The cost of NOT using a boat broker
When considering the sale of your ‘pride and joy’ some may baulk at the idea of listing with a boat broker citing cost as the major reason. But, rather than asking what is the cost of using a broker, you should ask:
What is the cost of NOT using a broker?
THE MARKETING CAMPAIGN:
First let’s consider the costs associated with marketing the boat. Most of you have busy lives and putting together a good marketing campaign can take a lot of work. You need to make the boat presentable, take good photos, prepare an inventory and make sure everything works. Then there’s the question of which mediums to use, internet, magazines, newspapers, social media, other?!? All of this takes time and depending on your campaign, can cost a lot of money.
Our brokers assist with all aspects of listing a boat and can provide advice on the best way to present the boat. Plus, Boat Sales Tasmania’s marketing power utilizes all forms of media to ensure the net is spread very wide. Our website alone generates around 12,000 hits per month and the average visitor viewing over 4 pages per visit. That totals some 48,000 times that our 120 listed boats are being viewed per month or about 10-15 times EACH BOAT PER DAY! And that is just one of 6 sites we use, not to mention window displays, newspaper, Trade A Boat magazine and social media.
THE SALES PROCESS:
Next you need to think about the process involved with selling a boat. If you’ve marketed correctly, you should generate several calls and enquiries. These need to be qualified (weed out the ‘winch kickers’!) The serious prospects will then want the grand tour (inspection) and if they wish to proceed, the negotiating begins. Agreements then need to be formalised, deposits taken, sea-trials and surveys arranged and coordinated. Sometimes the survey findings will be a trigger for re-negotiation of the price (hopefully not!). Once final agreement has been reached it is time to arrange settlement and transfers of funds.
Mis-manage this process and you may finish with a lesser sale price, or worse still, lose the sale entirely.
It is throughout this process that your broker will shine. The 3 fulltime brokers at Boat Sales Tasmania work hard to maximise the return on the sale and ensure this process works seamlessly.
TIME:
Finally, on average, a broker listed boat sells far quicker than one listed privately. So let’s consider the impact of time. There’s maintenance, insurance, berthing, not to mention depreciation. Then there is the opportunity cost, i.e. bank interest to be earned, mortgage paid out etc. All this will add up and have a major impact on the return on your asset.
In summary, it’s plain to see that there are substantial savings to be had by using a broker. When the time comes for you to sell your boat we hope that you will consider Boat Sales Tasmania to market your boat and act on your behalf.