Lessons from Selling My Boat

[RichardS]

Well, the bittersweet moment arrives Monday. Happy to have found a great buyer from Texas (saw the ad on SailingTexas) whose brother is picking up the boat for him. Thoughts/lessons from this infrequent experience:

1) Scams, scams, scams: All the first responses were obvious scams, identifiable in all the ways the scam advice from SailingTexas and other sites tell us. Be sure to read it, as scams evolve quickly. An AI scam will no doubt be next, and better than many of the human scammers. Makes one paranoid, so that when the normal behavior of a real buyer appears, one can embrace a real human contact quickly but wake up at 4am wondering if you are being scammed!

2) How to Get Paid/Trust But Verify: Venmo and Zelle have daily/weekly/per transaction limits, depending on your profile and that of your buyer. Zelle will take forever to change limits, so useless. If you are an infrequent Venmo user, then trying to pay a large amount out of the blue will be automatically blocked without any human override possible. And no way to get preapproval for such a transaction. Cashiers check (aka  bank check) works, but be sure to verify by finding the bank online and getting that phone number as the one on the check may be a scam. I talked to a human who at the end thanked me for checking authenticity! Banks now also use an automatic phone system for verification, which may be in a different state than the bank! So a phone number that appears bogus may be legit. Confusing!  So, proceed with caution and allow time to verify. Otherwise, your bank will deposit it, your boat will ride off into the sunset, and the following day your bank will advise the check is no good.

3) Karma: Once upon a time, John Stevens and I swapped boats. He proposed the best way was for both of us to include everything with each boat, rather than haggle it out or try to determine equivalencies (Is your anchor worth my cup holder and compass?). Great approach. In the same spirit, I got a good deal on this boat, and am recovering what I invested post sale (i.e., new sails) while also passing on a good deal to the next owner.

4) Price: Market research will only get you a rough idea. Then it is how fast you hope to sell, and where you are located (a sailing place, like Annapolis or San Diego, or ??) along with objective view of what new owner will need to do. I prefer to sell a boat in great condition and set a firm, fixed price. That way you also avoid the unfair and sometimes ugly thing of prospective buyers bidding against each other up over asking price. Ugh!

5) Paperwork: Many sources of confusion. The VA DMV gave me a title but failed to register my trailer, despite my using a form called Title and Registration. When I explained the title/reg paperwork from my seller/Massachusetts DMV, they then sent me with a form to write down exactly what I had told them, and get it notarized! The notary told me all they were verifying was my identity, not my story. So, the DMV apparently does not accept the Real ID drivers license it issued me as proof of my identity? States vary widely esp. re boat trailers, so caveat emptor and caveat seller! At least I can now transfer the title to my buyer. Oy! Also useful to create Bill of Sale (use an online example as your template), just to make the process possibly easier for buyer.

Lessons: 1) never sell your boat; 2) if you do, allow plenty of time to sort out the payment and paperwork processes; 3) it is at this time you will find those parts you bought to do that mod/upgrade/maintenance you planned to do but somehow never got around to.

Pondering my next move, but wanted to share this and thank all here for many years of comradely and cooperative learning. The new guy (Greg) will hopefully join up, he will be sailing at White Rock Lake in Dallas.

[tjspiel]

Bittersweet I'm sure...

Thanks for all your contributions to the forum over the years including this post. I hope you stick around.

When it comes time to sell my boat I'm sure pricing will be one of the bigger questions. I know I'll never get back what I put into it. At the end of the day it's still an '86 P-18 in good sailing condition just as it was 3 years ago when I bought it.

[Quantico Frank]

Richard, we sure hope you'll find a way to continue to hang with us—- you've provided some great advice and assistance over the years. Since your goal is downsizing, wouldn't it be appropriate to buy a P165 and just keep on keepin' on?

All the best,

Frank

[Brian N.]

Richard - Good informative post. Please do stick around the forum, your experiences will continue to be valuable. Also as Frank said, a smaller boat my be in your future!

[RichardS]

Richard, we sure hope you'll find a way to continue to hang with us—- you've provided some great advice and assistance over the years. Since your goal is downsizing, wouldn't it be appropriate to buy a P165 and just keep on keepin' on?

All the best,

Frank

Frank, My thought exactly. Might require a trip to Quantico and one to Ventura for the ocean test with Ron! The ink was no sooner drying on the digital page than I was looking at the boats at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum annual auction in Sept! Hope springs eternal....I will stick around for sure and post the occasional and illegal (!) report on square rigged sailing.

[Quantico Frank]

That would be spectacular, Richard!

[Riggerdood]

All great thoughts/lessons Richard. I for one hope to be able to follow Lesson 1), never sell your boat, for as long as possible.

I'm glad to hear that you will be sticking around here, as your contributions have always been helpful, constructive, and informative. I also hope you find a new home for the Loos gauge. I'm sure there are a few newer members here who might not be aware of its availability.

