Am i priced to high

[Devin Perry]

I have had my boat on the local Craigs for a while now with only a few tire kickers and some phone calls. Am i being unrealistic with my price or is it just bad timing for sealing a boat. Need your help, let me know if i should hold out on the price or if i am overpriced. I have been looking for a new boat and its killing me a that i cant go make an offer on my next sunsetter.

My link

[JeffS]

I think it's the time of year. $7500 seems like a great price that would attract a lot of attention. And you are in CA, which is far less seasonal than...say...Minnesota.

Rewrite the ad maybe?

[Sixball]

I would try something like ebay. Craigs to me is not as trust Worthy and more people shopping for a big deal. (JMHO)

[skyskier]

Your ad needs more exposure. I would put it on wakeworld, onlyinboards.com, boattrader.com, and right here. I would not drop the price.

[Aquadisiac]

Looks like a nice clean boat. Price should be fine. We sold a 90 Skier in the spring and got good money for it. Worse case wait till spring.

[shawndoggy]

Take many many many more pics. Post them somewhere like flickr / picasa (google) web galleries / etc. Once you've got the pics on the pic hosting site, right click on the pic and click "copy image location" (firefox) or properties and then copy the image address (URL) (Internet Explorer).

Then you need to insert the pics in the craigs ad. Do that with the image tag, which looks like this:

<img src="(THAT IMAGE SOURCE DATA YOU COPIED ABOVE)">

so for instance for the pic in my signature, it would look like this:

<img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4120/4819179653_05c139729e_b.jpg">

That way you can have 10 or 20 pics with much better resolution. Makes it way way easier for a buyer to see that the boat's for real. Make sure you take pics of blemishes too.

As for the ad itself, I saw that one before. How are the stringers? That'd be the first thing I'd want to know.

Edited September 8, 2010 by shawndoggy

[Devin Perry]

Thanks for the help I will try new pictures. I was hoping the price was fair. As for the stringers they are hard to tell without cutting things up but I check the engine mount lag bolts regularly and they are nice and tight so I would say they are in at least usable condition. I tried to do the hollow taping test and that sounded good. I am still using the boat and it runs great and I love every minute I am on it.

[WakingMeHappy]

Put your add on boattrader.com

[jk13]

Just scrolled through Sac CL and you're already on the 10th page. Those that don't know craiglook and such will never find your boat in such an active market.

As others have said, use as many sites as possible if you're in a hurry to sell (looks like you listed last Friday...patience, man.)

If you will only use CL, delete and re-list every two or three days. Some people may get sick of new ads, just don't get more and more desperate with wording each time, like some do. Same words, new pics.

Price seems right on.

[LS-One]

Price seems good. More exposure for sure.

Also keep in mind the people that normally buy entry level boats are the one's with the least amount of disposable income right now.

[Bobby Light]

If you know someone that's pretty handy with photography and has a nice camera (15+ mp) then have them come over and shoot some pics of it. That way you can embed them with a link to your CL ad. Great pictures do wonders for a sale as long as they are accurate.

[eyepeeler]

Drop the price until it sells. We are three weeks away from October. I just got back from skiing and the whole lake was a mirror, hardly a boat out.

[KRMartin123]

you should buy my sunsetter!

[Devin Perry]

Drop the price until it sells. We are three weeks away from October. I just got back from skiing and the whole lake was a mirror, hardly a boat out.

That is what i don't want to do. I Dont mind giving someone a deal but i don't want to give the boat away ether. I also wanted to make sure i am not expecting to much but from the sound of it i think i am in the ball park. I don't want to but i can wait till next spring if thats what i need to do to bring a reasonable price.

[Devin Perry]

Well here is my new add. Does any one know how you get the large high res. images to show up in the add instead of just links. I see other people do this at times, they will have full page high res. images and more than 4. Your help is appreciated.

My link

Edited September 8, 2010 by Devin Perry

[shawndoggy]

In flickr go to the pic you want to insert and click actions / view all sizes. Then right click on picture to get get info for picture. For instance, for your first picture, you need to cut and paste the following exactly:

<img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4108/4972563074_e97d6cbed1_b.jpg">
<br>
<br>

and this picture will show up in your CL add like this:

Repeat as needed.

