Selling your boat: preparation, listing, viewings

Selling a boat at the right price generally takes three to six months and comes down to three levers: immaculate preparation served by real photography, a price aligned with actual transactions from day one, and a locked-down process for viewings and payment. A clean, documented, well-presented boat sells; an overpriced, badly photographed one just wears out in the listings.

Preparing the boat: the best money you will spend

A second-hand buyer first buys an impression: that of a boat which has been looked after. Before any photo, empty the boat of everything not included in the sale — personal effects, tired gear, old foul-weather jackets. Deep clean, polished stainless, scrubbed teak, dry and odour-free bilges: allow two to four days of work, or a few hundred euros of professional cleaning repaid several times over at negotiation. Fix the small visible faults — a dead navigation light, a noisy pump — because every defect spotted during a viewing licenses the buyer to imagine ten hidden ones. And assemble the file: title and registration papers, filed invoices, engine log, any previous survey report. A complete binder sitting on the chart table sells better than any spoken argument.

Photos: the item everyone neglects

On the listing portals your boat exists as a tiny thumbnail next to thirty competitors: the first photo decides the click. A photographer used to boats charges a few hundred euros for twenty to thirty clean images — boat tidied, low morning light, straight verticals, a drone pass if the location allows. It is the best-yielding investment of the entire sale. Failing that, apply the basics: never shoot into the light, nobody on board, wide coverage — exteriors from several angles, helm station, every cabin, a clean engine compartment — and an honesty that prepares the viewing rather than overselling it.

Setting the price: the first three weeks decide

Serious buyers run alerts on the portals: a new listing at the right price receives its best enquiries in the first two or three weeks. Overpricing to keep negotiating margin is the classic mistake: the listing goes stale, alerted buyers filter it out, and six months later you have to drop below the price a fair positioning would have achieved. Build the price on the model's real market value: comparable listings minus 8 to 12%, adjusted for condition, engine hours and recent equipment. Then set your walk-away floor privately, and hold it through the negotiation.

Broker or private sale

A broker typically takes 8 to 10% of the sale price, sometimes with a flat minimum on smaller boats. In exchange: professional distribution, filtering of time-wasters, accompanied viewings, sea-trial management, and a secured contract and payment. Selling privately saves the commission but costs time — expect dozens of contacts for a handful of real viewings — and exposes you to the risks the broker absorbs. The honest arithmetic: below 30,000 euros, going private makes sense if you are available and near the boat; above 80,000 euros, the legal and financial safeguards detailed in our guide to brokers and buyer's agents weigh heavily. In between, your available time is the deciding factor.

Viewings, sea trials and securing payment

• Group viewings into a single half-day: the boat is prepared once, and competition between buyers works in your favour;
• grant a sea trial only to a buyer who has made a written offer, ideally backed by a deposit held in escrow;
• always use a written sale agreement: price, survey contingency, what happens to the deposit, date of transfer of ownership;
• accept bank transfer only — never a cheque, even a banker's draft, without verifying directly with the issuing branch;
• watch for the classics: the hurried foreign buyer paying sight unseen, the overpayment to refund, the mandated shipping agent. No keys change hands before funds have irrevocably cleared.

Where to start: the countdown

At D-30, choose your channel — broker or private — and start the preparation: cleaning, small repairs, complete paperwork file. At D-15, shoot the photos in good light and write a factual listing: the boat's programme, maintenance history, dated equipment, faults owned up to. At D-7, set the price from comparables and fix your private floor. On day one, publish on two or three major portals — not ten, overexposure cheapens a boat. Then keep the pace: replies within 24 hours, grouped viewings, and an honest review at six weeks. If serious enquiries are missing, it is the price, not the market: one clean repositioning of 5 to 8% relaunches a listing, three timid 2% cuts kill it.