[RegisteredUser]

Tells me seatow buys promotion ads.

 

[overbored]

Ya. you are going to buy adds where your customers are, tells me they get a lot of business from POP 's customers

 

[gulfsail]

Brokers or scammers?

Maybe a little of both.

I really hate to give up my information, or have to speak with a broker, just to look at photos of a boat online.

 

[RegisteredUser]

Free 1 yr seatow low level membership

 

[hellosailor]

It could also be that the self-employed "local representatives" were scamming both the owners AND Popyachts by putting the boat on ebay without the knowledge of either.

Popyachts makes it clear that they are only going to take a 10% commission. But like the Uber drivers who rudely embarrass Uber...the contractors might be up to anything else.

 

[denverd0n]

I usually just make something up, and if I think I'll be back more than once I save it. I just did this for popyachts.com

I have done that a couple of times in the past, but have decided that it is not worth the time. If they are so incredibly stupid as to think this is a good business model, then I really don't want to try to do business with them.

 

[VIEXILE]

Curiously, I just got an email from a Pop Yachts scammer broker in Bradenton, and the boat is on Craigslist in Maine. Wanted to get my phone number so he could "call and explain the process." Said he wanted to market the boat and charge any fees to the buyer. So, Shane, the answer is a resounding "NO." There's a reason (I told him) Pop Yachts is banned from Yachtworld. I also warned him if he ripped and represented my photos in any way, I'd be calling both the Maine and Florida Attorney General's offices.

 

[hellosailor]

It might be worth contacting Popyachts about this guy. THEY may not want to be affiliated with him either.

Their basic concept, to have a wide listing service other than YW, and to provide "local brokers" to make it different from just a laundry list, isn't so crazy. But if they are not vetting the "local brokers"... Well, even Youtube has been having problems cancelling pedophile accounts, and Amazon can't seem to get rid of the counterfeiters.

Scams appear wherever there's money to be stolen. Ergh, made.

 

[VIEXILE]

It might be worth contacting Popyachts about this guy. THEY may not want to be affiliated with him either.

Their basic concept, to have a wide listing service other than YW, and to provide "local brokers" to make it different from just a laundry list, isn't so crazy. But if they are not vetting the "local brokers"... Well, even Youtube has been having problems cancelling pedophile accounts, and Amazon can't seem to get rid of the counterfeiters.

Scams appear wherever there's money to be stolen. Ergh, made.

No to contacting Pop Yachts about anyone. The business model is the problem. They rip photos off FSBO's, then try to claim a commission. They got booted from YW for a reason. I mean, how BAD do you have to be to get kicked out of the only multiple listing service for yacht brokerage in the U.S.?

 

[hellosailor]

I don't know why (or for sure if) YW kicked them off, but since the Popyachts operation would seem to be a competitor to YW, not just a simple brokerage, that in itself would be reason to kick them off regardless to any questions of misbehavior.

Very few businesses, including hobby web forums that depends on viewers and advertisers, allow competitors to set up camp on them. If PY is doing all that you say they are, a complaint with the FTC might get them shut down. Ripping off other people's photos and "trying to claim a commission" when there was no prior arrangement would violate numerous laws and probably qualify for prosecution under RICO as well. Which would make them a great target for any federal agency, assuming that's what has been going on.

 

[Minnewaska]

......how BAD do you have to be to get kicked out of the only multiple listing service for yacht brokerage in the U.S.?

I don't know these folks and their BBB rating is B- (linked below). However, they seem incompatible with YW, which only allows listing brokers to place ads on their site. If PY is soliciting (despite the alleged dishonesty), FSBOs and trying to extract a fee from a buyer, that's not what YW does.

It sure has the trappings of a scam, but I really don't have enough to know if it's the entire business model or a few bad apples.

https://www.bbb.org/us/fl/sarasota/profile/yacht-broker/pop-sells-llc-0653-90095675

 

[Cappa]

So, I haven't seen anyone on here from the seller perspective...and while every situation is different, I seriously doubt POP is advertising and trying to sell boats at 2X the seller's asking price. Why do I know this? Because I am selling my boat through POP and they are advertising less than 10% higher and that is their commission. Again, just a different perspective from the seller's side of the story.[/QUOTE]

 

[ParsonJ]

it looks like a scam

 

[miatapaul]

No to contacting Pop Yachts about anyone. The business model is the problem. They rip photos off FSBO's, then try to claim a commission. They got booted from YW for a reason. I mean, how BAD do you have to be to get kicked out of the only multiple listing service for yacht brokerage in the U.S.?

I don't recall ever seeing a Pop Yacht listing on Yachtworld and I have looked at ads for about as long as they have existed. I remember looking at some listings when I had dial up, so it has been a while. YW is a listing service for Yacht Brokers, Pop Yachts is not really a Brokerage so much as a grouping of yacht brokers working for themselves at lest that is the theory. Some of there brokers I am sure are fine, others not so much so. I doubt Pop Yachts is interested in paying to be listed on YW as they are expensive and if you factor in they likely charge per listing (or at least levels of # of boats listed) it would be quite expensive. So I don't think they got kicked off as not really eligible or interested at least not with there current model.

