Need advice on selling my boat
 

I have ran an eBay auction and have an ad for my 2001 Mach 1 340 BR right here on OSO...

I would like some opinions as to why I am not getting bites on this. I am priced WAY under book value. Granted, it is not a "performance boat persay, just curious as to what the demand is like on something like this and if going into winter has a great deal to do with the lack of interest.

Here is a link to my ad:

http://www.offshoreonlyclassifieds.c...o18669-en.html

Any advice, critique's etc., are welcomed.
Thanks fellas!

Bottom paint is a huge turnoff. Not that you should hide the fact that it has been kept in the water, but the majority of performance boats are not kept in the water. I'd have it pulled, and have the bottom paint removed and gelcoat restored. Have the gelcoat repair work done. No one wants to spend money on a boat they just bought.

Also, to be bluntly honest, the cabin looks dirty; if its supposed to be white vinyl. If its a darker tan/beige, then you need to point that out. You need brighter pictures, and you can't have too many pictures.

You also have a lot ALL CAPS in your ad, stating no warranty and no trailer. While the no trailer thing is logistical, you can be more friendly about it. You could offer assistance in fitting the boat for a trailer, and you could price out a Nextrail or something similar, and offer the trailer with the boat for an additional cost. As for the NO WARRANTY in all caps; it definitely would spook me into thinking "what's wrong with the boat that he wants nothing to do with it forever?" People want to buy from a friend, and have a friendly, pleasant transaction. They will steer clear of a deal with a boat-load of caveats. Boat sales are down, period. Now its coming into the off season. You may want to start advertising what you would sell it for in the spring, which is probably a cheaper price, since you might not sell it until then anyhow. Right now every used boat buyer knows he has time and season; and therefore his price on his side. Hopefully interest rates are going to become friendly here again soon as well.

Truthfully - the price for what you are getting is probably a GREAT deal.

I think 4 things hurt it - at least for me would.

1. I have never heard of that name brand
2. Bottom Paint
3. No Trailer
4. Fall/Winter is coming in an already horrid boat market. Could take JUST the right buyer. At least you don't have a loan on it.

Best of Luck - looks like a neat boat. I looked at it the other day when you linked someone to it.....

Thanks Sideways. I appreciate your candor.
true, the bottom paint sucks, but was on there when I got it. If I need to remove it I can but we are not talking about a big expoense. If I was trying to get near even low retail i would have it taken off, but I am priced thousands under that.
teh inside is a textured kiind of viunyl, I agree, I thought it looked dirty from the pics when I bought it but it really is nice. no rips, no stains, clean and kept conditioned.

No trailer and no warranty is in there becasue I copied that from my eBay auction I had on it. not trying to hide anything, but on eBay you need to be VERY clear on such things.

true boat sales are down, I just figured pricing it well, it should sell anyway. true, it is a buyers market this time of year and with the rates as they are, but this boat is priced GREAT! At least I think so. Thanks for all the feedback!! I really appreciate it!

Thanks SFG....
Mach 1 was baught by Baha Cruiser's in the late 80's I believe.

True, the bottom paint is awful, like I said in my post to sideways, I figured with my price being so low that there was plenty of room in there for the buyer to do that. If push came to shove and a seller really hated the bottom paint. I have room in there, I would take care of it for him.

True, no trialer I know hurts it. So hopefully someone local at LOTOP will want it, most that stay there allt he time dont really need a trailer but having one is nice... until you consider storing it!

True... hey thanks for the feedback, this is the kinda stuff I need to hear, thank you guys!

Lots of advice so far that I'd agree with 100%

Some

No trailer is a turnoff to most people that aren't in a place where there's only one place to boat. Get the gel damage you listed repaired- definite turnoff on an otherwise nice boat. Bottom paint eliminates a huge pool of buyers. You need WAY more pics taken on a nice sunny day. Talk more about the most expensive part of the boat and the source of most problems- the engines & drivetrain. Lots of pics here. Tell about the meticulous maintenance, etc. Service records from a marina are a big ++.

Get a title. USCG doc is a turnoff to the average guy. Most boat owners don't even know what it is.

All sales are final and as-is on private transactions unless otherwise specified in writing. If someone doesn't know this, that's not your problem.

To mirror what has already been said, nobody wants anything but a steal in the Fall. And, that's in years that boat sales are NOT in the toilet. It's a lesser-known brand and sort of a specialized configuration. People want mostly performance boats or cruisers. Not everyone wants to go fast with 20 of their closest friends.

Good point- I don't want to read a book- not right away anyways. Hit the highlights, tell the story with pics. Have the details available- maybe a detailed spec sheet in one of the pic slots.

Really?? ok, wow, I thought I should try and put as much info as I can in there to help answer all questions before they are asked. I am SO not a sales guy...

It was a pretty glooomy day when I snapped the pics... I will try and take some new ones this weekend. Thank you for the advice!!
Mark

Aside from the bottom paint just looking bad, you are also likely to have people who are scared of what may be hiding under it....like blisters.

If you spend the $ to have it removed, that will take that uncertainty away.

Yeah, I suppose I should just have the bottom paint taken off and fix the gel spot by the bow eye. In doing that, I doubt I will move much on the price. Guess we will have to see how it goes. I gotta figure that a person looking into this boat is familiar with it and realizes how far under book it is. I am certainly not trying to make money on this thing.
Thanks for all the great feedback guys!

If you were quoted $1,200 to have the bottom paint removed I would go ahead and do it, and get the gel chip taken care of whiile at it. They should be able to fix the chip and the bottom paint for $1,500 or under. Seems like a good deal to me. Honestly I wouldn't have done the paint removal for that cheap (nasty job!) if they want to charge you more than $200 for the gel chip let me know and I'll come take care of that for you on your dock. I sent you an email also with what I believe you add should be like.