[RichardS]

Bittersweet I'm sure...

Thanks for all your contributions to the forum over the years including this post. I hope you stick around.

When it comes time to sell my boat I'm sure pricing will be one of the bigger questions. I know I'll never get back what I put into it. At the end of the day it's still an '86 P-18 in good sailing condition just as it was 3 years ago when I bought it.

Ah, that is what boat accounting is for! Just as boat stuff has its own special pricing (looking at you, West Marine), boat stuff also has its own special accounting, which ensures pleasure and profit are always mingled and there is no such thing as a bad return on investment.

[Brian S]

Ya know another thing about selling a boat? Put good pictures in any ads. And reasonable descriptions. I mean, I know this sounds like a foregone conclusion, but you wouldn't believe how many ads I see on craigslist that are like  "Boat" with no picture. I'm always like, come on, do you even want to sell it? Fuzzy pictures that look like they were taken with a Polaroid camera in 1978 are always fun too. I dunno, there are still people out there with 15 year old flip phones, I guess... Also, sellers could take a minute to fully uncover a boat and walk to the side for a decent profile shot, right? Or the only picture they have is from inside the boat with their buddy and his girlfriend. Like, that doesn't show me squat about the boat.

Oh, well. It's no biggie. I'm not really going to buy another boat anytime soon. But a nice little 14' or 15' barn find runabout would be nice to have (and hence why I troll the craigslist or FB Marketplace from time to time)...

[Shesaidno]

Richard, thanks for you great advice. And you are more than welcome to join us in Ventura even without a boat!  Last year when I sold my A-Cat, and a few more years back when selling two older cars, I required at least a $1000 payment in cash, which worked out fine. But, yeah, as soon as I posted the boat, I had multiple scammers offering to immediately buy my boat without even seeing it or asking any questions. That was a big red flag.

[RichardS]

Thanks Ron! I will be at a conference in Long Beach next week, but unless I duck out on the whole thing, no time to get up the coast to you. I have a good friend in Los Olivos and you are right on the way. Would love to take you up on that offer some day! (Did I mention I went to YMCA camp on Catalina Island as a 10 yr old?)

[Shesaidno]

Have a good time in Long Beach Richard, which of course has many great sailing opportunities! My wife and I are both active members of our local YMCA (La Canada/La Crescenta) and hopefully our grandson will attend the YMCA camp on Catalina. It looks like fun! 

[tjspiel]

Ya know another thing about selling a boat? Put good pictures in any ads. And reasonable descriptions. I mean, I know this sounds like a foregone conclusion, but you wouldn't believe how many ads I see on craigslist that are like  "Boat" with no picture. I'm always like, come on, do you even want to sell it? Fuzzy pictures that look like they were taken with a Polaroid camera in 1978 are always fun too. I dunno, there are still people out there with 15 year old flip phones, I guess... Also, sellers could take a minute to fully uncover a boat and walk to the side for a decent profile shot, right? Or the only picture they have is from inside the boat with their buddy and his girlfriend. Like, that doesn't show me squat about the boat.

Oh, well. It's no biggie. I'm not really going to buy another boat anytime soon. But a nice little 14' or 15' barn find runabout would be nice to have (and hence why I troll the craigslist or FB Marketplace from time to time)...

I have various hobbies aside from sailing and I frequently buy/sell stuff on eBay, craigslist, FB Marketplace, etc and I'm always surprised by how little effort some people make. Terrible pictures or no pictures. Layers of dust that would take 5 minutes to clean up.

I think what happens is that people will hold on to things long after they've lost any interest in it. Eventually it gets to a point where they or whoever ends up with it just wants or needs it gone.

But those are often the same people who don't really care how much they get for whatever it is they're selling and you can get the best deals, - especially if you don't mind doing a little work.

[johnandcandace]

We also listed our boat on sailingtexas and craigslist in late June. Both websites worn of scammers.
Glad you sold your boat to an honest sailor.
Ours hasn't sold yet. So far have had one lowball offer and two scams.

Both scammers corresponded entirely by email, by which they asked for, and we sent, much detailed info and photos. Both scammers had a picker who would come for the boat. Both offered to pay by cashiers check, sent ahead of the picker. After many emails, both offered cashiers checks for our asking price plus several thousand dollars for shipping, and asked that we pay the shipper directly at the time of pickup. One scammer sent a photo of his MT drivers license and his US passport which when expanded looked perfectly valid. Our banker advised that both IDs were probably stolen. Where do these scammers come from and how would they possibly resell a stolen sailboat? It's not like a car that they could disassemble and sell for parts.

Is it too much to expect an honest buyer who would be delighted to find such a nice boat as ours, for sale?
I guess we boat sellers must be vigilant and patient, both.