Bad Yachtworld Boat Pics?

Donsan said:

They get paid IF they sell it. With the quality of the pics, we might be paying him nothing but might not get the boat sold.

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That isn't the real problem, since some people are trying to sell what they own before buying what they want. If it takes a year for the current broker's contract to expire, to get a broker worthy of their commission, that ties up the investment of the owner for a year.

So, it's not just an annoyance. It's a financial loss with no benefit.

The owner could have the broker open up the boat and have a real photographer take photos of their boat, which is probably the right thing to do. It is likely to shorten the time on the market to replace awful photos with good ones. It's the same thing as keeping the grass and shrubs trimmed when your vacant house is on the market.

stubones99 said:

That isn't the real problem, since some people are trying to sell what they own before buying what they want. If it takes a year for the current broker's contract to expire, to get a broker worthy of their commission, that ties up the investment of the owner for a year.

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The listing is for 6 months. We wanted to trade it in on a new boat but the dealer didn't want to hold it. They recommended selling it and then buying the other boat. It is listed with them. Since that time, we decided we would rather have boat in FL if we sell. If we don't sell, we are okay with it. But still, the pics in YW are an embarrassment and a better effort should have been made.

Donsan said:

The listing is for 6 months. We wanted to trade it in on a new boat but the dealer didn't want to hold it. They recommended selling it and then buying the other boat. It is listed with them. Since that time, we decided we would rather have boat in FL if we sell. If we don't sell, we are okay with it. But still, the pics in YW are an embarrassment and a better effort should have been made.

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That's better at least your money is't tied up for a year waiting on a contract to time out. What about hiring a real photog to shoot some better photos and replace the lousy ones?

How about pictures of a listed boat that are 4 or 5 years old? We looked a boat that all the pictures had been taken when they did the last upgrade. They sure didn't represent the current condition. I will now ask, when were the listing pictures taken?

stubones99 said:

What about hiring a real photog to shoot some better photos and replace the lousy ones?

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It is being put in heated winter storage this week. Don't want the in storage pics. They would probably look worse!

If we still want to sell in May, the pics will be done right next time. This is my first experience listing a boat with a broker. What is really bothers me is the boat is less than a football field from the brokers office! Incredible isn't it.

Sometimes I'll start viewing the listing photos and think, "Really, dude? You couldn't pick up or at least neaten-up your s#*t long enough to snap a photo?" That's a signal that not only does no one care about selling this boat, but maybe no one cares about this boat, period.

OTOH, I've stared at good photos that showed a vessel to advantage, then drove three hours to find the same vessel is actually a big holy mess.

Even good listing photos sometimes require two or three separate viewings before the clues start to emerge. For example, a photo of an interior bulkhead shows gleaming varnish reflecting the light, but on closer inspection, there are dark stains beneath those salon window frames. That re-painted engine looks good, but wait - the motor mount appears to be a clod of rust that's been hit with some red overspray.

There are plenty of lazy brokers out there. The broker we bought from uses pics from the manufacturers' old brochures whenever possible. And that is a small flaw compared to what we gradually learned about him.

Larry M said:

How about pictures of a listed boat that are 4 or 5 years old? We looked a boat that all the pictures had been taken when they did the last upgrade. They sure didn't represent the current condition. I will now ask, when were the listing pictures taken?

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I think photos taken during the last haul really help, since if the boat is floating in the water, it's hard to see what the boat looks like under the water. We all know the boat isn't brand new and some dings and scratches will exist.

One of the boats i liked, I decided to not go see it since the broker incorrectly told me that there was nothing below the water to protect the props. It turns out that boat had full skegs below and protection even for the stabilizers.
All they could show were a set of plans in Chinese that didn't show anything below but props, struts and rudders.

since we are talking about taking pictures, I thought it may be worth talking about taking pictures of a boat when you first go to see it. When I first went to see our NT, I took probably around 100 pictures - everywhere from the hull to the ER. This allowed me to then study them closely when I got back to the hotel (and share them with my wife, who was about 1500 miles away) before making an offer. I also sent the pictures to our surveyor and mechanic prior to the survey so they could have an idea of what they were going to see in advance, and to also raise some specific issues that I wanted them to look into. To this day, still use the pictures (which are now stored in the cloud) when I need to order a part or see how something is put together when I'm not on the boat.

