Buying a used boat: Your guide through the online jungle

YACHT-Redaktion

, Lars Bolle

, Johannes Erdmann

· 16.12.2022

Buying a used boat: Your guide through the online jungle

Photo: Screenshot/Boat24

Boat24 is one of Europe's leading online portals for used motorboats and sailing boats

These days, used boats are sold online. The offer seems almost endless. It's often difficult to keep track of everything. We give you tips on how to get to your destination faster, show you the best websites for buying used boats and give you advice on negotiating prices.

Topics in this article

Search in online used boat exchanges
Used boats on Ebay
Search the classic way
Buying a used boat from a broker
Buying a used boat from a dealer
Paying the right price for a used boat

From a notice on the notice board in the harbour, an advertisement in the classifieds section of a trade magazine such as the YACHT from offers in online auction houses and Internet boat exchanges to enquiries with professional yacht brokers: there are countless ways to look for your dream boat. Depending on what exactly the object of desire is, different search strategies are available.

Search in online used boat exchanges

Online boat exchanges have a number of advantages, but also disadvantages. Search and filter functions can be used to sort the offers more or less easily. The portals are sometimes more, sometimes less clear and the search functions vary in detail. You can search either by parameters, by ship type or by shipyard. However, you should know exactly what you are looking for, especially when searching by ship type. Example: Dehler 31 or Duetta 94? Renames after facelifts are also quickly lost. A Hanse 345 is just as exciting as a 348 - but if you only search for the latter, you will not be offered a 345 in good condition. It can therefore make sense to search for parameters in order to find ships of the same type.

It is practical to be able to filter by the age of the offers. Ships that have already been on offer for some time offer more room for negotiation. Also helpful: automatic e-mail notifications when new offers with certain set parameters go online. Some exchanges are also equipped with a notepad or even a direct comparison function.

There is no single site where you can find all the ships on offer in Europe. However, each country has one or more portals through which most ships are presented. Knowing these will help you in your search.

Used boats on Ebay

There have been many offers on the auction platform for a very long time ebay. For a long time, however, it had a reputation as a place where only cheap boats, or leftover stock, could be found. This is still largely the case today. In contrast, the range on offer at ebay classifieds. This is no longer a place where only cheap and run-down boats can be found. Rather, the boat section of the classifieds is now one of the best places for buyers and sellers to go. The platform is also the only provider that does not charge any fees. Only if the advert is to be advertised and highlighted more prominently are there any costs for the seller.

Multiple adverts and file corpses make it difficult to buy used boats online

If you use several online portals, you will quickly realise that some offers are repeated. Many sellers advertise their boats on several portals, especially those that are very favourably priced for private sellers. A major drawback is the large number of files. Some operators of online portals refrain from deleting offers after a certain period of time - to the annoyance of those looking for boats that are no longer available.

Beware of fraudsters

Online scams are the most likely place to fall for a con artist. They are constantly adapting their methods, but the basic scheme is largely the same. The first step in an attempted scam is to contact the potential victim, usually via the Internet. Hardly any of the crooks are sailors themselves - their aim is to make contact with wealthy people in order to defraud them of their money. As the average sailor is better off, they form a natural target group. Advertising supposed bargains or contacting advertisers offering their expensive yachts is just the bait. In most cases, the yachts on offer do not even exist.

However, it is relatively easy to reduce the likelihood of being taken in by a fraudster. Anyone who lies must have a good memory - that's why it helps to ask a lot of follow-up and detailed questions from the very first conversation, to follow up a few days later to find out exactly what happened and to try to prove the truthfulness of the story with as many different key points as possible. Get several telephone numbers, mobile and landline, and try to reach the buyer/seller there.

Check the addresses given with Google Maps and the local online telephone directory. Does the name match? It often turns out that the interested party has given a hotel address. Also ask questions about the sailing background and try to get chatting. Where has the seller sailed the boat? Which sailing area does he know best? Does he have any tips? These kinds of questions and a healthy scepticism can help to catch out fraudsters.

