Boat Selling Tips and How to Sell a Boat Fast

If you’ve done your research on selling boats, you’ll know that getting your craft cleaned up, ready for sale and finding a buyer for your vessel is a whole lot harder than it was to buy a new boat.

There’s a few steps involved when readying your craft for sale, and getting it sold for a great price in a short period of time takes a fair bit of effort and know-how. As you’ll know, buyers are pedantic about their boats being perfect and not wanting to buy into a dodgy vessel, and of course, making your boat look trustworthy takes a bit of calculated elbow grease. 

In this article, we’ll take a look at a few boat selling tips and how to sell your boat fast while getting the most cash for it. 

A Sale-focused Price

Off the top, if selling your boat quickly is your absolute top priority, then you’ll need to let go of getting the absolute best price and work to undercut similar style and models of boats in your area. 

Of course, you can still price your vessel at what it’s worth, just be realistic and don’t price too high. To help move the sale along a little quicker, you could also throw in a few inclusions too, such as accessories for the boat, storage lockers, fishing rods and other boating-related essentials. 

To add, it’s still a good idea to leave some room for haggling. If you’ve priced your boat at the absolute lowest you’re willing to take, your potential buyers will be shocked to find that you’re not willing to go any lower than your list price — so leave a little space to bargain with them. 

Be Prepared and Eager to Show The Vessel

Another key factor in selling your boat is being open, eager and forward about showing your boat. There’s nothing worse than having to tell a buyer you can’t show them the vessel today simply because you weren’t prepared or didn’t have your battery charged, etc. 

That in mind, always be ready to show off your boat and have the battery charged and ready to go. If a buyer does want to take a look, do your best to clean off any light debris like leaves, start the boat and warm it up and you’ll be ready to have them come and inspect the craft.

If you’re allowing the buyer to test the boat, do not let the drive the boat without a license on hand — even if they claim to have one, if required.

Advertise Correctly

In line with selling fast, you’ll need to advertise correctly and get the word out as far and wide as possible. 

That said, you should focus on both online and print advertising and have a few high-quality and informative images attached to all of your advertisements. For the more expensive vessels, you could also invest in a marketing professional to assist in selling your craft. 

To add, it’s also a good idea to have ‘for sale’ signs or similar advertisements on the boat itself, if your craft is in a visible space. 

One last thing to note is that selling through a local reseller or retailer is a fantastic idea when it comes to selling fast. If you choose to sell boats with Grays for example, you’re getting all the services of a business that’s able to take care of a lot of the advertising and sales-focused workflows for you. 

Spruce Up a ‘Not-selling’ Boat

If you’re noticing that there isn’t too much interest in your boat or you’re not getting the offers or reactions that you’d like to, ask around about what you might need to change or add to the vessel. 

A lot of the time, buyers will collectively notice one single issue with a boat and not be too interested beyond this point. It could be anything from something cosmetic like chipped paint, mildly worn carpeting or even a cracked light cover. 

If you believe that this is the issue causing your lack of interest or reluctant buyers, ask friends, family or even the buyers themselves what the specific issue might be and work on changing this. 

Friendliness and Politeness Goes a Long Way

To end, it’s always important to be as polite and friendly as possible when it comes to selling your boat fast. 

You want your buyers to be able to trust you, and know that you’re there to turn to should an issue occur down the line. Keep in mind that a sale shouldn’t simply be a final hand-off, but that there should be a mild cooling off period where your buyers can ask questions or air concerns with you. 

Remember, you don’t need to refund or have the vessel returned, but simply offer assistive avenues or guidance for the buyers down the line.