Sell a boat!
Thousands of sailors look at the Sailing Texas Classifieds every day. To get the word out that your sailboat is for sale, Sailing Texas cannot be beaten. I prefer to offer Sailboat Ads for free, but I had to start asking for donations if you are pleased with my service, and only after you sell your boat. I use the information you send me to build the Sailing Texas Photo Gallery, and people donate to keep Sailing Texas serving sailors.
On the Sailing Texas home page, on the right, is a running total of sailboats sold, new ads, and price reductions. You can scroll down and see figures for last month, and the month before, and even past years. Why don't other sailboat classified websites show their statistics?
Quote from a Sailing Texas Classifieds user:
The Catalina 30 is sold!!!! Thank you for your website; it is fantastic! I
have now both purchased a boat (small trailerable) from Pennsylvania, and
sold my large cruising sailboat to a family in Wisconsin, while living in
Ohio, all on your Sailing Texas Website!!!
Best regards,
Chet
Hi Alison,
The Windrider has sold and will be sending you some $$$$$
It sold not quite a full day after listing.
We still contend that this is the best sailing classifieds website in the Nation. (Maybe World?)
Steve
Yes, the Sailing Texas Classifieds sells sailboats across Earth, NOT just in Texas! Your classified ad includes editing, spelling correction, advice, and picture processing. A webpage just for your boat is included, with video and sound if you wish! At no extra charge.
INSTRUCTIONS
If you find any of these instructions unclear, just email Alison at davidluc@earthlink.net or Alison at alipmusic@gmail.com and I will help you.
Pay nothing until you sell your boat, and even then if you want to pay nothing, you pay nothing. A donation for the ad if you are pleased is a suggested $25 or 1% of the selling price. So start your ad for free. If you don't sell, the ad is free; if you don't want to pay, the ad is free. Up to you, as it should be. No payment until AFTER your boat sells. But please let me know when it does sell!
Click here to support Sailing Texas
Everything is done by email - no forms to fill in! Send me an email with all required items and attached jpg picture files.
I will post your ad within 1 day. If you do not get a reply from me, the email hasn't got through. This may be due to excessive size of your photos. In this case, send me an email without photos and send your photos in separate emails, but please put a note in the first email saying this is what you intend to do.
PLEASE do not over-price your boat, in case someone might "bite." Buyers will look at the Photogalleries on Sailing Texas and will know the right price. Have a look yourself to get an idea of a price for your boat, model, year etc. There are over 19,000 boats in this library. Sailing Texas Photogalleries
REQUIRED INFORMATION, a very short list: I have learned over the years that a few items of information are essential to sell a boat, so they are required. Put these required items together so I can find them.
REQUIRED ITEMS:
Price of your boat
Honesty
Year, make and length of boat
Description - see below
Location of boat, only nearest town, state
Your name and phone number
Email address
Photos - these aren't "required" but really help to sell your boat.
To place your sailboat ad on Sailing Texas,
Email Alison at this address: davidluc@earthlink.net or alipmusic@gmail.com
with all required items.
Description: Include in your email the specs for your boat if possible. Length, width, depth, weight, sail area, etc. While you know this for your boat, potential buyers often will have never seen your model. Be complete and brief.
Other information and pictures are recommended, but not required.
If you need help, just email me. I will help you!
If you want to sell your boat, then please do not do the following:
Do NOT put your entire description into a paragraph with the items all bundled together with only commas separating them. One item per line is more readable and sells the boats better.
Do NOT send me a link to a webpage with your ad info on it
Do NOT send your ad in ALL CAPS.
Do NOT send a bunch of extra pictures and expect me to pick the ones you like the best. It's your boat, you decide.
Pictures:
Picture files should be less than 1MB. A good size is 640 pixels or 6".
Limit is 10 pictures. More than this is overkill.
Attach your pictures to your email.
Width at least 480 pixels, 640 or more is preferable, so that I can crop them if needed.
If your pictures are very large and you cannot reduce the size, send each photo in separate emails and let me know when you have sent the last one.
If you are sending via Google drive, please make sure you have given me access to the drive.
If you are using a tablet or device that makes it difficult for you to send photos, email me and I will give you a phone number that you can use to send them via messaging.
Emails over 10 MB usually do not get through, so try breaking it up into separate emails.
Pictures are copyrighted, do NOT send pictures of some other boat or "sistership", NEVER take pictures from a website, it is illegal.
I will make your pictures fit the ad and reduce the file size so they will display faster. I may crop the picture and adjust the lighting and contrast to help you sell your boat.
Videos are easier than ever:
Upload your video to Youtube.com. Then send me the link that Youtube gives you and I will put that on your ad. They will make the video so that everyone can see it. (Mac or PC.) Much the best way to deal with videos and you get double exposure!
To place your sailboat ad on Sailing Texas,
Email Alison at this address: davidluc@earthlink.net or alipmusic@gmail.com
with all required items.
After I build your ad, I will send you a confirmation email with your unique ad code in the subject line. Save that email, and to make changes, just reply to that email. Simple. You deal with a human, Alison, not a computer.
Ads run for 120 days, but can be renewed and returned to the top of the for sale list at any time by reducing your price 5% or more. You can reduce the price 5% or more at anytime. Just email me. Price reductions of less than 5% are not done. Ads are NOT removed; even if your ad expires you can still use it to show your boat to prospective buyers, and you can still return it to the top of the Sailboats for Sale list by reducing the price 5% or more. See Sailing Texas terms of use
Sailing Texas is number one in customer service, and my customers are both buyers and sellers. Finding sailboats a new home is what I do for fun. I'm not a sailboat dealer, I'm not a sailboat broker. If you want to sell your sailboat, I want to help you get a fair price for it. If you want to buy a sailboat, I don't want you to pay too much. The Sailing Texas Classifieds are designed to do these two things, help the seller AND the buyer.
Information on sailboats that were for sale on Sailing Texas are saved in the Sailboat Photo Gallery. Ads are dated from early 2002, so you know how long a boat has been for sale and when its asking price was last reduced. A wealth of information, have a look. The Photo Gallery contained over 17,000 sailboats in 2020 that actually were for sale from 2002 to present, and they are all here for you to use in the Sailboat Photo Gallery. Buyers use it to see what people have been asking for a model, and Sellers use it help them decide what to ask for their sailboat. About 1,000 sailboats are added per year.
To see what to include to make a GOOD sailboat ad see
How to make a good ad
To see how thieves try to scam you out of your money while pretending to want to buy your sailboat, see African Sailboat Buying Scams. Many other scams included, as this has grown over the years. New scams are added occasionally, like the new phone scam to get your credit card PIN number.
For my hints on how to sell your sailboat on the web, see
Selling Sailboats on the Web
