Useful information for buyers and sellers:

Selling a Boat.

The first and foremost most things to consider when selling your boat is to make sure you do not get scammed. In Nigeria, the fifth largest industry is boat scams and is considered a misdemeanor.

Here is how the scam works…

The scammer will tell you he is interested in buying your boat. He then sends you a cashier’s check, bankers draft or a business check for quite a bit more than the agreed upon sales price of your boat. He will then ask you to send the difference back. He more than likely gave you some type of excuse for giving you too much such as my accountant created the error.

You then would wait for the check to clear before you send him the difference. The checks are usually stolen or forged but your bank will honor the check, and it could be weeks or months before it is discovered the checks are stolen or forged. At this point you are liable for paying the value of the check. If the boat has been shipped to the scammer, you are now out of your boat also.

Unfortunately, if you have fallen for the scam, there is little you can do at this point to get your boat or money back. The scammers are not usually in your country and your police have no jurisdiction in their country.

This type of scam is not just limited to Nigeria. Below is a list of other countries that are known to participate in this type of scam. Be aware that they will tell you the truth about their location.

Israel
Russia
Nigeria and many other African countries

Use the following suggestions to keep yourself from being scammed:

If you receive more money than was agreed upon, STOP. It more than likely is a scam.
Do not under any circumstances send ANY money back to the buyer.
Be thorough when collecting information from the buyer. Request a street address, not a PO Box. If they are reluctant to provide the information beware.
The most obvious suggestion is to be suspicious of any one from the countries listed above.
You may want to consider acquiring the services of an escrow agent.
If it seems too good to be true, then it probably is.

There are four important steps you need to consider when trying to sell your boat. Most people wash the boat and pop a for sale sign on it and hope someone comes along and buys it. The consequences of this type of action is the boat is grossly under priced which results in loss of dollars for the seller or the boat is overpriced and remains on the market endlessly.

Approach selling your boat in a business like manner and you’ll not only get the appropriate price but you will minimize your grief and effort. There are four very important steps involved with selling your boat:

Determining a selling price
Determining how to go about selling it
Getting the boat prepared to be sold
Having the proper paperwork on hand to close the sale

Determining the selling price

The biggest error that most boat sellers make is not properly pricing their boat. A price that is too high can be detrimental as well as a price too low can cost you some serious dollars. Determining the price of a boat can be accomplished just like determining the price of a used car. Do price comparisons in your local newspaper for boats like yours, the internet is a great source to find boats similar to yours and talk with local dealers to see if they have models similar to yours. Keep notes on what you find so you can show prospective buyers what boats like yours are selling for.

You can use a marine “blue book” which you can acquire at your local bank, boat dealership or insurance company. The most popular books are NADA and ABOS. One thing to remember about these books is to take the values with a grain of salt. Use the price along with other factors you have collected to determine your asking price. Remember to factor in your boat loan if you have one. Find out what your pay off is and make sure your asking price will cover your pay off.

Determining how to go about selling it

Size of the boat usually is the first consideration you should consider. If the boat is a smaller boat, you will have a better chance of selling it yourself. You can consider trading the boat as a second choice and your third choice would be to list it with a broker. Brokers tend not to list smaller boats because they tend not to generate enough income for the amount of time required to make the sale. Large boats are more complicated to sell because of the documentation involved when selling one. Yacht brokers are trained to handle all the aspects of such a transaction.

Selling the boat yourself will reward you with the most income but you have to do all the work and put up with the frustration of showing the boat and doing test runs with potential buyers. Trade ins will net you the least money and most dealers do not do trade ins anyway.

The best time to sell your boat will be at the beginning of the boating season not during the dead of winter. Plan an advertising campaign you are going to use when selling the boat. Use your local newspaper, place an ad in The Coastal Mariner magazine or place an ad on www.coastalmariner.com. There have been boats sold from this web site to people all over the world so the Internet is probably the cheapest and quickest way to selling your boat. You have quite a lot of prospective buyers when you consider the number of people who now are on-line.

If you decide to use a broker, then expect to pay from 5 to 10 percent commission. Yacht brokers are like real estate salesmen, they take on the responsibility of marketing your boat to prospective buyers. You shop brokers and find one who understands your type of boat. If you own a Jarrett Bay, you wouldn’t want a broker who only knows about Vikings trying to sell your boat. Try to find a broker who is reputable, one who belongs to an organization that requires a code of ethics, and is well known and respected among his community. One great source of finding reputable brokers is in The Coastal Mariner magazine or here on our website www.coastalmariner.com.

Getting the boat prepared for a buyer

A clean glistening boat will attract more buyers than one that has never seen soap and water. Invest some time and effort into scrubbing the inside and outside with a soft brush. Mix a solution of bleach and water to spray on that green mold that tends to grow in those spots that are not visited by sunlight. If the fiberglass is faded looking, invest in an electric buffer, some rubbing compound and a can of wax. Take a Saturday afternoon and enjoy bringing that dull finish back to life.

Be sure you clean the bilge because this is usually a smelly place that would indicate rot or decay to a potential buyer. If you have a head, clean and sanitize it, make sure all appliances are clean and in good working order and if there is dirty carpet there are products available to clean it.

Check your battery and make sure it is fully charged and will not fail when you go for that test run.

If your boat is big enough, look for some ideas as to how you can modernize the inside without breaking the bank. New curtains, attractive wall hangings, matching plates and glasses are just a few things you could do to spiffy up the inside. Ask a friend who is good at decorating to give you some ideas.

If you decide to market your boat on www.coastalmariner.com, take high resolution pictures of the inside and outside of the boat. You get ten additional photos when placing your ad here. Make those ten photos work to your advantage. Take photos of the nice features your boat has that others may not have.

Having the proper paperwork on hand

Once you have received your money, it is easy to think that you can head to the bank. This is not true.

If you have sold the boat yourself, be sure to give the buyer a bill of sale which includes the price, both buyer and seller names with addresses, drivers license numbers, the type and size of the boat, registration numbers, VIN and a list of all the equipment included with the boat.

The bill of sale will serve as your receipt. You should provide the buyer with a receipt if there was a down payment placed on the boat. Be sure you ask for a bank check made out to you or a certified check for both the deposit and final payment.

Most states require you submit a form to the boat registration division specifying such things as date sold, buyers name and the price received for the boat. This is an important registration process because this will remove any liability from you in the event the new buyer has an accident.

To save yourself a lot of grief and time be sure you collect a deposit before you do any test rides. If the buyer is serious enough to want to test ride the boat, he should be willing to put down a deposit.

Be honest with all your potential buyers. If there are know problems with the boat, be sure to disclose them. You do not want non-disclosure to come back and bite you later. The best policy would be to include these problems in the written contract.