I think Pop Yachts figures they will have a lot of listing that will never sell for what they are asking, but since they have the site they do not add much to the overall cost of hosting. The brokers are all independent and so they cost Pop Yachts nothing. There real market is in high volume/low price boats. They take on lots of boats that a normal brokerage would never take on because it would not be worth there time. Small center consoles and other power boats are where they make there money, but part of there draw is being able to say they have Xthousands of boats listed so they will list just about anything, why not it does not cost them anything. It is not like they are paying anyone to take photos (and in most cases it shows) so list it and if it sells fine. 90% of there sailboat listings will never sell for anywhere near the listing price. I believe that is where they are screwing the sellers, as that is there commission, on listing price not selling price so they list the boat at $60,000 (a number from a boat I looked at) and when the price drops down to 15,000 (the last price I saw it listed for) the commission is still $6,000 so it is now 40% instead of 10%. Had they been ethical they would have said your boat won't sell for more than $15,000 so that is where we will list it so it will sell quickly. But the company is not that concerned about boats selling quickly because they have to keep the inventory numbers high. So they really are bottom feeders working on the low end of the market. I don't think they are intentionally dishonest or unethical.

 

[fletcher01]

Everyone's experience may be different, but I find the listings annoying and basically click bait. We did contact a POP Yachts sales agent about a boat, and when we met to see the boat it was clear that he knew nothing about it, and probably had never met the owner. I can usually find a listing for the same boat on multiple sites so I usually favor the more legit, local agent.

 

[Darren davis]

One question for you all who have recently dealt with POP Yachts.

When I was looking 2+ years ago it seemed to me that they were claim jumping for sale listings. As in they were listing boats for sale that were not actually listed with them...in an effort to get you to work with them to buy a boat. Have any of you come across this??

Yes! I've been interested in a couple of their boats and I never get to see them. It's happening right now. I asked about a boat and the very next day it's under contract. It's not under contract now and I bet I never see this boat. I asked about a Donzi in the spring. Couldn't get anyone to show me the boat. I see it's back on the market again. When they are listing the boat I typically don't click but they are listing something that I'm very interested in now. Unlikely that I will ever see it though

 

[VIEXILE]

That's what they do. For example, a recent Dyer 29 (nice little downeaster ********) was on the local Craigslist for $75,000.00. I think the actual listing broker (who had a legitimate listing) and the owner got wind of it and it was taken down. The number to call, for a Maine boat, was in Florida. Same number as I called a few years ago for a Pearson 365 that looked great and was claimed to be in Saco, Maine. I called the boatyards in Saco, asked around and the boat didn't exist. Click bait. When I called, they had to "coordinate with the owner." It dragged out awhile and then other P365's were offered. Scam. I also researched complaints against them. There were a lot, overcharges, etc., etc.

 

[Stress Reel-ief]

I see their listings plastered all over Ebay and at times on CL - the boats tend to be older and all are overpriced for the Florida market - in the body of each ad is a come on for people to join their brokerage to sell boats - pretty tacky .

Just curious if anyone has bought or sold a boat through them ?- they do at least provide lots of pictures

Hi There,

I am from Australia and I have actually bought 6 boats through Popyachts over the past 7 years and the service has been nothing short of excellent. I have dealt with several of their employees and senior managers and no matter who I have had the pleasure of dealing with at that firm has been great to deal with and were more than willing to assist in any possible way.
Over and above the fact that the sales guys assisted me in negotiating the best possible deals on all the boats that I bought, all the prices that I paid were very reasonable as I checked other boats that were for sale around the US, they even assisted me in locating a reliable and cheap trailer builder to build Australian standard trailers to suit our road conditions and they even assisted me in locating a shipping company that was reliable and far cheaper than I could manage to locate. They also helped me locate someone in each area that I purchased from to perform complete inspections and issue me with certificates. Not once in any of the processes did I feel ripped off as I was constantly checking and verifying things myself.
A big example is when I purchased my first boat, when it was delivered it was missing all the advertised safety equipment and several other items that were advertised in the sale, I emailed the director and informed him of all the missing items and within 3 weeks they had shipped out all the missing items brand new in new packaging.
I cleaned up the boat and sold it for a profit so I decided to do it again 5 more times. Each time the process was as easy and enjoyable as the previous purchase, they are an awesome group to work with.
Many many thanks to Scott Mcnally, Kevin Stigall, Joey Champagne and all the back office processing staff. Great team guys keep up the great work. I cannot thank them all enough for making my purchasing experiences as easy and trouble free as possible.
When this pandemic dies down I will be purchasing more boats from the US and I will only use Popyachts to purchase from or to negotiate on my behalf.

 

[sailingfool]

A first time poster shows up to make a glowing recommendation for vendor? How fortuitous.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

 

[VIEXILE]

Yeah. I'm calling shenanigans on that one. Classic.