I think Yachtworld may have put the last nail in the boat search coffin this morning

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Ms. Judy. Thank you for your comment from the broker's perspective.

 

[denverd0n]

Perhaps... they would prefer to harvest your email address...

My guess would be that this is what the changes are really all about.

I just texted my broker and asked him to complain to Yachtworld. Maybe that will get their attention if a lot of brokers complain.

I would think that brokers would be howling bloody murder! I'm sure they get a lot of people who contact them because they saw something on Yachtworld. Of course, if you don't actually use the Yachtworld contact function, then the broker does not know that is how you found the listing.

Personally, I have NEVER used Yachtworld's "contact" function. I always just make note of the listing broker, and go look up their own website. That is, in fact, exactly how I bought my last boat.

My suspicion is that, in time, Yachtworld will become an "also ran." People will use boattrader, and other sites. Craigslist is a pain, because of the need to search one city at a time, but there are sites like searchtempest.com that aggregate craigslist for you, so I find that useful also.

 

[We Love Sharks59]

As a new person who started my search in sail boats because that is my very limited experience, but got hit with the "reality" stick and moved to trawlers for our big adventure, I get a lot of great listings from YachtWorld. The search parameters I can enter yield exactly what I am looking for. I have a few email alerts set up, and they work well. Is it possible they are "dumbing down" in an effort to attract more new people like me? They are aware of a shift in market conditions and are adjusting accordingly? I hope my entering in this conversation is not offensive to anyone, but as a user of said media, I find them very useful.

 

[Seevee]

My guess would be that this is what the changes are really all about.


I would think that brokers would be howling bloody murder! I'm sure they get a lot of people who contact them because they saw something on Yachtworld. Of course, if you don't actually use the Yachtworld contact function, then the broker does not know that is how you found the listing.

Personally, I have NEVER used Yachtworld's "contact" function. I always just make note of the listing broker, and go look up their own website. That is, in fact, exactly how I bought my last boat.

My suspicion is that, in time, Yachtworld will become an "also ran." People will use boattrader, and other sites. Craigslist is a pain, because of the need to search one city at a time, but there are sites like searchtempest.com that aggregate craigslist for you, so I find that useful also.

You're probably smart doing that. I've used the contact thing a lot but rarely does it yield a response. Apparently they are not read. Even contacting the broker, often times they won't call back. And they NEVER have much info about the boat. That's why I'll ALWAYS talk to the owner or I just won't buy, and most of the time a good broker will put me in contact.



Overall, shopping is a PITA no matter what one uses. Takes a LOT of calls and searching. And it's just mind boggling how little brokers AND owners know. You'd think they wanted to sell boats. Just wait til the market changes, they won't be able to pay you to take them.

 

[Comodave]

Ok, I got the search features figured out. It is a real PITA to work through it thought. I don’t understand how they could possibly think this is better.

 

[OldDan1943]

I apologies for rambling. Today is a day for retrospect(ing).

I will confess, I am just a "fender kicker". I like to look at different boats. I have no intentions of buying a different boat. I just want to get this boat "more finished" before I am forced to sell it for dreaded "due to my health." I am not about to buy another boat and begin the 'make it mine' process again. Done it twice.
Every time you or I add or do something to our boats, we sit back, smile and think, 'that turned out right.' We are all proud of our boats and our improvements. Aint life grand?
I think, by the end of this year, I will have 'invested' another (last major) $30K in the boat. Assuming nothing major breaks, I will be more than happy. One project I wanted to do since I bought the boat, (supplement the Vessel View with separate panel of analog gauges) and the last project is a recent discovery or "Hey that is a good idea". (a DockMate)

I want 'fender kickers' to look at my boat so they can see the possibilities for their chosen boat. The person who buys my boat will say, "He had more money than brains.", SMILE, and/or perhaps, "Daymn, he smoked cigars." LOL Both will be true.
The only thing I do not intend to upgrade is the nav electronics. The RayMarine work fine.

I know I can never get back the money I have invested. But I also know, no dollar amount can equate to the pleasure of my time on my boat.
Maybe I should begin writing a "listing" biography on this boat? Is that anything like writing ones obituary, before death?
LOL

My only hope is, this boat does not suffer the same fate as my last boat, the famous Nordhavn 46..... dropped in the yard. Last yard visit before a loosely planned trip to Mexico. SIGH

 

[OldDan1943]

Maybe YW charges the listing broker a fee, every time someone looks?

 

[Mortensi]

Another one is Boatquest.com But i'm not sure how it compares, haven't been shopping in a long time....
I agree I don't like the newer YW interface. Yes, advanced search features "can be found" but you have to work a bit harder to get to them.

Boat Quest was indeed once an alternative to YW- until 2012, then YW made the owner an offer he couldn’t refuse, then YW purposely crashed Boat Quest til every broker abandoned it. I didn’t know it still existed, as it doesn’t come up on any search engines.

The original Russian owner and myself have become friends over the years, and he’s visited me here in Ft. Pierce, where I’ve given him extensive tours of the area.

His non compete clause expired last year, and we totally were considering starting a new company up, since we still have the original IT guy, and the “blue print” ready to go, but we discovered so many brokerages (when you look at the “our brokers” list at places like Dennison and United Yachts, you will see most all used to own their own brokerages) had gone out of business. I think Judy is the only broker to escape, and go back on her own. Combine that fact with the ever diminishing inventory (pinnacle of boat building was 1989) of used boats, we decided that it just wasn’t worth bothering with. Too bad because we could had totally demolished (as Boat Quest was doing) YW for only $400.00 a month subscriptions.

