PopYachts?

boatman37

Well-Known Member
Jun 6, 2015
4,211
pittsburgh
Boat Info
2006 Crownline 250CR. 5.7 Merc BIII
Previous: 1986 Sea Ray 250 Sundancer. 260 Merc Alpha 1 Gen 1
Engines
5.7 Merc BIII
Question about popyachts. I haven't heard much good about them but am working on a deal with a former dock neighbor that has their boat listed with them. We came to an agreement on price but she did say she has to talk to popyachts. The deal is below the listing price. I did not find their boat through popyachts. It is sitting at a local boat shop and I have known it was for sale for awhile now. She was telling me that if a full price offer comes through popyachts before we sign the title over then she is required to back out of our deal to honor the popyachts agreement? She wasn't to sure how this worked and was going to contact them but this has me a little nervous. If I apply for the financing and pay for the survey then the next day a full price offer comes in through popyachts I'm out? Seems with that business model you either pay full price or risk getting screwed? She also said with the price we agreed on she cannot pay any commissions out of that or she will be losing money. She said if she is forced to pay commissions then the deal will be off?

Anyone familiar with how this works?
 
I asked the same questions when looking at boats and also they were hounding me to list mine with them

from my understanding of the contract she is right. If they can make a case that you came across the boat through one of their listings on the various sites she will be contractually obligated to pay the commission. That being said, I don't know how they could prove that. You could just say you walked the dock and made an offer.

When they pressed me to list my boat with them I did confirm that as the seller I would have full rights to remove the listing at any time. They fed me some line about being able to remove the listing but if I sold it to buyer who had reached out through their ad channels within 90 days I would have to pay commissions. I would think she can end the listing and then would have nothing to worry about if you never contact POP for that boat.

I never got a good feeling from them on either the buyer or seller side in the few times I've interacted with them
 
Last edited:
She did say that she was going to contact them today to have it pulled and cancel the contract. I just don't want to go through the work and funds only to have them pull the rug out from under me at the last minute.

This boat was docked 2 boats ahead of us on the opposite side of the dock in 2015 and it went up for sale at the end of that year. We have known about it since then and my wife is facebook friends with them so we would have a good case that we found it on our own...lol
 
Well, you are learning about the brokerage side of the boat business the hard way.

The sellers listing contract with Popyachts is between her and Popyachts.....you are not a party to it and have no say in anything about it. Every brokerage contract I've seen is an exclusive contract (i.e. the broker is the sole agent for selling the boat) for aspecified period of time, almost always 180 days, unless a shorter time was agreed upon when the listing contract was signed.

No matter what the sellers says or thinks she can do, if the contract is exclusive with no exceptions, she will owe Popyachts the full commission if you buy the boat directly ...........and depending upon the contract wording, {Popyachts may even have a lien on the boat if she sells it to you herself.

About all you can do now so save this deal, is to go to Popyachts and enter into a sales contract for the boat thru them. You should also keep shopping because the chances of this deal ever happening are very slim if the seller isn't willing to pay the commission she agreed to pay.
 
I entered into a contract with Pop 2 years ago. There was a clause stating that if I found the buyer I owed nothing to Pop. On the other hand if I sold a boat to someone that had seen the boat on their site, I owed them the full commission.
 
ugh. just my luck. i kinda had that feeling after she said that Frank
 
Back in 2011-2012 when selling my 410DA by owner, Pop Yachts contacted me several time trying to get the listing. I was not interested so I never got a copy of the contract to review, but their selling point was that I only owed them a commission if they sold it.
 
I entered into a contract with Pop 2 years ago. There was a clause stating that if I found the buyer I owed nothing to Pop. On the other hand if I sold a boat to someone that had seen the boat on their site, I owed them the full commission.
That sounds like what she said. She did say she asked if she could cancel the contract at any time and they told her she could. But she did say that if they found that a buyer visited their site to see that boat then she would owe the commission.
 
When I cancelled my contract with them the sent me an email with about 300 names in it. As brokers they suck.
 
That sounds like what she said. She did say she asked if she could cancel the contract at any time and they told her she could. But she did say that if they found that a buyer visited their site to see that boat then she would owe the commission.
I think she is okay as long as you didn’t click on it on their website. If you did, then she may have a problem.
 
I didn't and don't think my wife did but not sure how they can even verify it was me. Sure they can trace IP addresses but that is alot of legwork
 
when she cancels the contract she will get the same email I got with all the names. If your on it she can rehire them if she chooses.
 
If it's like most agency contracts, they are entitled to commission for a sale to anyone they brought to the deal. So some tire kicker takes a look, he's their buyer. That will usually last for a period of time after the contract is cancelled.

If it's an exclusive contract, then you stuck. If the seller can cancel when they want, should be good.

If for some reason she can't get out of it, and you're willing to wait, she can just hold on to you until the contract expires. She doesn't have to accept any offer they bring.
 
Going to call the sellers later to see if they talked to popyachts yet or what they found
 
I didn't and don't think my wife did but not sure how they can even verify it was me. Sure they can trace IP addresses but that is alot of legwork

when you go to the popyachts site, you have to give your email address to see the pics of the boat. I think that may be the only way they can reasonably track you.
 
Have your seller find and read their contract. I found a "sample" popyachts contract on their website, and the last line of the first paragraph, in bold, says "In the event that Seller enters into a contract of sale with any person or organization not procured by POP, then no commission shall be due to POP."

Your seller's contract may vary, but the language in the sample is pretty clear.

https://www.popyachts.com/Files/Sample_Marketing_Agreement.pdf

You can decide whether you see risk of clicking on the PDF. I don't know if they can really track your IP and use it to claim that you came through them. When I've looked at their listings I had to provide my email and last name each time, so I suspect that is how they can claim that they are bringing a buyer to the seller.
 
Nah man, there's a lot more to it than that.
yes, there is alot more info exchanged, but most of it, such as IP address, whether or not one is logged into social media does not identify the person. Is there a way to pull the visitor's name? or other info needed to enforce a contract?
 
PopYachts is at the low end of the yacht brokerage biz. When I retired I thought about selling yachts as a part time gig for beer money and I looked at them. Horrible.

I think they grossly over-price all of their listings. But Boatman, I have to ask.... You said the boat you are interested in has been for sale since late 2015. And you said the seller couldn't pay commission at your agreed upon price or she would lose money. If she is making payments on the boat how much has she lost in nearly 3 years by paying the monthly payment over the past 3 years that the boat hasn't sold. She would be better off selling the boat at your price and paying the commission if she has to than hanging on to it for another year. Your season ends up there in what....8-10 weeks. If she doesn't sell it soon it will most likely sit another 6 months.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
112,946
Messages
1,422,774
Members
60,929
Latest member
Henchman
Back
Top