selling boats

Is it just me or is it hard work selling boats at the moment as i have had mine up for sale for the past three months with little joy is everyone finding the same or is it just me as i have dropped my price by £995 and still no joy so whats going on

Lasers are easy to shift, my 700 took ages but eventually someone came from a nearby club. I'd hang on in 5here and advertise in other sc too on their boards

Andy.

Andy- you're not gonna want to hear this but, yes the market is really tight for niche classes right now. You can sell Lasers (sub £1500) really easily, but anything in the £2500-£6k mark is sitting on the market unless you heavily discount.

I sold the cherub for half what I paid for it 4 months prior. I'm not complaining about what I paid for it, at the time it represented good value (so much so I didn't bother to haggle for the usual few hundred quid). Had it have worked out for me, it would still have been the cheapest option to get an 'as new' boat with all that kit without paying any VAT.

The Vareo has (and was always going to be) eclipsed by the RS100- new entrants to the class buying new or nearly new (top end 2nd hand) are going to weigh up their options and future proof their investment. This means that a boat of your age will depreciate far faster than the older boats. It's the reason why I sold an as then, similar age RS300- just ahead of the RS100 launch offer. The boat dropped a grand in value almost overnight as soon as the 100 was in the public domain.

In my opinion, if you want to shift it, then drop the price to £2k no offers- making your boat stand out from the crowd with its higher sail number, but same price.

You ultimately have three options:

- sit it out, it will sell eventually (but the 'season' is over and expect a dead patch between now and March 2011). You may end up selling for £2500 next year, and you then have to consider was the extra £500 worth missing your new boat for, especially if there's an insurance renewal/ boat park fee due between now and then.

- market it heavily to existing vareo sailors- it's a great upgrade boat without the costs (and depreciation) of a new boat from RS (it might be worth letting it slip you'll take a small hit for an existing vareo sailor)

- drop it to 'bargain' money- as I said £2k ought to do it, a good indicator of bargain money is the trade in value at RS- knock a couple of hundred off what the guys in Chandlers Ford are prepared to pay for it- they have an international resale market through their dealer network, unfortunately logistics mean when you market it on your tod, it's only likely to sell to a UK, or maybe a France/Netherlands sailor looking for a bargain.

Edited by rogue - 08 Sep 11 at 9:40am

ob1- very fond of it, would still be sailing it now (on the circuit) if it weren't for the knees!

BTW- the knee problem was the result of extended hiking flairing an old injury. It would be the same in any boat that required hiking all around the course- which unfortunately is what a spinnaker requires!