How do I sell my boat?

Tell Us About Your Boat

At this point, we're not going to gather that much information. We just need to know some basics so we can be sure we are a good match to sell your boat.

As a professional boat brokerage company, we like to see and feel the boats we sell. We prefer to have a local representative who can come out to your boat and get to know the selling features and equipment specific to your vessel. We perform a professional photo shoot, including 100 or more photos, and shoot a digital video of your vessel, which we publish to YouTube.

Unfortunately, if we don't have a local representative in your area, we cannot represent your vessel. We also don't advertise boats that are complete and total projects or boats which are under a certain price threshold for their condition. As a general rule of thumb, we will represent vessels worth $12,500 or more.

Although we'd love to represent any boat anywhere, we know what we're good at and what we're not. If you're in one of our service areas and your boat is in good condition, we would be delighted to move forward with selling your vessel.

FAQ

What if you don't have a rep in my area?

It's a good thing we have local representation in about 1/3 of the entire boating market in America (including about 75% of the coastline). If you're near a coast, we probably do have representation there. If you're in Florida, it's almost a guarantee.

If we don't have a rep in your area, we can't do business yet. You should contact us anyway! If and when we do find a reliable representative locally, we will schedule a photo shoot and walk-through as soon as we can, so that we can improve your ad to meet the standards our buyers expect, which usually includes 100 or more photos and a video.

What if I don't know what my boat is worth?

No problem. We have several industry experts on staff that can perform a market valuation of your boat and provide you a pricing recommendation. This market valuation is offered at no cost to you. All you have to do is sign up! Click here to get started now.

Sign Our Marketing Agreement

Our agreement is simple, clear and straight-forward. It's quick reading at two pages but, if you're not in the mood to read, here are the highlights:

You can cancel any time for any reason.
You can sell your boat on your own, at any time, and we aren't owed anything.
We won't change the advertised price without your permission.
You don't have to accept any offer, other than a full price offer.
We receive a commission only if your boat sells to a buyer we procure through our marketing efforts.
We promise we're going to do our best to sell your boat. You can take that to the bank.

FAQ

What if I don't want to sign a contract?

The POP marketing agreement wasn't written by lawyers. If you hate contracts, you'll think this is a breath of fresh air. If you still don't want to sign the agreement, we can't help you. Several states require us by law to have a signed agreement giving us permission to market and sell a boat. Even in other states, we think it's prudent to have something in place that both parties can agree to before getting started. We're about to spend actual money marketing your boat and we're going to spend real time and gas money driving to your home or marina to see your boat. POP is the one putting a lot on the line to sell your boat. We need something in place that says you won't try to sell your boat to a buyer we bring out there.

Provide Proof of Ownership and 1 Recent Photo

We're almost there — promise! Before we can start advertising your vessel, we need a couple more things.

We're going to need to prove you own the vessel, or have the rights to sell it, if owned in the name of a business/entity. This means we need to see a copy of either a Registration, Title or US Coast Guard Document. If you have it handy, you can take a picture of it with your phone and email it in.
We need at least one photo, but more is useful too. This first photo allows us to find some buyers in our database we know are actively looking for your model boat and notify them right away. We don't send notifications without at least one photo. This helps build interest so when we do upoload our 100 or more photographs, we have prospective buyers already asking for and waiting to see the additional photos.

We're also going to validate your Hull Number and run a BoatHistoryReport.com report (a $34.95 value). Everything we do is always at no cost.

NOTE: If a trailer is included in the sale, we're going to need to have documentation on file for the trailer too.

FAQ

I've used brokers to sell boats before and I have never had to provide proof of ownership! What gives?

We definitely do things differently here at Pop Yachts. It's not unheard of to ask for proof of ownership before transferring a vessel, but we are likely the only brokerage to require this before advertising. Proof of ownership is more than just proving you have the right to sell the vessel. While this is necessary, it's also important that we find out upfront if there are other names on the Title, if the registration is valid, or there are potentially other issues such as an unregistered Trailer in a state where registration is necessary to legally transfer. These can all cause delays when we ultimately attempt to complete the transaction and provide the new buyer with all the necessary registration paperwork they will need to register their purchases.

