Boat Trader (boattrader.com) has a 3.0 out of 5 rating on OK.one, based on 63 user reviews collected here. It is listed under Vehicles & Transportation and its reputation is mixed. Opinions are polarized: 41% rate it 4 stars or higher while 27% give 1 star; The business has replied to 90% of negative reviews. Last updated 2026-08-10.
What people say
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R Carl · 1 review · Verified · Experienced 2026-07-04 ·
★★★★★
Easy to post boat for sale on website
Easy to post boat for sale on website. Straight forward. Posting was expensive and the boat ended up selling on Craigslist rather than Boat Trader. Not a fault of Boat Trader.
I did receive 2 spam requests, but Boat Trader caught this issue fairly quickly, so that is helpful for sellers on the Boat Trader site.
Reply from Boat Trader2026-07-20
Thank you so much for sharing this, and congrats on selling your boat!
We're glad to hear the posting process was easy and straightforward, and that our system caught those spam requests quickly, keeping our sellers protected is always a top priority for us.
We appreciate you choosing Boat Trader.
App worked fine, but I only received one message about the boat and it was a scam. Facebook marketplace was much more effective and inexpensive. Using Boat Trader was a waste of money.
Reply from Boat Trader2026-07-20
Hi Brent, we looked into your listing and found that you were missing some details that may have affected leads. Having complete listing details including high-quality photos, an accurate boat description, and competitive pricing plays a major role in boat listing visibility and how many qualified buyers see and engage with a listing. Incomplete details can significantly reduce reach and buyer interest. In the future, our team is always available to review your listing and offer suggestions to help improve visibility and attract more serious inquiries, so don't hesitate to reach out anytime.
J
Jay · 1 review · Verified · Experienced 2026-07-03 ·
★★★★★
I listed my boat several places
I listed my boat several places. It just appeared that the reaches I got on boat trader had a much higher level of spam than other sites
Reply from Boat Trader2026-07-20
Hi John, thank you for sharing.
Looking into your account, it looks like you received 8 legitimate lead inquiries, while 9 were caught and declined by our spam filters before ever reaching you. We know spam is a challenge across most listing platforms, and we're continuously detecting and blocking this activity to keep this a trusted space for our sellers and buyers. If you ever come across something suspicious, we encourage you to forward to [email protected]
Very good posting experience and ad exposure. Unfortunately we got inquiries from all over the country from folks I wouldn't call "serious" buyers. Unavoidable for a national site, and not your fault.
Reply from Boat Trader2026-07-16
Thank you so much for sharing this! We're glad to hear you had a good posting experience and strong ad exposure. We appreciate you understanding that with national reach comes a wider range of inquiries, and we're always working on ways to help connect sellers with more serious, qualified buyers.
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Robert Pirkle · 1 review · Experienced 2026-07-14 ·
★★★★★
Joey is the man
Joey is the man. Great Customer service. He knocked out all my issues and concerns and was able to renew my contract with you guys. His enthusiasm and professionalism is 2nd to none.
Reply from Boat Trader2026-07-16
Thank you so much for sharing this! We're thrilled to hear Joey was able to take care of all your issues and concerns, and we'll be sure to pass along your kind words to him. We really appreciate your continued trust in us and are so glad you had such a great experience.
Hi Daryl, thank you for your feedback. We did see 2 leads come in on your listing. For future postings, well-rounded details like clear photos, an accurate description, and pricing tend to be the biggest drivers of visibility and buyer interest, that's the trend we consistently see across listings. If you ever have any questions on how to modify your listing, please don't hesitate to reach out.
No hits at all, kinda think it was a waste of money. Price was high for no return,
Reply from Boat Trader2026-07-20
Hello, we appreciate your feedback. We did see that your listing received 1 lead during the time it was live, just over a week. For future postings, we'd recommend fully filling out listing details, pricing, and photos, as complete listings tend to attract significantly more buyer interest and visibility. As always, we're always here if you have any questions.
The 5 star rating is due to the ease of listing our boat, and the catch of a 'suspected scammer'. I was contacted by a 'buyer' and they asked for several things that were suspect. Luckily I had read on the Boat Trader site things to be aware of for scamming, so I was partially prepared anyway. Then boat trader must have been monitoring, because the next thing, they had blocked the probable scammer from contacting me. That was impressive. I did sell my boat, but not thru Boat Trader. But I would not hesitate to use their service. It is worth the money.
Reply from Boat Trader2026-07-16
Thank you so much for sharing this, and congrats on selling your boat!
We're thrilled to hear the listing process was easy and that our scam-detection caught that suspicious contact before it could go further. Keeping our sellers protected is a top priority, which is why we continuously implement safety measures and monitoring to help identify and block potential scammers on the platform.
We really appreciate you trusting us with your listing, and we're glad you'd use our service again. Thanks again for the kind words!
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William Gillenwaters · 5 reviews · Experienced 2026-07-13 ·
★★★★★
Got one legitimate lead while I…
Got one legitimate lead while I received dozens on FB marketplace. Try deactivating your listing and you’ll see they make it a huge hassle as they try to force you to pay for a renew.