Edited September 9, 2010 by shawndoggy

[DONTW8]

Here is my take. West coast shoppers search the SF Bay, Sacramento, and Stockton craigslist first. There are more boats available because of the affluence in SF, the 1000 lineal miles on the Delta, and the long season on the Sacramento and San Juaquin (sp) rivers.

Cheapest competition boats on the west coast are in your area. More boats available per square mile. Much higher prices in Seattle, Portland, even L.A. due to a more limited availability of direct drive boats.

A 1992 Sunsetter traded hands here for $6500 this spring. Boat was not in great cosmetic shape, had about 300 hours, and was reasonably sound mechanicly. No upholstery tears, but the hull had some scratches due to ski dock rash. The original owner had just used it as a water appliance. He had as much fun or more than the rest of us who are giving our boats the "G.I. Treatment" after every use.

The new owner took it to a detailer and now it looks really good as if it had been cared for regularly by the original owner.

Think of this the next time you buy a boat or car from a dealer. They take a neglected rig, detail it up and brag how the previous owner gave it TLC. Not always the case.

Good luck with your sale. The bright side is you have one extra month over us Oregonians of boating weather. May be enough to "git 'er done."

I have snuck down to the Delta in early October to finish off my boating season. You are one lucky boating dog.

[rodman]

Doggie if you do not have any luck contact me. I have a guy that sells boats and has sold both my jets and my ski boat in less than a week. It was the spring though and we are very seasonal.

[rugger]

DP,

I live in roughly the same area as you. I sold my Sunsetter a few months ago and I'm still seeing the same boats on the market then that I do now -- and we're still in the season. So if it makes you feel beter, I don't think many are having luck selling their boats quickly. Used boats are tough right now... on one hand values are high because the poor economy is challenging the new boat market, but on the other hand it's tough to find a good used boat loan. Sellers are sticking to their prices in a market where people expect a good deal.

I wouldn't give your boat away, but if you get any offers for something reasonable, you might want to take it. Don't drop the listed price though, you're low enough IMO. Good luck.

[Devin Perry]

Thanks for the input everyone. I will continue to be patient knowing that I am not being unreasonable in my asking price. It my be I just need to wait for spring to roll around and give it another go. In the meantime I will spruce up my add and try some new websites.

[LS-One]

DP,

I live in roughly the same area as you. I sold my Sunsetter a few months ago and I'm still seeing the same boats on the market then that I do now -- and we're still in the season. So if it makes you feel beter, I don't think many are having luck selling their boats quickly. Used boats are tough right now... on one hand values are high because the poor economy is challenging the new boat market, but on the other hand it's tough to find a good used boat loan. Sellers are sticking to their prices in a market where people expect a good deal.

I wouldn't give your boat away, but if you get any offers for something reasonable, you might want to take it. Don't drop the listed price though, you're low enough IMO. Good luck.

I don't think many lenders would loan on a boat as old as the OP's in a good market. The buyer of this boat will most likely offer cash.

[elc]

I live in socal and I sold my boat in early feb. I put my boat up for sale in October and hardly got any response. It was posted on craigs, onlyinboards, boattrader and the malibu dealerships website. It seemed like the first week of January things started picking up and I received quite a few quality leads, it ended up selling in a few weeks. IMO boat trader is worthless (i received the most scam emails from that listing)... it sold off of my cl ad for what I was asking.

Next time I try to sell a boat I will start in Jan, right before the boat shows start.

[bbrandau]

I have had my boat on the local Craigs for a while now with only a few tire kickers and some phone calls. Am i being unrealistic with my price or is it just bad timing for sealing a boat. Need your help, let me know if i should hold out on the price or if i am overpriced. I have been looking for a new boat and its killing me a that i cant go make an offer on my next sunsetter.

My link

Priced too high for a Sunsetter. I dont care who did the recon.

[Chia]

Priced too high for a Sunsetter. I dont care who did the recon.

This topic is 9 months old and probably no longer relevant.