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Boats Group

Boats Group

Boats Group operates the world’s most trusted and widely used online marketplaces for buying and selling boats, including Boat Trader, YachtWorld, and boats.com. For over 30 years, Boats Group has led the marine industry’s transformation, consistently setting the standard for how boats are discovered, marketed, and sold online. Today, the company reaches more than 200 million boat shoppers annually and is powering the next generation of recreational boating commerce with AI-enabled tools, data-driven marketing solutions, financing services, and actionable insights. Backed by the largest inventory and audience in the industry, Boats Group helps OEMs, dealers, and brokers grow their business and connect with buyers more efficiently than any other source.www.boatsgroup.com

Search complete. 15 mentions across 2 episodes found for "Boats Group".

Aug 26, 2026

James CarterGUEST
23:35
... of these MLS databases, right? You, you know, obviously you and I have talked a bunch about this, like, uh, I don't know if people realize how many, like, different databases they are and how databases work, right? You know, in comparison to, let's say, the way real estate's run versus the way the yachting industry's run, right? And, you know, I think I counted 10 off the top of my head, uh, the other day and, um, you know, with the advent of, like, AI coding, you can build a, you can build a pretty robust relational database with an AI agent and, you know, like half a brain, right? And you can, you can get something going.
James CarterGUEST
24:20
So all of a sudden you're seeing, you know, all these different sites pop up that are all claiming this, and they're all f- Aside from Yachtway, there, there's a, a monthly fee for, for all of them, right? You know, starting with Boats Group, which is, you know, clearly the most expensive, and then it kind of goes down all the way to, you know, Yachtway, which is, which is free to list.
James CarterGUEST
24:41
What do you think about that fragmentation and, and is it good? Is it a good thing that y- you know, there's not one central database that's controlling everything? Or is it, would you say was more of a bad thing because now if I'm searching for boats for a client, I can't just go to one website anymore, right? I'm, I'm gonna have to go, I'm gonna go to Yachtway, I'm gonna go to IYBA, I'm gonna go to maybe Boats Group product or some, you know, there's, um, six other ones.
James CarterGUEST
25:11
Like, what, what do you think about, like, that fragmentation and good, bad, indifferent?
speaker_0HOST
25:16
There's a couple different ways of looking at it.
speaker_0HOST
25:52
That's what brokers and the industry needs from an MLS as well.
speaker_0HOST
25:56
Now, is it good that we have that many platforms? I think it's great.
speaker_0HOST
26:00
It solidifies the fact that there is a need for a change, and brokers are looking for what can we do once we leave Boats Group, right? And that's, that's, that's totally fine.
Hannibal TravisGUEST
13:32
That would be an antitrust class worth certifying and having a trial over.
Amanda HaleyHOST
13:40
Well, I think we even pointed out on our previous episode in the past on the Boats Group page where they clearly state that they don't, well, they used to not allow for sale by owner on their platform and would direct everyone over to Boat Trader where they could purchase advertising space there.
Amanda HaleyHOST
13:57
And it was not allowed on Yacht World for the longest period of time until just recently, which we also shared that news on one of our podcasts.
Maryline BossarHOST
14:07
Yeah, and that's definitely more so by exception, it seems.
Amanda HaleyHOST
19:01
But perhaps what is the most interesting about this is what happened to the defendant pool.
Amanda HaleyHOST
19:06
There were three names that were dropped from the original suit.
Amanda HaleyHOST
19:10
And so when they dropped these three names, it was ding, ding, ding, Boats Group, LLC, and Primera Advisors, the big guy in the room, the owners of Yacht World and Boats.com and Boat Trader and its private equity parent.
Amanda HaleyHOST
19:27
So what's your take on this, Hannibal? Did Yaman and their lawyers bite off a bit more than they can chew taking on that big boy and now they just drop them? Why do you think that would be?

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