Selling a boat, where to advertise to sell it quickly?

3MileBayWaker

Looking to get rid of my 2010 Glastron and upgrade to a V-drive. Now that the state FINALLY raised the speed limits on some of our river water ways to 30mph from 10mph, I can get off the big lakes which are always rough.

I would like to get it sold before winter, but don't want to have someone broker it since everyone I have checked into wants 10% even tho they list it on Boat trader, show it at their marina and the boat shows.

With Options NADA lists Retail at $29,800 and an average price $28,500 which is roughly 3K less than I paid. I doubt I can find someone to buy it for that even though its only 1 year old. It has between 62-65 hours, I don't exactly remember and is immaculate in condition.

I've tried Craigslist with no bites... other ideas?

Does everyone think $25K would be a fair asking price? A new 2011 with same options lists at $32K.

chawk610 · Addict Joined: 06 Jul 2010 Posts: 668 City: Fort Worth

Have you tried Ebay? Sold a truck one time.

www.boatsforsale.com
www.myboat.com
www.boattrader.com

Mine is on both right now...posted yesterday.
good luck!

3MileBayWaker · Posted: Aug 16, 2011 1:44 pm Post subject:

I've never actually sold anything on Ebay before, how high are the cost of selling such a high priced item? I know usually most people go on there to buy stuff really cheap, I don't think this would qualify for really cheap.

cadunkle · Criminal Joined: 16 Jul 2009 Posts: 60 City: NJ

I won't do eBay anymore. They really jacked up their costs and are not friendly to sellers anymore like they used to be. Only time I'll sell anything on eBay is if it's a high $$$ rare item that doesn't have a local market, or a vehicle I might try when they do their list for $1 promo with no penalty for not selling.

I sell all my stuff through Craigslist. Good descriptive ads with lots of pictures and info. I don't leave any email info, just a phone number. Only reason you should be calling is to set up a time to come see/buy what I'm selling. Just have to be patient.

Aside from that, you have a cookie cutter 6-banger I/O. They are plenty of those out there for a lot less than $25k. It's just not a desirable boat. I'd put in your CL ad "will consider any offer" or similar and see what numbers come your way, to see what the market will bear. Still put the number you'd like, because when I see someone who doesn't put a number I don't bother responding to an ad even if it's something I really want... Unless the idea is to just give it away for a trivial price so as not to throw something useful away.

Suprahunter · Soul Rider Joined: 28 Apr 2008 Posts: 486 City: Lowell

Agree with cadunkle. No phone number or pics I dont bother. If you put some effort in the ad you may get some results. Its going the be a hard sell being 1 year old and end of season. Did you pay 31500 for a boat that lists for 32k?

Stazi · Newbie Joined: 01 Feb 2010 Posts: 39 City: Livonia

Craigslist gets a lot of attention but their filters will quickly block you if you make too many edits to the posting or renew it too many times. It pissed me off so much I wanted to break something. Unfortunately its very popular, and once you get blocked you're screwed. eBay now has a free classified feature you can use, so try that, boat trader is your next bet, but they want $100 for a 6 week add with only 3 photos. Not sure what else to tell you other than this: Even thou you think your boat is awesoem and it's should be worth almost the same as a new boat, it's not. If you try and sell it for anything over the NADA value your won't get a single bite. Even still, if it is priced right, you still will get a stuff ton of "fiberglass feelers" who are trying to buy a yacht for the price of a dinghy, good luck, mate.

chawk610 · Addict Joined: 06 Jul 2010 Posts: 668 City: Fort Worth

Bottom line... selling stuff sucks!! Smile

V8 Killer · Outlaw Joined: 08 Jul 2008 Posts: 207 City: Bridgeport

Sold my 2006 X-Star on boattrader in a few weeks and had only a few phone calls...everyone that called had real questions and were serious.

I also listed it on here, on Craigslist, and a Dallas Wakeboard website. Zero hits total from these 3 places.
From my experience selling cars on CL, everyone is looking for the cheapest of the cheap. If you want to sell a $3,000 Honda then put it on CL and it will sell in an hour. But if you want to sell something nice / expensive then be prepared for broke-ass window shoppers.

eBay fees are totally reasonable on large dollar items. They charge a hefty percentage on small dollar items, but my dealership sells cars all the time on eBay and the fees are very reasonable.

Best of luck!

Dusty

fish6942 · Addict Joined: 22 Feb 2006 Posts: 603

The fact that NADA lists the value as being roughly 90% of what you paid for it new makes me seriously question their credibility. Even for a showroom condition used boat, I'd better be getting at least a 25% discount from the new price otherwise I'll just go new and get the full warranty and a newer model and zero hours.

If you do list it on CL, the best thing you can do is take a LOT of pictures with a decent resolution and post them on a picure hosting web site. CL allows you to link these pictures in your ad. When embedding pictures directly into your ad, they only allow a few pictures and they are size limited.

Stazi · Newbie Joined: 01 Feb 2010 Posts: 39 City: Livonia

V8 Killer · Outlaw Joined: 08 Jul 2008 Posts: 207 City: Bridgeport

chawk610 · Addict Joined: 06 Jul 2010 Posts: 668 City: Fort Worth

here herer my good man, they do indeed.

b33nine · Soul Rider Joined: 04 Sep 2008 Posts: 311 City: Salem-ish

Wow, that's way out of line with the market value. I just talked to the local MC dealership and they said they'd give me 38-42k for trade in value on our 05 X-Star. I wasn't looking to sell, but always fun to inquire since I was there.

V8 Killer · Outlaw Joined: 08 Jul 2008 Posts: 207 City: Bridgeport

3MileBayWaker · Posted: Aug 29, 2011 5:03 pm Post subject:

All good info...

There aren't many Glastrons like mine for sale in my area, hell the only one similar to mine is a base Gt185 with the 3.0 and 2 feet smaller going for $20k in the same year. I know my dealer sells a bunch of them every year too, but I don't want to burden them after they've finally helped me get all my warranty issues solved.

My Waketower alone was a $2,500 option which I've only seen 2 other local glastrons with them, but older years.

I know the end of the year is probably the worst time to sell one too since winter is just around the corner. I guess you could consider mine a cookier cutter boat since its a 20' bowrider... but it has the tower already installed which is a task someone normally doesn't want to take on and is fully loaded minus the V8 option. At the time I really didn't want it because my dealer said it was only another 5mph on the top end.

So I took the price off my Craigslist page and just put " Make a fair offer" and listed some number of a new boat.

http://syracuse.craigslist.org/boa/2544423731.html

Any other suggestions or things I should change? I know I am going to take a hit on this boat and still owe a bit so I'm trying to not end up too far into the hole... Hopefully no more than 4-5K. Crying or Very sad