A really professional outfit that market a lot of vessels is Yachtvid on you tube. Take a look you will love the vessels and the way they present, amazing stuff !!!

Cheers Chris D Liberty

Liberty2015 said:

A really professional outfit that market a lot of vessels is Yachtvid on you tube. Take a look you will love the vessels and the way they present, amazing stuff !!!

Cheers Chris D Liberty

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Yes, plus they do videos as well! They appear to use a steadycam mount and take their time panning around the vessel so you can actually take in what you're seeing. I've seen some of theirs with drone video as well.

A broker is your agent you appointed/employed to sell your boat. Pictures are necessary for online advertising, they should be as good as they can be. If not, he`s not doing his job, and if you are tied to a listing agreement which doesn`t give you rights to terminate if he does his job badly, you are losing effective time on the market. If the pictures are bad, and not helping or worse, ask him to perform, or else.

Maybe I'm a creature of the last century, but I never look at videos of boats for sale on web sites.

I'd rather see good still shots that I can take my time looking at, zoom in and out on, and flip back and forth between. I also like to skip the shots that don't interest me.

I'm no Luddite. By all means, provide videos for potential buyers who are easily impressed by slick video production skills. But also include plenty of good still shots for those of us who want to know how sound the boat and machinery are, and don't want to spend our time zooming in on the wine rack.

CaptTom said:

Maybe I'm a creature of the last century, but I never look at videos of boats for sale on web sites.

I'd rather see good still shots that I can take my time looking at, zoom in and out on, and flip back and forth between. I also like to skip the shots that don't interest me.

I'm no Luddite. By all means, provide videos for potential buyers who are easily impressed by slick video production skills. But also include plenty of good still shots for those of us who want to know how sound the boat and machinery are, and don't want to spend our time zooming in on the wine rack.

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Especially when those "videos" are simply the same images available for those who manually flip through the images...

Years ago, Yachtworld offered a zoom option to put the image on the full screen but no longer...

Also, while I'm ranting about Yachtworld, their app either shows all boats everywhere, or if you say USA, you have to keep selecting which states within the US. Why not North America, or ALL the US?

I agree that boat photos in listings are generally terrible, but I am curious. Are brokers willing to pay for professional photos? Good boat photos would require some good camera equiment and skills similar to good real estate photography. Are brokers willing to pay for that?

When we sold our sailboat, the broker didn't even want to wait for us to straighten up the boat. We weren't expecting him to take photos that day. I ended up providing him with better photos later.

Greetings,
Mr. R. I would suspect that GOOD brokers would spring for pro shots unless they were fully capable themselves. But having dealt with some brokers in the past, there are far too many that just seem to not care or are too lazy. One would think that a well presented vessel would command more traffic, as has been mentioned and get a commission into a broker's pockets sooner.

I'm a little late to the conversation. But oh this touched on a pet peeve! You would think that brokers would take a little time to put up a quality listing. But the more I think about it, I realized that many (most?!) brokers are no better than lazy used car salesman. Yes, granted there are a few who are in the business because they love boats and it shows. Otherwise, well....

Most issues have been touched on, like the lack of quality engine room pictures. Views that are too narrow to get a good grasp on the layout. Or super wide to the point of distortion. And yes, all the clutter and crap that just shows an unkempt boat. On those, maybe it's just as well they include the unkept, natural pictures as it gives those seriously looking a clue to the boats condition!

Rusty said:

Good boat photos would require some good camera equiment and skills similar to good real estate photography. Are brokers willing to pay for that?

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Real estate brokers that are worth their salt ALWAYS make sure that there are plenty of high-quality photos that show the property in the best possible light. They take the time to "stage" the home so that it will sell as quickly as possible for the best possible price. Boat brokers SHOULD be doing the same thing. Those that do not are only demonstrating their own lack of commitment to their craft, and unworthiness to earn a commission.

So the answer is easy: Good brokers would not only be willing, they would insist on it. Those who don't are lousy brokers, not worth wasting your time on.