And to everyone else, he isn't kidding on the condition of this boat, it looks and runs awesome! I worked for the marina that did some work/maintenance on it last summer and other than the bottom paint, this boat is VERY nice and runs great.

Get rid of the bottom paint and I don't believe you will have problems selling it. Good luck!
Brandon

Good advice. Learned in a marketing class once that the word NO should never be used in a sales ad. It just promotes negativity.

I would think that boat would sell in a local publication. Boat Trader or whatever.

Good Luck

How about some pics of the new TG you just bought!

Hey Brandon... Check out the thread in the Cig forum called "Trailering a 38 Cig" I got pics in there!

Shoot, for 200 bucks I woudl rather just pay you to come fix it... Give me a call tonight and lets discuss.
Mark
314-960-5774

Lots of very good advice here.

My opinion :

The Mach 1 is not a well known brand.

Bottom paint ... well ....

No trailer.

For $69K I could buy a real nice BAJA ! :D

Nice boat.....I dont want to beat a dead horse, but I pretty much agree with everything else everyone stated about your boat.... but I wanted to share with you my .02 cents on boat sales in general....

It has been my experience with boats that "book value" in boats doesnt mean squat and is mearly a number.... A boat is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it, and like other have stated a nice Baja can be had for the same price range as your asking for yours....

Brand names dont always sell boats but pricing and presentation will certainly help sell your boat. I think you need to address the bottom paint and trailer issue to make the boat a little more of an attractive buy. You need to do somethings to attract a buyer that would otherwise buy a Baja or comperable Performance Boat.

As for eBay, now is not the time to sell a boat unless your going to give it away. My wholesale car business is literally built around ebay and I sell on there every week....The thing I have learned selling on ebay over the last 10 years is that the pricing of what your boat brings in bids on ebay is what the market will bear.....

Try running your boat on ebay with no reserve and start the bidding at $1000.00 and over the course of 6 of the 7 day auction you will get a pretty good idea of what the "market" deems the worth of your boat....obviously dont sell it unless your going to give it away, but at least you will have an idea what the market will bear....then you can decide to keep it or sell it below what your expecting to get for it...

Good Luck,
Steve

I agree with you, the brand is not as wll known and the bottom paint is going to get removed....

a Baja? haha, well, ok. Like I said, the person looking atthis boat is well aware of what all it has and what its worth. Some Baja owners seem to think their boats actually appreciate in value. haha....

Thansk Steve, I appreciate the info. I plan on removing the bottom paint but I amnto going to mess with a trailer.
I thought about doing the no reserve auction but I dont want to give it away... mostly because, I dont NEED to. Its paid for, I just bought a cig... its paid for to. I am going to ge tthe drives cleaned up, bottom paint removed, abd get that gel spot fixed and then store it a while I think and see what the market looks like around the time of the big boat show here or summer of next year. I tink around the boat show, people get excited about buying a new boat, realize they cant afford a new boat, then look at used ones pretty close. In STL, the market actually improves in Feb. in Boat sales due to the big boat show here.

Thanks for all the advice though, I am glad I made this post and got this feedback, now its time to get that stuff addressed! Mark

It sounds like you are getting some great advise. I can only add one personal preference...

Lose the Bimini Top! :eek:

If you want to sell performance boat, then make it look like a performance boat. Include the bimini in the sale, but take it off the boat and take some new pics. The bimini messes up the "performance lines".

Just my two-cents... :cool:

Oh, and as far as the price... I would take $68,000 for my boat right now! :eek:

Granted, mine's a 1990, but it's a Cigarette! :D

You may need to drop the price at least $10K before you get a bite.

Just my (additional) two-cents...

Good point, thank you!!! I have little kids so it was a must have... but does look kinda gay! haha... thanks!

haha... thanks.
Yeah, I have a cig too....
that was almost funny! :D

My buddy that I referred to you was a bit turned off by the bottom paint. In fact, he had never even heard of a boat like this even being bottom painted. He is at LOTO, so he does not need a trailer, so that is actually a benefit to him. He is still looking at the oter one, but I do know that he has not bought yet.

Another thing that I would try woudl be to add 10k to the price, and advertise that you would consider a trade. If a guy came along with a 20k boat that he has been trying to sell, it may become a great deal for you. I've done this several times with great luck.

I think he`s got himself priced a little out of the market as it is now. Like Clay said: drop another $10K off the price and you`ll get bites.

Price it at $78K and it won`t do squat ...

Hey there 36T....
The fiberglass spot near the bow eye is getting repaired by Kelly's Port this afternoon and I am having the bottom paint removed next week. I am not going to come down on price too much after this though... its already a great price I think.
A broker has it now anyway and thinks I am asking too little, but he sees a different clientel than I do out of the ads. If I dont get a bite, I will just hold on to it a while and wait. Both boats are paid for, so I dont have an real urgency in selling or a need to give it away. Thanks !

??? Price is not at 78K
Its priced at 68K. read the ad. The book on this boat is about 83 for average retail and 78k for LOW retail. Low retail would be a boat in very rough condition. 157 hours. I am priced right. Thanks though

I DID read the ad and I DID see that the price is $68K. I was referring to the previous post that someone suggested raising the price by $10K and accepting trades. I don`t think that would be a good idea at all.

The book price is just that --- a book price. It is used more by sellers and loan officers than buyers.

You should stick to the asking price of $68K, but it will be spring before it sells and I predict you`ll have to still come down a little before it actually sells. I hope I`m wrong though.
Good luck.

Gotcha... my misunderstanding.
Appreciate the feedback Don!