How much is your boat worth?

Pricing your second hand boat for sale can be tricky – especially without the advice of someone who really knows the current market. You know you won’t get what you paid for it, but you don’t want to lose too much on it either. After all you’ve been investing your money and time into her, while she was yours. With years of combined experience in selling boats for boaters we’d like to share a few tips, if you’re thinking of selling your boat.

Presentation

First of all, consider what kind of impression the current condition of the boat is giving. Remember that bad presentation is an excuse for a customer to chip away at your asking price. For a boat priced at the high end of the market you could consider a professional valet service. (You wouldn’t expect to view a £50,000 Mercedes with personal possessions in the glove compartment and biscuit crumbs on the floor!)

Extra benefits

We know from experience at Boatshed Grand Union that if we can attract one customer viewing per week your boat will sell. If the listing is not attracting that level of viewings we may discuss a price reduction campaign with you. Remember however that we would not do this unnecessarily; after all, reducing the price also means reducing our own brokerage commission. However, reducing an original asking price can bring extra benefits to your listing. Upon price reduction your boat will then be attractively featured on our home page as ‘reduced in price’. We will also email our registered customers who have already shown an interest in your boat, to let them know that the price has now been reduced. (Our sophisticated technology can report to you how many times your boat advert has been viewed in any particular time period.)

Monitoring results

After listing your boat we’ll monitor the listing for three weeks and measure the current ‘hit’ rate. Occasionally a boat owner may overestimate the current value of their boat. Remember when researching the current market that an advertised asking price on a similar boat to yours does not necessarily mean that particular boat sold for that price. It may have had a different engine which attracted a different price. You may also ask yourself, if that boat did sell at something close to your desired price how long did it take to sell? At Boatshed our customers are sometimes pleasantly surprised at how quick we are able to attract a sale. (Read: Selling a boat: My story.)

Valuations

Also, be wary of fixing your asking price by considering a surveyors valuation or an insurance valuation. Consider how you would have a diamond ring insured for the replacement value rather than resale value.

Now that you’ve read our top tips you should have a much clearer idea of how to price your boat. If you’re ready to sell your boat on a no sale, no fee basis, taking advantage of our cutting edge technology then contact Phil to find out more.

How much is your boat worth?

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