If the vessel is owned in the name of a company (such as an LLC or Trust), we will need to see paperwork identifying you as a Managing Member or such entity. Again, we are primarily trying to ward off a potential delay or interruption for a smoother closing transaction down the line.

Professional Photo Shoot

At this point, your advertisement has been published with the photos you provided and it lacks any serious amount of detail. Don't worry — we will fix that. In the meantime, we're also going to start attracting interest with the advertisement in its preliminary state so that we have buyers ready as soon as our photos and full advertisement hits the web.

Your local representative should be contacting you within a day or two. Our local reps have very busy schedules and wide areas, so it can sometimes take a week or two before a convenient time can be scheduled. This of course depends on your area, as some areas are tightly packed with representatives and we can get out to you much more quickly.

We strive to take 100 photos or more and a video (when we can). Today's buyer wants to know anything and everything before committing their time or their family's time to travel to see a boat anywhere. This used to apply mainly to an out of town buyer but, these days, many buyers will want to study all 100 photos before driving only a few miles across town. Buyers have come to know POP as the "photo people" and we like to keep it that way!

FAQ

Do I need to be there?

No, definitely not! If your vessel is at a marina or in your front yard/driveway, and is not locked away, you don't actually need to be there. If a cabin is locked, please try to unlock it before our scheduled time so we can get pictures of all areas of the vessel. We understand your busy schedule and will try to make this as convenient as possible. If possible, please try to remove personal clutter from the vessel or tuck it away into shelves/cabinets before the photo shoot. Prospective buyers like to see a clean, clutter-free boat.

Approve Our Advertisement

We're going to send you a list, called a "Feature List". It will be in PDF form attached to an email. This list will contain all the equipment, electronics and boat features included with the sale, including everything from the GPS unit to the water skis (if they are included). It's important you sign off on this list, as this list will become an Appendix on the Purchase & Sale Agreement when we bring you a written offer from a buyer.

This same email will ask you to click a link where you will review a high-resolution screenshot of your current advertisement and sign off electronically that you belive the advertisement is true and correct to the best of your knowledge and that all items mentioned will be included in the sale. This entire process only takes a few minutes — you can do it from any computer or smart phone.

FAQ

Why do I need to approve the advertisement?

We have a responsibility to the buyers out there that the advertisements that they read are true and correct to the best of our knowledge. You know your boat the best so, to us, that means that we would also like you to agree "to the best of your knowledge" that the advertisement is true and correct. Until this happens, the advertisement shows as "under construction". While we are still aggressively advertising your boat, this message may keep a potential buyer from submitting an inquiry or showing serious interest so we would like to get everything finalized as quickly as we can.

The Marketing Machine

At POP, we truly are a MARKETING MACHINE. If we were forced to pick only one job that we were the best at, this is it. When it comes to advertising your boat, there is no better way than through Pop Yachts.

We put the advertisement for your boat on 166 websites. Compared to the typical brokerage, we tower over the competition. You could say we're aggressive, but that might be an understatement. In more than 90% of cases, one of our advertisements for your vessel will be found on the first page of Google when searching by brand/model/location within just 24 hours. That's scary good!

It's all about getting your boat in as many searches on as many websites as possible.

FAQ

What if I am running my own ad on iBoats.com (or other)?

No one wants to see a duplicate advertisement situation, where we both have an advertisement for the same boat on the same website. If you are running your own ad, let us know which website(s) your ad is on and we will turn off the "data feed" to those websites. If this way, our advertisement won't show up next to yours. Be sure to tell us when you want to stop paying to renew your ad and we will take over and add our advertisement to the website(s) in question.

Handling Inquiries

It's our job to talk to anyone and everyone who inquires about your boat. This means we respond to all the phone calls, emails and texts.

Believe it or not, working online leads is an art form. Qualifying a buyer correctly and quickly, while simultaneously putting off the lowballers and blocking the scammers isn't easy.

