it's not just the good guys paying attention.
 
#18 ·
"and my students all have cloven hooves too. ...they're having a bit of trouble with the knots!"

And here I thought CLOVE KNOTS were simple and effective for that.<G>

When a Nigerian asks you for bank information, give them the account numbers from a state or federal tax refund check. Let them try to steal from the IRS instead of you. And, ask them if you can reimburse them later if they'll please use overnight mail NOW because you're going away in three days. Make 'em WORK for their money.
 
#21 ·
ckalinski said:
I did post the boat at sailing texas and got a couple of hits, but nothing too serious yet. I also put ads in the local papers - we'll see.

thanks everybody for the help - greatly appreciated.

chris
Might be worth trying craigslist.org, if you're in a community served by them. Best time to place an ad on craigslist is early afternoon, around four or so... as the people getting home can check it, as can the people just about to leave work. If you post in the morning, your ad will generally scroll off the first two screens, and then it's usually not really seen that much.
 
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