ImaPoser

My standard reply is I already told you what I want for it, what is the max. $ you are willing to pay for it? Then they usually start with the I have to see it first or whichever other excuse they want to use.

What I don't get is why everyone seems to think a serious buyer will make a phone call, but someone who is doing it by email is just a tire kicker. If I see something that I like, I want to get all the details I can on it so I can do some basic research to find out if it's fairly priced. It's a ton easier to go back and reread an email than it is to try and recall what someone might have told me when I was on the phone with them. When I list something for sale, I usually have a long winded, full detail email typed up with photos included so that when someone asks me for more information, I just copy/paste and hit send.. It takes two seconds to reply, and I don't care if they are just a bored tire kicker or a real buyer. I made the mistake of including my phone number on a for sale listing for a truck one time and I had an idiot call me up three times asking the same stupid questions.

LapseofReason

Well I guess I am one of the guys whos waiting for the good deal, but I don't call any private seller about deals. I feel very bad for the guys who are down on their luck, my wife is one of them but I still have a good job. I am looking pretty much only at repos or dealer owned boats. I have to admit I have a sore spot for a few dealers that I have tried to or have done biz. with in the past that should have had a mask on when they tried to rob me so if I can get a smoking deal beacause now they need my money and arnt just trying to take it so be it.

Steve_H

As a buyer, we need to know what the real "selling" price is going to be before we start spending money to travel or to have a survey done. I would guess the majority of private sellers have at least a 10% markup in their listed price.

BraceYourself

I did what dreamer did once. When I was selling my tiger I had a guy give me an offer less then I was asking. I said sure but you'll have to wait untill September, it was May. Never got a call back.

jeff1000man

I don't know about the 10%, but when you want to sell something, sometimes the jerking off is coming the other way. How do you know that you don't really have a buyer on the other end of the phone and when he asks you what your bottom line price is, you don't let it out.

How would you feel if you knew you let a for sure deal walk out the door and it would have been the end of it.

Reality of it is that sellers are just as good as the buyers in jerking each other off. Most of the time it is actually worse on the part of the seller.

And just so you know, I agree with Steve.

LapseofReason

10% my a$$ for a seller, the deal that realy pissed me off, A few years ago I was going to trade the Nortech retail should have been around 225-250k I was offerd 60k buy one dealer on trade after I was offerd 160k for it alone, of course I told the 60k guy I already had an offer to buy it for 100k more, he asked who when I told him he said that he was offerd more for my boat from the same guy and if I did the deal he was just going to pick up my boat and take it to him. 100k+ for 10 hour tow thats good money,and way more than 10%

Interceptor

And another thing for the tire kickers ............
Just because you think the boat is overpriced don't come on here ripping on the brand, the seller, the powerpack etc.
ed

rlj676

I've been looking/researching boats for 3+ years. I'm now actually pursuing buying. If somebody is selling something for around $50K or more, is it really not your time to answer some questions, etc over the phone?

Once I have narrowed down to exactly what I want, then I'll be calling to talk money, etc, but until then I may want some more pics, to talk about the boat, get details, etc. Am I a "tire kicker" to be looked down upon now? I completely disagree with that. Before parting with that much money I want to check out a few options and know what I'm getting in to. If you can't handle "wasting" time, please put your boat with a broker or friend, etc.

To add to the "too old", it is a VERY real issue. Anything over 20 years is a killer to insure/finance. So, someone might honestly think they can swing it and want some details before getting a quote for something that would appear reasonable, only to be shocked/declined a quote even.

Now, if someone says they'll do something in terms of showing up, making offers and not coming through, etc, that is BS, and those people are a pain in the ass. I was selling some wheels/tires, and the actual tire kickers that said they'd be doing something and didn't drove me nuts. The guys who had questions but didn't buy, not a problem at all.

DucBoy

Not to hijack, but thought you might want the perspective of an accused "tire kicker". As one suggested, I made sure I had cash in my pocket and insurance lined up then went looking. I was honest about the price range I was looking to spend and several saved my time by being honest that they would not consider an offer in that range. Perhaps it was because of my price range, but little of what I saw resembled the advertised condition, even when I asked the seller to "please be honest about the condition before I drop cash to travel to Florida or Ontario." I did make one or two offers before finally buying a couple of weeks ago and ended up with something that, absent any surprises next summer, was in as good or better condition than advertised and appears to have been appropriately priced.

Dueclaws

Most of the posts here have some truth IMHO. Just want to make make this clear: my experiences posted earlier are coming from many years of buying and selling. The Jag is my 15th boat (not currently advertised for sale), so I've done this a lot. I should add that a perceived resemblance to any one-person is purely coincidental.
Due