Brokers cancelling YachtWorld subscriptions...

That’s interesting. I’m currently shopping and have found social media to be awful. There are no real search parameters for most of them. Besides these two, I have not found any other good sites. It’s painful looking at each marina’s own listings.

Happened about 2 months ago. Galati and HMY pulled in tandem, others have pulled more recently. It's bizarre going to YW and seeing 10% of what I used to see (in my narrow set of search results).

Thank you for sharing! I agree with your post!

As broker it is a tough decision (although becoming easier) to walk away from BoatsGroup. I agree, it is a bit more disjointed for buyers or sellers without representation. Nothing beats real life networking from the inside of the industry. We do a LOT of that. We also utilize many more avenues for marketing than posting to the MLS sites and other brokers. FB and Instagram are a small slice of that pie and do present challenges but brokers are using them with more results. No doubt, lazy brokers are going to be out of luck.

Our primary platform for a MLS is Yachtbroker.org - IYBA and BoatDox, with the client facing site being **********. This is becoming the go-to as the industry becomes more irritated with the other.

@zen - Galati and HMY have gone to ********** along with many others.

YW/BoatsGroup is not a great ROI for listings either and YachtCloser is an additional cost and unnecessary for houses with real knowledge in the closing department. The American standard for contracts and closings is IYBA format anyhow. From the broker perspective the BG platform is plagued with issues that often take too long to resolve and they don't seem to care (I'm pretty sure most high school kids today could code a better application). As to the rumor of price increases being their exit strategy, I can't speak to that. IMO it will be an exit one way or another. Some smaller houses are combining forces and sharing a subscription just to make the cost more palatable for now but the shift is in effect.

To @Lsizer's point - If you are in the market, a skilled and honest broker is more valuable than ever. I may be bias, however, I have not always been a broker. For 15 years I have managed programs and projects on yachts and have been an integral part of my clients dispositions and acquisitions, especially in keeping the brokers honest - no games. The philosophy of advisory being more important than a standard sales commission is what ultimately led me to brokerage. There had to be a better way.

There are great brokers out here who work differently than many and we know how to help you navigate this market, regardless of the current MLS shenanigans, social media searching, and what the AI's have to say.

It's not over yet. Brill was able to get an amended filing in yesterday. Pop some popcorn.

I had a broker friend since deceased who I would help occasional, and also use his YW subscription to scout for boats. I no longer have access and have to use the consumer side now, and it is so irritating on many levels compared to the brokerage side. On the brokerage side I truly could search new listings, on the consumer side I have no idea what is new and what is an paid ad. And I was able to search unlimited brands, now I think it is 4 or 5. It sucks compared to the broker side and I would pay a fee for the same access as a consumer, but not what they are charging brokers. I know his fee was well over a thousand a month and I have heard of brokers paying much higher per month. He use to tell me when he first started it was maybe a hundred a month, maybe less.

Now I have to search the following, three of which I know are part of the cabal: Yachtworld, Boats . com, boat trader, ******, Rightboat


https://www.**************/boats-fo...,72/year-,2024/fuel-diesel/sort-updated:desc/

https://www.boattrader.com/boats/type-power/fuel-diesel/length-0,72/year-,2024/sort-updated:desc/

https://www.boats.com/boats-for-sal...75&uom=ft&fuel-type=diesel&created=2025-05-10

https://**********/search-yachts-fo...states/fueltype-diesel/sortby-created,1/vp-1/

https://www.*************/search?user_id=&show_brochure_boats_only=&radius_unit=miles&zip=&price_min=&price_max=&length_min=37&length_max=70&year_min=&year_max=&boat_type=power&currency=USD&length_unit=ft&fuel_type_id[]=1&order=created_at_desc

Plus multiple facebood pages like trawlers for sale, etc, and youtube and and and...

Currently, this screen is all I get from the BoatWizard brokers side. That's fun. And yes, it's wicked expensive. Per broker add-ons for a small brokerage are several hundred per month plus your base cost. On the broker side it also does not always give you relevant results in each search. Specificity is key. Sometime you don't know what your not seeing. I'm currently trying to get to sold boats as a portion of my comp assessment for a client and welp - I can't. The problem always persists.

I'm very glad that ****** / yachtbroker MLS are pulling more weight now.