Pricing home-made second-hand boats

[tony waller]

Hello All
I am ready to sell Isobella III (a 16ft Shearwater faering designed by Joel White) but how does one price a home-made boat? Mine is solidly built with good materials but not, of course, to professional standards. It is primarily a rowing boat but does have sail and a rudder. Should the trailer (a good piggy-back one) be priced separately in the advertisement? It would be awkward to have one of them left unsold. What are your ideas about this? Which aspects are most likely to be of interest to potential buyers? Any help/thoughts/ideas/questions would be much appreciated. Greetings to all, Tony (Waller)

[BrianP]

Definitely sell the trailer with the boat. Unless it is an easy cartop, boats need a trailer with them to sell at anything like a fair price. Trouble is one seems to have to almost give the expensive trailer away with the boat in order to secure a buyer.

Buyers worry a lot about wooden boats, so it needs to be stressed how good the materials were, marine ply, epoxy etc and the experience of the builder. Make it clear if no maintenance is needed, stress such a point.

Add links to the designers pages, and make sure you have a good selection if pictures, on and off the water.

Prices are generally a fair bit lower than some years back. An immaculate, highly invested boat can still find a willing buyer though, you do only need one buyer.

In the UK prices seem to be just the materials costs, including trailer and sails. The boat also needs to be 5 years old to be legal as well, if a sailing boat. Is it the same for a rowing boat?

Look back through Watercraft issues for a similar design, prices might be 60% of a prices from before the recession. Watercraft seems to have the highest prices if you can wait long enough for the advert to appear. Apolloduck is popular, put it in the Rowing section.

Then there is eBay. Can produce a good price but no way of knowing and selling costs are high. The Shearwater is a special boat though and could achieve a good price.

Brian

To add my 4-pennyworth to Brian's very useful advice...

Yes, definitely sell the trailer with the boat and be sure to list any other kit you're offering too. Boats sell as much on the inventory as on the boat itself. We once sold an over-priced MG design listed "With full sailing infantry." Resist the temptation to indulge your literary talents in colourful and/or jokey sales patter; a straight list of what's on offer is much more effective.

Yes, include design/designer details and/or article refs eg "See similar boat in Water Craft  67"

The better the picture... meaning afloat and underway... the better the response. Include your location and the phone number you are most likely to answer! Probably a mobile? Don't rely solely on an email address... Potential buyers will want to form an impression of you... and you of them. But do add your email address, especially if you have additional pix you can send.

Yes, prices are down... but not that much; time of year is far more of a factor and spring is naturally the best time. You may have to drop 10-20% in the depths of winter. But a no-work-needed boat with a good design pedigree can still fetch a decent price at any time of the year.

Brian's '5 year/legal' point is not strictly correct. One of the (several) peculiarities of the RCD is that a small boat classed as a replica is exempt from the 5 year rule and a wooden boat which is broadly traditional in appearance, even if made of epoxy ply with poly sails, is classed as a replica, while an exact replica of an identifiable old type  made in GRP isn't! As the Americans say, Go figure.

Where to advertise.... and here, I'm also resisting the sales patter temptation. Generally speaking, you will get best response from the ads 'vehicle' which has most boats of a similar type to yours. Yes, that means your ad will be up against more competition but regardless of any claimed reader/viewer figures, that's where the most potential buyers will expect to find you... and expect to pay what she's worth.

You can test this and get a better idea of realistic prices by calling a handful of advertisers of the most comparable craft and asking if she's still for sale and if so, what response they had. If they are in a magazine, I'd say make your calls about 1 or 2 weeks after the issue went on sale.

Pete

 









 

[tony waller]

Very many thanks to Brian and Pete for their hugely helpful comments and advice. VERY much appreciated. Tony