Reply from Boat Trader2026-07-14
Thank you for sharing your feedback.
We'd be happy to look into your listing and see if there were any features that weren't fully utilized to help generate more leads. If you could send your listing details to [email protected], our team can take a closer look and offer suggestions.
We also want to clarify that we don't force any charges or renewals on our sellers. Autopay can be managed and removed at any time through our app, mobile site, or desktop website, and our representatives are always available by phone to help with this as well if needed.
I posted plenty of pictures of all my boat’s features. Boat trader showed the high, low and average prices of similar models as I was creating my listing. I had multiple inquiries right away. The boat sold within two weeks. I couldn’t be happier. The premium listing was well worth its extra cost.It was easy to add photos and update the listing as I thought of more info to add.
Reply from Boat Trader2026-07-14
Thanks for sharing, Tracy! We're glad you had a great experience with the premium listing.
Have always been able to sell our boats on boat trader over the years. Gets great exposure.
Reply from Boat Trader2026-07-16
Thank you so much for sharing this! We're thrilled to hear you had a great experience and sold your boat so quickly. We appreciate you choosing Boat Trader.
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Rob G. · 2 reviews · Verified · Experienced 2026-07-04 ·
★★★★★
Not Many Legitimate hits
I only got a small handful of hits at the beginning. Zero legitimate leads. A lot of phishing attempts. Ended up selling through Facebook Marketplace.
Reply from Boat Trader2026-07-13
Hi Rob, phishing attempts on listings are something we actively to filter to maintain the trust of our marketplace, so if any of those messages are still accessible, forwarding them to [email protected] helps our team review the accounts behind them. We're also always happy to review your listing and make suggestions on what can help with viability and sale. We appreciate you for sharing.
Received more responses from craigslist than Boat Trader with the listing being exactly the same. Waste of money in my opinion.
Reply from Boat Trader2026-07-13
Hi Steve, thank you for your feedback. Response rates can differ a lot between platforms even with an identical listing, since each one reaches a different pool of buyers. If you're open to it, our team can take a look at your ad and suggest tweaks that tend to improve visibility on our site specifically.
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Don Johns Music · 3 reviews · Verified · Experienced 2026-07-06 ·
★★★★★
I tried on multiple occasions to get a…
I tried on multiple occasions to get a hold of someone and never did. I got so much spam and scams using this platform. From all the impressions I was getting, only two people were interested in the boat. Seems a bit old to get that much attention to only get two real people interested.
Reply from Boat Trader2026-07-20
Thank you for sharing your feedback, and we're sorry to hear about your experience.
We looked into your account and found that your listing actually received 8 legitimate leads, while our system successfully declined 9 spam leads before they could reach you. We're always working to keep this a trusted marketplace for our sellers, which is why we continuously invest in tools to catch and block fraudulent activity.
We'd also like to better understand your experience trying to reach customer service could you share more detail on how you reached out? Our team is always available to help with questions, especially around listing visibility and ways to improve results. Feel free to send that information to [email protected] so we can look into it further.
K
Kent Heaton · 1 review · Experienced 2026-07-13 ·
★★★★★
This is the second boat I've tried to…
This is the second boat I've tried to sell on Boatrader, the only leads I got on either were scammers. This one has been on the site for 4 months 20K below suggested price and still NOT ONE LEAD. Never again.
Reply from Boat Trader2026-07-14
Hi Kent, thank you for taking the time to share your feedback, and we're sorry to hear about your experience.
We'd really like to look into the details of your listings to understand what happened, but we weren't able to locate an account under this name. Could you please send us the listing ID(s) or the email/account information used to post your boats to [email protected]? That will help our team dig into the specifics and see what's going on with lead generation on your account. We take this kind of feedback seriously and want to make sure your listings are performing as they should.
Very disappointed. As the only leads were scams. Customer service was helpful. But if I am paying for a listing I expect the site to screen regularly to sift out the predators.
Reply from Boat Trader2026-07-20
Thank you for your feedback, and we're glad customer service was able to help. Your listing received 5 leads total, 3 were legitimate inquiries, while 1 was blocked by our spam filter and 1 was flagged just after delivery. This is because we are continuously refining our screening process to catch more of these before they ever reach our sellers as being a trusted marketplace is always a priority for us. If you would like to learn more about our scam/spam blocking initiatives, we would be happy to share more.
The app was difficult to use and made it difficult to view messages from interested buyers. I actually had people requesting to talk only outside of Boat Trader because it was so cumbersome. I got less interest from Boat Trader than my unpaid posting on a local marketplace online.
Reply from Boat Trader2026-07-14
Hello, we understand how important clear, easy communication is when it comes to connecting with interested buyers. We'd love to get more detail on what specifically made messaging difficult so we can determine whether this was a platform issue or something we can help walk you through. Please feel free to reach out to our customer service team anytime, or send your details to [email protected] so we can look into this further.