Another safeguard is never to buy a yacht sight unseen. This ensures that the advertised boat actually exists. In addition, the buyer should check the ship's papers to ensure that the seller is actually the owner. Under no circumstances should any down payments be made, even if it is only a few hundred euros, without there being an equivalent value to which the buyer has access. Fraudsters are often not after large sums of money, but simply need a few hundred euros to verify accounts or deal with the authorities, for example. Money laundering offers are a very special case. You should be wary if the seller grants extreme discounts of their own accord.

Search the classic way

Regardless of the possibilities and opportunities offered by digital media in the search for a used boat, the classic route sometimes leads to success: when walking along the jetties of the nearest harbour, simply look out for "For Sale" signs. Or browse the notices, which can usually be found at the harbour master's office. Or check out the used boat pinboards at boat shows. You can also ask about potential boat sellers at the next club evening at the sailing club, which can be particularly worthwhile with older club members if they are already toying with the idea of selling. Sometimes they are quite happy not to have to deal with the sale and to know that their boat is in good hands.

Buying a used boat from a broker

The classic yacht brokers are predominantly focussed on the middle and upper price segment. Their strength usually lies in the brokerage of conventional cruising yachts.

In addition, they are often in a better position than a buyer to assess the condition and value of a boat. They are also more bound by the legal framework than private sellers, especially when it comes to warranty issues.

How to avoid traps in the purchase agreement

As a rule, a prospective buyer should therefore be protected from paying a completely inflated price or buying a soul seller when using an estate agent. But there are also black sheep among estate agents, and it is not always easy to separate the wheat from the chaff. Indicators of seriousness are the number of adverts and where they are placed, for example on large online exchanges, but even more so the availability of the seller and the advice they offer.

This general advice from a broker can be helpful. If you are not yet sure what you are actually looking for or cannot decide between the models of different shipyards, you can ask the broker for advice. The broker will also have brochures available and ensure that neither party is disadvantaged during the purchase contract process. If necessary and desired, many brokers are also able to support the buyer in clarifying transport, customs and VAT issues, for example if a boat is to be purchased abroad.

Buying a used boat from a dealer

Dealers of large and small shipyards often also offer used yachts, not just their own brands. They sometimes accept old yachts on behalf of their customers when they buy a new boat. So if you are specifically looking for a particular brand of boat, you should include the dealers in your search strategy.

Like the brokers, most of them also present their boats on their own websites or advertise them on online boat exchanges. There are now so many brokers and dealers that it makes little sense to pick out specific ones. The search in online used boat portals described above is more promising, as the offers of dealers and brokers can usually be found there anyway. For example, boat24.com claims to work with over 500 boat dealers and yacht brokers from all over Europe.

You can find a list of German brokers and dealers here

Paying the right price for a used boat

There used to be a kind of Schwacke list for used boats, but not any more. So you have to help yourself. Many owners overestimate the value of their boat because they are unrealistic about the depreciation. This can be very hard for customers who want to sell their newly purchased boat after three or four years. Many do not realise that it will then be worth around 30 to 40 percent less. At least this applies to standard large series ships. After that, the price drop usually slows down considerably.

Conversely, many buyers ask themselves how much more they can negotiate. If the purchase goes through a broker, there is usually little room for manoeuvre. This is because broker prices are usually already adjusted to the market value of the ship and the margin is often less than ten per cent.

If you buy a boat privately, you can bargain a little more than with a broker. The broker usually tries to price a boat realistically before putting it on the market in order to spare the owner too much disappointment and long waiting times until the sale.

The internet makes offers comparable throughout Europe, but prices can vary greatly from country to country. In southern Europe, for example, the situation is different to Germany and, in some cases, the rest of northern Europe. Prices in the south are also lower than in northern Europe due to the longer season and higher UV exposure.

So if you want to negotiate the price, you should be well equipped with comparable offers in order to have them as arguments for the seller.

This article is part of a used boat special. You can find all other content here

The big YACHT used boat special:

Home