Make Your Offer Look 5% Higher in the Seller's Eyes
Buying a broker-listed boat with no buyer's broker — the simple play, plus a free fill-in offer.
Free buyer's tool · Updated June 2026 · General information, not legal advice
On a brokered sale the seller normally nets about 90% of the price — the rest is commission.
With no buyer's broker, half of that (~5%) isn't owed to anyone. The move: offer whatever you want
to pay, contingent on the listing broker keeping just 5% (their seller's-agent half) and handing
the other 5% back to the seller. Now the seller nets 95% of your number — so a below-asking
offer lands like a full-price one, and your offer looks 5% higher in the seller's eyes.
The math — $800,000 listing, you offer $700,000:
• The broker keeps 5% = $35,000; the other 5% = $35,000 goes to the seller.
• The seller nets $665,000 — that's $35,000 more than a normal $700k offer would net them
($630,000, with the broker keeping the full 10%).
• To the seller, your $700k offer is worth about a $739,000 full-commission offer — yet you're $100k under
asking, on a fast, funded close.
The whole play
Offer what you want to pay — contingent on the broker keeping 5% as the seller's agent and giving the other 5% to the seller.
Lead with proof of funds. A cash-buyer bank letter or a lender pre-approval makes "serious buyer" a fact, not a claim — that's what makes the offer real.
Be ready to walk before you even view it. Settle the split while you're still just a name and a funds letter — not after you've fallen for the boat. "Agree the structure first, or no hard feelings — I'll keep looking."
Put it in writing. That triggers the broker's fiduciary duty to present your offer to the seller — and that's your real leverage (read the next bit).
Get the brokerage and seller to sign off. The commission lives in their listing agreement, not your offer — so the brokerage (its broker-of-record) and the seller must agree to the split in writing. The offer below has that built in.
Why the agent can't just say no — the fiduciary trap
A listing broker isn't a free agent — they're the seller's fiduciary. By law that means they must act in
the seller's best interest and put it above their own, deal honestly, and disclose every
material fact. It's the highest duty one person can legally owe another in business.
Two pieces of that duty do the work for you:
They must present your offer. The standard IYBA listing agreement spells it out — the
brokerage will submit all offers to the owner. Your written, funded offer is not theirs to quietly
bury; that would be a breach.
They can't put their pocket first. Rejecting your split to keep the full 10% means choosing
their commission over their client's money — the textbook definition of self-dealing, the exact
thing the fiduciary duty forbids.
So picture the corner you've put them in: to say no, the agent has to sit across from their own client and explain why
they deserve an extra $35,000 of the seller's money more than the seller does — that they'd rather
pad their own check than hand their client the cash. No agent wants to look that greedy in front of the person who
hired them. A clean written offer doesn't ask them nicely — it quietly forces their hand: present it, and take it.
Your fill-in Conditional Offer
Fill the blanks (saved in your browser), then print or download a clean PDF. It gates your price on the split, encloses
proof of funds, and has the brokerage and seller sign off on the amended commission.
✍️ Type into the blanks — your entries save in this browser — then download a filled PDF or print it.
✎ Editing the wording. Click any clause to reword it; changes save in this browser and flow into the PDF/print/.txt.
Reset wording · Done editing
CONDITIONAL OFFER TO PURCHASE
Unrepresented buyer · listing broker keeps 5% as the seller's agent · the other 5% credited to the seller
Date: .
To (Listing Brokerage / Broker): .
From (Buyer): (name), of
(address), (phone / email).
Re (Vessel): Year , Make
, Model ,
LOA ft, HIN ,
Listing / Stock No. , currently listed at $.
Buyer is unrepresented — there is no buyer's (cooperating) broker, and no co-brokerage commission is
payable to any second broker.
Proof of funds (enclosed). Buyer is ready, willing, and able to close, and encloses proof of funds:
(bank letter / account statement dated
for cash, or lender pre-approval from
for financing).
The condition — the commission split. This offer is extended only on the condition
that the Listing Broker (the Seller's agent) retains %
(e.g. 5%, in place of the customary ~10%) and the remaining % is
credited back to the Seller as additional net proceeds. Buyer's offer (the "Offer Price") is
$; applying this split, the Seller nets
$ — more, at this price, than a normal full-commission sale.
Brokerage & Seller consent (commission amendment). The commission is set in the listing agreement
between Seller and the Listing Brokerage; Buyer is not a party to it and cannot change it. This offer
is therefore contingent on the Listing Brokerage — by its broker-of-record / principal broker — and the Seller
agreeing in writing to amend that commission for this sale per paragraph 2. The signatures below evidence that consent.
The offer (disclosed only if the split is agreed). If — and only if — the Brokerage and Seller agree
in writing to paragraph 2, Buyer offers to purchase the Vessel for the Offer Price on the terms below. If it is
not agreed, this offer is withdrawn in its entirety, and the Offer Price need not be considered, presented, or treated
as a price Buyer would pay.
Deposit & neutral escrow. On a signed Purchase & Sale Agreement, Buyer places a deposit of
$ with a neutral escrow / closing agent
() — not the listing brokerage — within
business days.
Survey & sea-trial contingency. Contingent on a marine survey and sea trial by a surveyor of
Buyer's choosing, at Buyer's expense, on or before (the Acceptance
Date). If Buyer is not satisfied in Buyer's sole discretion, Buyer may terminate and the full deposit is
refunded. Title must be clear and lien-free; Closing on or before .
In writing as price. The agreed split must appear on the signed Purchase & Sale Agreement and
the closing statement (as the purchase price and the commission line) — not as a verbal understanding.
Presentation. Buyer requests that this written offer be presented to the Seller in accordance with
the Brokerage's duty to submit all offers to its principal.
Status. The Listing Brokerage represents the Seller. This is an offer to negotiate;
it becomes binding only upon a Purchase & Sale Agreement signed by Buyer and Seller.
Validity. This conditional offer is open for acceptance until
(date / time), after which it expires.
Buyer signature / date
Buyer printed name
Listing Brokerage — agrees to the amended commission (broker-of-record / authorized broker) · date
Seller — agrees to the amended commission · date
Free template from YachtBazar.com for educational use — not legal advice, and not an IYBA/YBAA broker
form. A conditional offer / letter of intent is generally non-binding; a binding deal requires a signed Purchase & Sale
Agreement. Have a maritime attorney review anything significant.
Does this cost the seller anything?
No — it nets them more. The broker gives up half their commission and the seller keeps it, so on your number the seller nets 95% of the price instead of 90%. A below-asking offer can net them about what a full-price sale would.
Does the broker have to present my offer?
Generally yes. The standard IYBA listing agreement requires the brokerage to submit all offers to the owner, and the broker is the seller's fiduciary. Burying your written, funded offer to protect their own double-commission is self-dealing.
Does this work on a new boat from a dealer?
No. New boats are sold on opaque dealer margin, not a transparent ~10% commission, so there's no co-broker share to redirect. It's for used, broker-listed boats — and it breaks on cheap boats, where a brokerage minimum fee eats the freed 5%.
Or skip the commission entirely.
Every boat on YachtBazar is for sale by its owner — no broker, no commission in the price.
Important: General information for U.S. used-boat brokerage deals, not legal,
tax, or financial advice. Commission rates (~10%) and splits are industry norms, not fixed by law, and vary by
brokerage and region. The split is a negotiation, not a right — the broker must agree to it. Use your own accredited
surveyor and a neutral escrow you choose, and have a maritime attorney review anything significant. A conditional offer is
generally non-binding; nothing here creates an attorney-client relationship.