Yachtworld cares nothing about their paid customers who are Brokers, and less about those who view it. Many times when you hit “contact broker”, the brokers never receive your emails. That’s why calls are not being returned. They have a monopoly now.

The “good news” for all is that many brokerages are totally out of inventory, and now (well, for years actually) don’t post their best listings anyway because they don’t want other brokers swooping in wanting half their commissions, when they know there will be no chance of reciprocity. I say good news because you no longer have to waste your time looking on YW.

Instead of going directly to YW to search for boats, type in what you are looking for in the browser window, and go DIRECTLY to Brokers websites, then call them on the phone.
If you truly want to buy a boat call Judy Waldman, Chuck Grice at Virginia Yacht, Mike Webster at Hansen in Jacksonville, or Mike Mascari at 239-980-2202 on Florida west coast. I used to say John Novak (Sunseeker Club)in New York, but John passed away last week..

 

[skipgundlach]

Ehhh?

I just did that (did a custom search), and got this:
https://www.yachtworld.com/core/personalboatshopper/pbs.jsp

(I used to get mailed info any time a new listing occurred; I dunno if they'll send me notices of any new listings - my particular boat is very scarce...)

And as I again signed up for notices, and saw that the below was at the bottom of the page after I'd done that, I'm guessing I'll again get notifications of new listings:

"To add a new search, return to Boat Search, enter your new search criteria, then save it.

"Delete individual searches from this page, or delete all searches.

"Deleting all searches will cancel your Personal Boat Shopper account and terminate email notifications."

That last sentence suggests that I'd be given notice of new listings...

YMMV, of course

 

[jsanacore]

Just Hidden

On the welcome page in the upper right "search" box enter "Advanced Search" -- Hit Enter -- Enter the "New - Used, etc" preference - Then delete the "Advanced Search" Parameter from the top of the narrowing menu -- For now, that will give you access to the other narrowing parameters

 

[Hippocampus]

Some broker houses (Merril is one) do some listings only on their site. Some times also don’t permit cobrokerage. It one of the reasons I prefer to not use Merril. However, expect with such a purchase it’s likely you won’t have any interaction with them shortly after the wire clears and you’ve been briefed on using it. So think the sellers broker isn’t that important when you’re buying. Think it’s not the rodeo for most people on this site. Before looking they have a really good idea what they what. Regardless of the listing they’re going to do their due diligence. YW is still adequate to do a search (by manufacturer, hull material, diesel v gasoline, size, age, price etc.) so still serves its function. Still use multiple engines. 90% of it is the same boats but 10% isn’t.

 

[Kintala]

Guess I'll have to find a boat on Craigslist, geez!

At least with Craigslist you can use searchtempest.com to make it a little easier.

 

[ronobrien]

It has been my experience that every time there is a software "upgrade", things are harder to execute and there are ALWAYS glitches that didn't exist in the earlier version. This week I wanted to set a default in my Excell program but was unable. I took my laptop to my brother who has been a computer guy since the 1960's (yea he's old). It took him 2 hours to figure it out. When he showed my how to do it, there is no way anyone without advanced skills could do it. I really don't know that there is a rational reason for this, just that the program writers aren't as smart as they think they are for ignoring the skill level of the average user. Or maybe it is to force us to pay someone in the industry to do it for us. Either way it sucks!!!

 

[Hippocampus]

Same with MFDs. Don’t need the software updates. The additional functions make it more difficult to get to the core important information. Do need the chart updates but that’s it. Learn a system so when you need a particular piece of information urgently or want to modify the screen you don’t need to puzzle out how to get it after each update
In so many aspects of current life the software engineers need to justify their existence and salaries. Unfortunately they are rarely end users so have little or no idea about what the hierarchy information access should be placed in nor ergonomics of daily use.

 

[ronobrien]

I asked this same brother years ago, why so many functions are included in things that are seemingly useless to most people. He replied it was because it is easy to do and makes for better sales propaganda.

 

[OldDan1943]

The distance between the software engineer and the end user is often long and filled with potholes.

 

[Frosty]

Is it possible they are "dumbing down" in an effort to attract more new people like me? They are aware of a shift in market conditions and are adjusting accordingly? I hope my entering in this conversation is not offensive to anyone, but as a user of said media, I find them very useful.

I don't understand why "dumbing down" an *advanced* search function would attract -- or be a benefit for -- new people.

If I went to a site for a new hobby of mine and the search was cumbersome it would be more likely to put me off (especially if it was the advanced version which is pretty obviously not going to be the "quick start" variant).

It's not like it makes the information more accessible, or the boats more beginner-friendly, IMO.

Frosty

PS: I still do use YW because I am looking for a boat, and they basically have a monopoly on broker listings. But it's no fun anymore, takes longer, and I probably don't see everything I used to. More usage of Boattrader, Craigslist, etc. (not that those are any great shakes for searching, but at least they weren't really easy to use and then purposely changed to be worse )

 

[Donna]

Hmm, I used yacht world for 1 day. Put in my search options, found the boat I wanted, put a full price offer sight unseen pending survey yesterday. Easy!

 

[denverd0n]

The distance between the software engineer and the end user is often long and filled with potholes.

As a now-reitred software engineer, all I can say is... SOOOO TRUE!

 

[Begorrah]

Yacht World has really screwed up what used to be a decent search site. It now SUCKS. How an operation can really screw something up. Terrible.

 

[OldDan1943]

A. Talk to the end-users to see what mods they want and need

In this case I think the soft-wear engineers made decisions w/o talking to the end-users.

 

[denverd0n]

In this case I think the soft-wear engineers made decisions w/o talking to the end-users.

Except that it is not usually the software engineers who make those decisions. Software engineers normally just follow the specs that they have been given by managers/designers.