We've gotten pretty good at our jobs! Every day we process more than 1311 unique buyer inquiries. Our current average response time is 122 minutes!

FAQ

What if I receive an inquiry directly from my own private advertisement?

POP will handle all inquiries we receive from the hundreds of advertisements we post around the Internet. We only get paid if we turn one of our inquiries into the buyer who buys your boat. If you post your own advertisement, you can work your own inquiries and calls from that advertisement, sell on your own and we haven't earned a commission.

Written Offer & Negotiation

We only accept offers from buyers in written form on a valid Purchase & Sales Agreement. Requiring a buyer to put their offer in writing and sign on the dotted line is a pretty sure way to verify the buyer means business. The worst thing we could do is notify you of an offer, only to have the buyer disappear and not return our calls. Requiring all offers to be in the form of a valid contract helps mitigate that from happening.

We handle all negotiations between yourself and the prospective buyer. This covers everything from the agreed upon price to the terms and conditions that you or the buyer may wish to see in the purchase contract.

About 1 in 3 written offers finalize into a completed transaction (currently 28.53%). So, from this point, there is still some work to ensure the transaction completes successfully and your boat gets sold.

FAQ

How much room is there to negotiate?

This is your sale. You are permitted to negotiate as much as you want. You won't speak with the buyer directly at this point, so we will be negotiating on your behalf based on your instruction. If you don't like the buyer's first offer, by all means come back with a higher number. As for how much negotiating room there is on any one offer from a buyer, it's hard to say. You tell us what you need, if you need more money in your pocket, and we will suggest the best course of action.

Inspection & Closing Process

During the inspection process, the buyer may request a personal inspection, mechanical survey, engine compression test, oil analysis and/or water trial. It's not as bad as it sounds. We coordinate everything from here to make sure a time is arranged that fits everyone's busy schedules.

At this point, just about 2 out of every 3 deals will turn into complete transactions (currently 67.04%).

According to our standard Purchase & Sales Agreement, the buyer pays for any inspection or surveys however, for liability reasons while you still own the vessel, we request you (seller) captain your vessel for any water trial or provide for a captain to be available.

We're almost done. If the prospective buyer likes what they see, they'll sign and return to us the Acceptance of Vessel document. If the buyer backs out after this point, they forfeit their deposit, so nearly 100% of deals proceed once this document has been signed.

FAQ

What if the inspection or survey turns up a problem?

That's precisely what the inspection and survey are intended to do. We prepare buyers to see a certain amount of cosmetic items on a survey report for a pre-owned vessel. Depending on age, some reports may have dozens of small items that are mostly cosmetic and, for the most part, a certain amount of that is expected. If a larger problem is uncovered, it can lead to a re-negotiation or ultimately the transaction may be canceled by the buyer. Prior to a survey, we will send you a list of the common items that fail a survey, such as batteries not being charged or fouled light bulbs, which ultimately helps make sure a survey goes smoothly.

Delivery to Buyer

We're almost there! At this point, we would ask you to find any and all manuals, documentation, service records, and anything else you have regarding your vessel. Once you have these, please secure them somewhere inside the vessel for the new buyer.

Please gather all keys for the vessel (including any cabin keys) and hand them to the POP rep or to the new buyer directly. The buyer may alternatively send a ground shipper to pick up the vessel.

That's it — the sale is done! Are you ready to go shopping for your next one?

FAQ

Will someone from POP be there?

While scheduling doesn't always permit, we always try to have a local representative at the vessel when her new owner arrives.

Tell Us About Your Boat

FAQ

Sign Our Marketing Agreement

Related Documents

FAQ

Provide Proof of Ownership and 1 Recent Photo

Related Documents

FAQ

Professional Photo Shoot

FAQ

Approve Our Advertisement

Related Documents

FAQ

The Marketing Machine

FAQ

Handling Inquiries

Related Documents

FAQ

Written Offer & Negotiation

Related Documents

FAQ

Inspection & Closing Process

FAQ

Delivery to Buyer

FAQ

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