Pop Yachts Broker?

[xoomer]

I have my boat up for sale and received an email from Pop Yachts who wants me to use their company as a broker. I looked into the company a bit and they look pretty good from what I can see. The main thing is that I can still sell the boat by myself and not have to pay them a commission. Also, they come out and take 100 photos (not sure why so many) plus a video, they won't accept any offer without 10% deposit, and I set the price--apparently they add their commission on top of the price I give them.

I'm just wondering if anyone has used them before to sell a boat and, if so, how the process went. So far, I don't see any "down-side" to using their service.

 

[Joey Martinez]

they seem to be good at selling boats to people who are not close to you, so the 100 photos is so that someone who is serious about your boat can see every inch of it because a lot of there deals they wont be able to see in person. I almost bought 1 boat from a person listing from pop yachts and i still get emails from them on boats that I may like haha so they are kinda pushy to make the sales.

 

[xoomer]

@Joey Martinez thanks for the info--I hadn't considered them selling long-distance. I suppose there is nothing to lose from my standpoint, at least from what I can see. I have one tentative offer but if it doesn't close in a couple of days I will probably give them a shot...

 

[Britboater]

Hi @xoomer , I had dealings with pop yachts before I purchased my 190. It was a local boat here in PG, they arrange a viewing which was with the owner and they also dealt with the offer, I even put a deposit down which they held on in a type of escrow account.
Luckily for me they did, as the seller then wanted extra for the warranty after a price had been accepted, I pulled out and they returned my deposit without question. The actual guy I dealt with from pop yachts was excellent, Thomas I think, kept me up to date and was very informative.

I see them as good for the buyer but they seriously inflate your price to cover their commission, so making your boat seem expensive, plus they list on boattrader which you can do yourself. If it's not costing you anything and you can still list it privately, I don't see a problem but then you will have two adverts running, one with a cheaper price.

Is the Yamaha going?

 

[xoomer]

@Britboater I hadn't thought about the two-price situation. I have noticed that the prices POP's have are higher than what I think of as "normal".

Unfortunately, it is time to sell due to "senior citizen" health related issues. On the bright side, I'm keeping my 14' pontoon to cruise up and down the Cape Coral freshwater canals LOL

 

[Ancient canoe]

They serve their purpose if you don't want the hassle of posting it and dealing with the buyers. Their listings are way overpriced though. I don't know if buyers are paying that or they are negotiating down to what you would probably get if you did it yourself. That's the downside paying commission.

 

[96Pirate]

So, when I was looking to buy the boats they had for sale were way over priced. Some guys were asking more for a 6 yo boat then what they had paid for it new.

So @xoomer you say that you set the price and then they work their commission in off that. Wouldn't that be a disservice to you if they are priced much higher than a comparable boat? Maybe not if they sell at those prices but how many sell at those prices.

 

[xoomer]

@96Pirate the prices look pretty high to me but apparently they do make some sales. I was looking today at Yamaha 23-24' between $35K-$50K and found a couple that apparently sold in the last few weeks shown below.

Of course you can always set one price with them, and a different price on your own from what I understand.

 

[Ancient canoe]

From what I can tell they pretty much just use the MSRP as the price. I've even seen some ads on boattrader even use the current year's MSRP for older model boats. Not sure why they put a ridiculous levels since anyone can do minimum research and see what a fair price is.

 

[Julian]

I was contacted by them about my boat....didn't need to use them as I sold mine myself. I would think a post in our classifieds and one on Craigslist would bring you all the buyers you could want. I'm STILL getting calls about my boat even though I took the ads down weeks ago! Just take lots of pics and be verbose about the boats quality and any issues and you'll sell her (assuming the price is in line with NADA-link in the FAQ to their pricing of our boats)

 

[xoomer]

From what I can tell they pretty much just use the MSRP as the price. I've even seen some ads on boattrader even use the current year's MSRP for older model boats. Not sure why they put a ridiculous levels since anyone can do minimum research and see what a fair price is.

My understanding is that you can set any price you want and they add 10% on top. Apparently people do buy from them--if they are telling the truth they sold 779 boats this year and 1395 last year.

 

[xoomer]

I was contacted by them about my boat....didn't need to use them as I sold mine myself. I would think a post in our classifieds and one on Craigslist would bring you all the buyers you could want. I'm STILL getting calls about my boat even though I took the ads down weeks ago! Just take lots of pics and be verbose about the boats quality and any issues and you'll sell her (assuming the price is in line with NADA-link in the FAQ to their pricing of our boats)

I listed my LX 2000 on Craigslist a couple of years ago, got a lot of calls, and sold it within 10 days--but it was for around $6,000. This time I have my 2014 SX240 listed for $44,995 (on Craigslist and this site) and have only had one person contact me in the last 30 days from Craigslist. The one contact did make an offer for $40,000K but I didn't accept it. I think there is a big difference when selling a $6,000 vs. a $45,000 boat.

