Selling a Sea Ray

S

SeaRay215

New Member
Oct 17, 2006
13
Upstate NY
Boat Info
215 Weekender
Engines
Merc w/ Alpha
I am curious about how other Sea Ray owners have sold their boats. I had my loaded '04 Sea Ray 215 Weekender brokerage listed with the Sea Ray dealer that I purchased it new from for one year without a single inquiry. I have placed ads on Boat Trader and Boats.com without any success (only a few calls whose first question was how low would I go). I have never had good luck selling anything on E-Bay, so I hesitate to place an ad with them. I did see that one member here created a video of his boat to assist his sale... I think that's a great idea and may help me convey to potential buyers that this is a low hour, loaded 215. Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks!
 
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I tried the same things as you. You get the "want-ad" in your area, since we are both upstate NY? Never got one call from that. I did sell mine on ebay with good results. (it was an Ebbtide, not Sea Ray). But it was a boat!
I think it's all about timing though. Not a good time of the year to sell.
I would say a good time to buy though.
 
Thanks Shining, perhaps I will consider E-bay. I haven't had the boat on the market since last fall, so I am again considering listing it once we get a little closer to Spring. I didn't renew my ads or the contract with the dealer over the Winter as the boat is winterized and stored in a boatel and is not really accessible for a potential buyer to review/survey at this time.
 
One more note. If you do decide to use ebay....it's all about pictures, (along w/description)
Lots of Pics. and LARGE size!! People want to see your boat! (engine and outdrive also a must).
It helps.
 
The YouTube idea is good. I sold mine in July (better time of year than now) and I used Craigslist. Like Mike says, lots of picture links to a site like photobucket.
Are you in a hurry to sell? or just trying to upgrade?
It's great time to buy, but you may have to take something off your price to sell and buy now....
 
Nehalennia said:
Are you in a hurry to sell? or just trying to upgrade?
Click to expand...

We are considering upgrading to a 260 or 280. I will re-list the boat in late April when we have easy access to our boat again (Marina/boatel does not open until April). I am in no hurry to sell, but the boat was listed an entire year with the dealer, including last spring and summer, and we had no results. Just wondered if we were going about it wrong. We had it listed at a price the same as other '04 Weekenders that were not as well equipped in hopes of selling the boat in a reasonable amount of time. It looks like all those options we paid for when the boat was new are nearly worthless when trying to resell. We have nearly every option available during that model year, but it doesn't seem to be helping the sale even though it was competitively priced. We will probably end up trading it in if we decide to upgrade. We'll take the hit and never buy new again.
 
SeaRay215 said:
We are considering upgrading to a 260 or 280. I will re-list the boat in late April when we have easy access to our boat again (Marina/boatel does not open until April). I am in no hurry to sell, but the boat was listed an entire year with the dealer, including last spring and summer, and we had no results. Just wondered if we were going about it wrong. We had it listed at a price the same as other '04 Weekenders that were not as well equipped in hopes of selling the boat in a reasonable amount of time. It looks like all those options we paid for when the boat was new are nearly worthless when trying to resell. We have nearly every option available during that model year, but it doesn't seem to be helping the sale even though it was competitively priced. We will probably end up trading it in if we decide to upgrade. We'll take the hit and never buy new again.
Click to expand...

Well if you can be patient you may do ok. I think with that boat though you're better off selling it on your own rather than going through a broker. Your target buyer's going to want a deal and having a Broker involved takes that right out of the equation.
Are you looking to buy the 260 or 280 new? If so, you may be able to trade that in and recover some if that money if you have sales tax because you'll only pay the difference.

But throw and AD on Craigslist and see what action you get, the price is right and it certainly can't hurt
Best of Luck
 
Well. . . from what I saw the sad truth is all those "must have" options are hideously overpriced when a boat is new. . .which is why they don't help as much as you think when you resell the boat.
 
Honestly from experience, PRICE is everything when selling a boat. When I talk with my customers who haven't sold their boats in the past year 9 times out of 10 it is the price that strays buyers away from the boat. Options are great but in most cases people can add things themselves for cheaper than the upcharge of what it cost you new.

Not to mention all of us boaters think our boats are worth more than they actually are!
 
I had just bought a 91, 4Winns 265 Vista and after one overnight outing decided it was not big enough. So we found our 340 and pulled the trigger and became a 2 boat owner with a promise to the admiral that the 26' would "sell easy, no problem." After several weeks on YachtWorld and Boats.com I put an ad in the local daily paper. Lo and behold I get a call within a week from a guy that wants to see it....now, then wants a trial....now and then calls his soon to be admiral and tells her to stop at the bank, get a cashiers check and meet him at my house. Holy crap!

I wold have never thought to use the paper but I was tired of sleeping on the sofa and I was desparate. The adm. was very friendly that night.

Try the paper. What have you got to lose?
Shawn
 
Each of my three SRs was sold differently. My first boat was sold to a customer of the marina that sold me my next new boat. He put my in touch with a guy who was interested in buying. He qualified the prospect and did not charge me a finder fee. I negotiated the deal and bought a new boat. I had two sources for the new boat, one in west Michigan and one in Detroit. The Detroit boat was very reasonably priced and I used that to get the same deal in my area of the state so there was no hidden up charge for the sales assist. Years later I sold the second boat to a stranger who help me tie up at a resturuant. He was looking for a turn key used boat that he could enjoy right away. We became friends and now boat together on occasion. I bought the last SR without a trade to complicate the transaction. Owned that boat for nearly 11 years and traded it in to the Tiara dealer. I got a fair price for it but could have done better selling it outright.
 
