There are plenty of reasons for investing in a good broker. Perhaps you don’t want to go to the effort of photographing, listing, showing, and sea trialling your boat yourself. Perhaps you’re unsure about the necessary process, documentation, and legalities of closing a sale. Or perhaps you want the broader scope, deeper penetration, and enhanced market knowledge that a professional broker can provide. Whatever your motivation might be, it’s vital that you maximise your chances of a fast, pleasurable, and lucrative process by sifting through the also-rans to source the broker best suited to the task.
Jump to section:
- Ten key yacht broker tips
- What does a broker do?
- What does a broker charge?
- Associations and affiliations
- Professional experience
- Marketing matters
- What about the buyer?
- FAQs
- Next steps
Ten key yacht broker tips
- Expect to pay a commission of around 10%, and be sure to avoid a broker who makes a request for funds up front. 2. Commissions do, however, vary, so make sure your broker’s fee is confirmed at the outset. 3. The scope of a broker’s services also varies, so get confirmation of what’s on offer before you commit. 4. If you need to continue using your boat while it’s on the market, this can often be arranged, but it needs to be discussed at the start. 5. Pick a broker who is conveniently located and readily accessible to potential buyers for your specific boat type. 6. Pick a broker with proven experience in the successful marketing of boats like your own. 7. Pick a fully insured broker who can keep your funds fully protected via a separate Client Trust Account. 8. Investigate a broker’s existing listings to assess the scope, quality, and effectiveness of their marketing approach. 9. While there are benefits to the boat purchase services of a good broker, the boat buyer should understand that a broker’s primary duty is to the seller. 10. To help guarantee the most professional code of conduct, pick a broker who is an established member of the ABYA or the BRBA.
If you’re keen to exchange the complication of a private sale for the reassurance of a good broker, you need to find the right broker for the job.
What does a broker do?
While the type and extent of a broker’s duties can vary from one to another, a broker’s core business is to represent the seller by marketing the seller's boat. That often includes establishing a realistic market price, creating marketing assets, managing a marketing campaign, arranging and executing viewings, negotiating terms, managing all relevant paperwork, and securing the handling of funds. A good broker should also provide you with a lucid and transparent flow of information, keeping you fully informed about what they’re doing and how the process works. While the high stakes of some boat sales means the industry can (and does) sometimes attract individuals whose primary goal is short-term reward, a good broker recognises that a boat seller is likely to buy and sell several boats over the course of a lifetime, so it’s in their interest to form productive relationships by doing the best job possible.What does a broker charge?
A broker’s fee is paid by the client (the owner and vendor of the boat) as a percentage of the boat sale. That figure is typically around 10%, but if the value of the boat is relatively low, a minimum fee may be required to protect the broker’s interests. Plainly, that can make the services of a broker on particularly low-value boats prohibitively expensive; however, whether the boat is uncommonly affordable or stratospherically exclusive, an agreed-upon commission fee is always established before engaging a broker’s services. A good broker will help guide you toward a strong but realistic market price that offers good value for your boat, while attracting enough buyers to ensure a relatively rapid sales process and protecting their own remuneration as a proportion of that sale price. As regards the fee itself, if a company has a particularly low commission rate, it’s important to discern exactly what the service covers; if a broker is happy to reduce their commission rates in order to win your business, you should again proceed with caution; and if a broker requests any funds up front, you should simply delete them from your thought process and look elsewhere.Associations and affiliations
In the UK, there are two key organisations that help inform and guide the industry’s professional brokers. The first of these is the Boat Retailers and Brokers Association (BRBA), which operates as part of the British Marine Federation. It aims to make both new and used boat sales easier, to heighten consumer confidence and to mitigate any risks by means of a code of practice featuring a comprehensive set of regulations for brokers and retailers. It also provides advice for boat buyers regarding key legal issues like the use of a designated client account, RCD compliance, and finance arrangements. The second key organisation is the Association of Brokers & Yacht Agents (ABYA), a subsection of the Yacht Brokers, Designers & Surveyors Association. Like the BRBA, its purpose is to “promote the highest standards of professionalism and expert knowledge in the field of yacht sales” by means of the fair and transparent management of the interaction between buyer and seller, with full documentation and the reassuring backup of Professional Indemnity and Public Liability Insurance. There are, of course, plenty of honest and professional unaffiliated brokers. Still, the vast majority of horror stories relate to brokers that operate outside the remit of these established bodies. Hence, it makes good sense to load the dice in your favour by making professional memberships a necessary starting point for your broker search.Professional experience
It’s not always necessary to insist on a broker with 30 years of experience specifically in brokerage, but a lengthy CV in a key area of the marine industry is always a bonus. That might involve boat construction, practical seamanship or marine engineering, but whatever it is, it’s vital that a broker has the breadth of industry contacts, the depth of understanding and the global penetration to access the right markets, source the right buyers, and conduct themself with the right degree of thoroughness and professionalism. Similarly, while most companies will claim practicable expertise in most forms of boat sale, the CV of each will reveal a track record that is more prolific in one particular boat type, size, and/or value than another. In order to ensure you get the most effective service, make sure you pick one with a proven ability to achieve results with the specific boat you’re looking to sell. If an internet search of a broker doesn’t reveal any confidence-inspiring reviews or testimonials in that regard, you can ask them to provide some. Do the same with their previous sales successes and current listings, paying particular attention to the quality of the words, images, and video footage. Do their listings exhibit a sufficient level of care and professionalism? Take a look at the pricing in relation to what else is on the market and consider the nature of the coverage and the media platforms on which it appears. Does it generate a compelling case or not? Is the marketing approach formulaic, or is it intelligently conceived and likely to elicit a response? You could even call a broker regarding an existing listing, posing as a potential buyer, to hear how they conduct themself, how knowledgeable they are about the boat and how they represent their client. Are they accessible, proactive, informed, and responsive? Be tough. Be critical. And if you’re not enthused by the interaction, then look elsewhere.
A good broker should provide you with a transparent flow of information, keeping you fully informed about what he’s dong and how the process works. | Image by Superyachts Monaco.