I don't see any downside to listing it with POP Yachts...or am I missing something?

 

[Murf'n'surf]

Downside? When I'm looking to buy a used auto or boat, I stay away from brokers. They don't know the boat, the history, etc. Theyey typically list the product at a higher price which may cause many prospective buyers to pass right over your ad.

I've sold over $200k worth of boats, pwcs, and cars between boat trader.com and autotrader.com. Those sites work well and I always told the brokers that solicited me to hit the road even after their impressive sales pitch of how quick they will sell my boat/car.

 

[veedubtek]

I had my 242 listed with them. It certainly doesn't hurt. They did just as you say, take your price and mark it up 10%. It never generated any interest for me, but it didn't take all that long to sell it on my own. I think alot of people have also figured out - if you see a boat listed by popyachts, go search that local craigslist for it and you'll typically find it -surprise- 10% cheaper. And you don't have to deal with a broker.

 

[xoomer]

Downside? When I'm looking to buy a used auto or boat, I stay away from brokers. They don't know the boat, the history, etc. They typically list the product at a higher price which may cause many prospective buyers to pass right over your ad. .

I'm still trying to see what the downside is...here is what they sent me in an email:

According to our IT Department, you own one of the vessels buyers coming to POP are looking for. Looking purely at the data, Yamahas sell nearly 30% faster than other listings. I can't make this stuff up - POP Yachts tracks pretty much everything.
Our POP Yachts marketing program is very straight-forward. We simply would like your permission to market your vessel world-wide and attempt to quickly bring you a buyer.
POP Yachts is not like a traditional brokerage:
1.) You may continue to market your vessel on your own. If you sell it on your own, you owe us nothing.
2.) We do not lock you into any 6-month or 1-year agreement. You may cancel at ANY time for ANY reason by sending us an email and we will pull down our advertising within 15 days. Again, nothing owed to us!
3.) You tell us realistically what you want to net in your pocket and we will build our fee on top of that. It really is that simple.
4.) We incur all the cost to market your vessel on more than 160+ MLS websites - world-wide.
​

So, I can still market my boat on Craigslist, this site, the newspapers, or any other way, and at any price I choose. In the meantime PopYachts will be marketing my boat on their sites at the price I give them, plus their mark-up. If I sell the boat myself, they get nothing and I can quit using their services at any time. Obviously this isn't the normal broker's way of doing things.

I've made a counter-offer to the guy who wanted to buy my boat at $40k but if he doesn't respond my Monday I think I will give PopYachts a try since I don't see any real problem with doing so...will report back on the experience...

 

[xoomer]

I had my 242 listed with them. It certainly doesn't hurt. They did just as you say, take your price and mark it up 10%. It never generated any interest for me, but it didn't take all that long to sell it on my own. I think alot of people have also figured out - if you see a boat listed by popyachts, go search that local craigslist for it and you'll typically find it -surprise- 10% cheaper. And you don't have to deal with a broker.

Thanks for the response...that was what I was thinking. Probably nothing will happen, but it doesn't cost anything to try...

 

[96Pirate]

"According to our IT Department, you own one of the vessels buyers coming to POP are looking for. Looking purely at the data, (Insert Boat Brand Name Here) sell nearly 30% faster than other listings. I can't make this stuff up - POP Yachts tracks pretty much everything.
Our POP Yachts marketing program is very straight-forward. We simply would like your permission to market your vessel world-wide and attempt to quickly bring you a buyer.
POP Yachts is not like a traditional brokerage:
1.) You may continue to market your vessel on your own. If you sell it on your own, you owe us nothing.
2.) We do not lock you into any 6-month or 1-year agreement. You may cancel at ANY time for ANY reason by sending us an email and we will pull down our advertising within 15 days. Again, nothing owed to us!
3.) You tell us realistically what you want to net in your pocket and we will build our fee on top of that. It really is that simple.
4.) We incur all the cost to market your vessel on more than 160+ MLS websites - world-wide."

Good luck with the sale @xoomer and hopefully your counter is accepted so you don't need to deal with Pop Yachts.

 

[xoomer]

"According to our IT Department, you own one of the vessels buyers coming to POP are looking for. Looking purely at the data, (Insert Boat Brand Name Here) sell nearly 30% faster than other listings.

Good luck with the sale @xoomer and hopefully your counter is accepted so you don't need to deal with Pop Yachts.

LOL--that's probably the way it's done...

 

[latitudeadjuster]

They found me selling my old boat on craigslist...seemed legit. I was going to go with them but my boat sold quickly on craigslist.

 

[Rob9550]

Did you ever use POP? I am thinking of giving them a shot.