I put my 2003 220 Sundeck on the MM lot June 20th or so last summer, It was gone in 8 days!! I think the time of year is the biggest thing, second is you have to put the boat in front of people looking for a boat. Most people walking around MM in the summer are pretty serious buyers I would think. If it is in your driveway or slip you are not getting the exposure that a dealers lot will get you.
The only issue is the brokerage 10%, for me I new it would cost but it would also get done.

Good luck!!

Bob
 
Alright, now I'm getting slightly annoyed. I paid $43,000 in 2004 for my 215 with nearly all the options. I listed it on boat trader and boats.com for $31,000 which was the same price as other same year, but much less well equipped, 215 Weekenders... I had no luck. I just received some information from another broker that said my boat would probably sell for between $21-25,000 regardless of the low hours/options. So you mean to tell me that my boat has lost nearly half its value in 4 years? I bought a Sea Ray for it's quality (which I am very happy with), but also because everywhere I read or asked, I was told that they hold their value reasonably well... I don't think losing 50% of value in 4 years fits that train of thought. I had a Bayliner bow rider that I only lost $1500 on after 2 years. Wow, this is getting depressing.
 
That's painful depreciation to be sure. The good news is that if you hold on to it, the curve will flatten out and you'll start to see less of a loss over years 4-10. I still like buying new cars (which I keep for a while), but when it comes to boats I start looking at 10 years old.
 
Bridog said:
I priced my 260DA right and it sold within 2 weeks on Boats.com. If your going to go the broker route give Jim (our moderator) a call. BOE Marine. http://www.byowneryachts.com/cgi-bin/boe.pl/D06D49CCBF99E8895AC89BCBE2D6C07E/sl0/home
Click to expand...
I agree, if you go with a Broker, support our host.
At least throw an AD here.
SeaRay215 said:
Alright, now I'm getting slightly annoyed. I paid $43,000 in 2004 for my 215 with nearly all the options. I listed it on boat trader and boats.com for $31,000 which was the same price as other same year, but much less well equipped, 215 Weekenders... I had no luck. I just received some information from another broker that said my boat would probably sell for between $21-25,000 regardless of the low hours/options. So you mean to tell me that my boat has lost nearly half its value in 4 years? I bought a Sea Ray for it's quality (which I am very happy with), but also because everywhere I read or asked, I was told that they hold their value reasonably well... I don't think losing 50% of value in 4 years fits that train of thought. I had a Bayliner bow rider that I only lost $1500 on after 2 years. Wow, this is getting depressing.
Click to expand...

To make you feel better my dealer has one just to show you comparables,
2004 215WE at Lake Union SeaRay

I'll be honest, I think that's high, but Low 30's should fetch it.
Unfortunately the new one's I have seen were priced in that $37-$40 range. I know this because before my Uncle, who just bought thier show model 260DA, was eyeing the '07 215WE they had and it was loaded for $38,500, if recall correctly.
 
Thanks Nehalennia. That '07 your uncle looked at seems to be listed at a great price. My dealer has four '07s listed on their web site ranging from $53,200 to $55,500, so $38 sounds like a great deal. It's time for the admiral and I to re-evaluate our situation... looks like we'll have to keep the boat and continue saving our pennies until the time is right and the curve flattens out as Kameroo stated, then an upgrade will make a little more sense (to a used boat this time).
 
SeaRay215 said:
Thanks Nehalennia. That '07 your uncle looked at seems to be listed at a great price. My dealer has four '07s listed on their web site ranging from $53,200 to $55,500, so $38 sounds like a great deal. It's time for the admiral and I to re-evaluate our situation... looks like we'll have to keep the boat and continue saving our pennies until the time is right and the curve flattens out as Kameroo stated, then an upgrade will make a little more sense (to a used boat this time).
Click to expand...

I think that's wise. When I sold ours in July I knew it would be the best time to get the most. Our 1999 230OV fetched $25,500. Yeah the last half of summer was boatless, but also allowed us to throw a few sheckles in savings on top of what we had so when we Found the boat we wanted we were ready to pounce and not be in the position to have to own two boats or sell one and worry the right boat would slip away because ours hadn't sold yet.
 
Since boats aren't an investment like a home is, depreciation is the norm. It's unfortunate to hear your situation, but I've witnessed many owners surprised at how seemingly fast their 'new' boat isn't worth much after 2 - 4 years. Sweat equity tends to pay out come the time of sale, hence why I am always an advocate of used boats, cars, etc.

Just look at this situation.... To compare an option when buying, I just looked up 1998 - 2000 215's. Average price ranged from $16k to $24k. Say we took the middle of the road and settled on a $20k boat. You've just saved yourself $24k off the top of a brand new 215 with similar options. In another 4 years from now, this 215 will still sell for easily $12k. Your loss over 4 years is now $8k vs. a $24k loss that you're seeing now. What is the newer boat going to get you vs. a boat with a 100 hrs. on it? I'm guessing you'll still see the same enjoyment with your family, plus the added enjoyment of knowing you saved yourself a ton of money. If the warranty is a selling point for you, many companies will offer supplemental warranties on older boats. Even if you purchased that option, you'd still be ahead of the game. Buying new just isn't worth it in my opinion.

Doug
 
No one's mentioned it yet but... Your trying to sell during a bad time of year with a shakey economy. I would keep on using what you have and keep it for sale. With spring around the corner I'd just keep on enjoying it and keep it up for sale. Once the public feels a bit better about where the economy is going it will probably sell.
 
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