Frequently Asked Questions
All yacht brokers are there to sell your boat for you. The differences are found in the brokerage fee, service (sales marina or internet broker) and market coverage. Brokerage fees vary greatly and can be as high as 10%. YCM aims to offer a personal service "brokerage as required" at a competitive rate with exceptionally good exposure for your boat.
A yacht broker is your representative. You need to find a broker! Meeting various brokers may help you get a feel for who they are and how they do business. Do you like the broker? Can you communicate with him or her about your wishes in an open and comfortable way? Does he or she give you confidence? Selling or buying a yacht should be stress-free, and that's much easier if you get on well with the broker and have a good broker-customer relationship. So have a look around and compare. Are they proactive, do they respond promptly to your call or email, how are the yachts presented online: original photos of the boat, or are they "sister yachts" or brochure photos? Was the yacht emptied of all private property before taking the photos, or do you see bedding, kettles and a table full of charts? A dedicated broker arranges a perfect presentation with good photo materials (YCM also has 360 degree photography!) and clean yachts in the sales marina.
At YCM you can opt for a 360 degree brokerage assignment: full service from our sales marina or a 180 degree brokerage assignment (from your own berth) for those who want to continue to use the yacht, and at an even more competitive brokerage rate. If you have any other brokerage requirements please let us know: we'll be pleased to discuss this with you.
This is a question we often hear, and unfortunately the answer is not that simple. There are many factors involved: the price, the type of yacht, the age and the state of maintenance and equipment are important aspects. On average we expect a sale to take six months, but there are also cases of just a few days, but also of a year or more. Last year, 30% of the yachts were sold within three months, 50% within six months and the average of the total yachts sold by YCM is 7.9 months.
Your yacht will be placed on all important national and international websites including Yachtworld: this is an important international website that is only open to yacht brokers. You will not find private offerings here.
We like to be transparent and want to give our customers as much information as possible. They are all used yachts and there will always be some particulars. Whether you buy a boat from us, from another broker or from a private individual, our advice is to have the boat inspected either way. The fee involved is small in relation to the purchase price. Pre-inspection creates confidence and provides security for a potentially interested party, who will be more inclined to make an offer. After all, the technical condition of the yacht is already known. Our international customers (more than 50%) can also download the inspection report in English and this provides more certainty before they spend money on a flight ticket or take a long car journey to view the yacht.
Before a sale is completed, it is important to have all shipping documents in order. Especially important aspects are the proof that the VAT has been paid (purchase invoice or VAT declaration by the customs authorities) and the CE certificate. The broker also performs a shipping registry search to check whether your yacht is registered and whether there is a mortgage on it.
Yes, we're very proud of that too! Tell everyone who wants to sell their boat on YCM and who knows, you might create your own workplace.