How do trades work?
 

So with today's ever flowing stream of boats for sale on FB's Powerboat Swap Shop(PBSS) and lots of them saying "trades possible". Or people always replying with requests to trade. Having never done anything like that. I am curious as to how a "trade" works? Obviously there are several different scenarios possible.

Both people owning their trade item outright.
One person owning and the other with a note on said property to trade.
Both people have notes on said trade property.
Then there is the added problem of values probably not normally being equal and someone needing the cash or a loan to pay the difference.

FYI, what brings this up was a ad for a Active Thunder Savage that went by on PBSS the other day. It looked to be a nice boat and I have always liked them. Well the ad happened to say, looking to move to a Center Console trades possible. Wouldn't you know it, I happen to have a 30' Center Console that is within reason value wise. I have pretty much moved on but just curious.

This just seems like a complicated situation. Anyone completed any of the above trade scenarios? Did it work out? Any advice.

John

If the titles are free and clear it's a matter of exchanging paper work and merchandise, pretty straight forward process. If the bank has liens on either item it would need to be paid off or you could possibly exchange titles with the bank as long as the new boat would stand for enough collateral against the money you owe. Not really complicated just a few more steps in the process

As a private seller, I took a trade in on a deal in the past. I was selling a 2001 29 Scarab with about 7 hours on it. Buyer was interested but couldnt make a move until he sold his Wellcraft small cabin cruiser. We struck a deal where he gave me a 68k payment and I took his boat at a 12k value for a total sale of $80k. I then put the cabin cruiser up for sale and got $13500 after a few months on the market.