US yacht brokers hit with lawsuit over commission fees

A new lawsuit alleges that the world’s largest yacht sales agency, and other brokers, are charging ‘inflated’ sales commissions that fleece boat sellers.

The plaintiff in the proposed class action lawsuit, which was filed on Thursday in the US District Court in Miami, Florida, is Wyoming-based boat seller Ya Mon Expeditions LLC. The firm is controlled by Pennsylvania real estate executive Davin Lamm.

The case has been filed against several companies and major industry players, including the International Yacht Brokers Association; Boats Group LLC, operator of Boat Trader, Yacht World and Boats.com; Denison Yacht Sales; Allied Marine; United Yacht Sales; MarineMax; and Northrop & Johnson Yacht Ships. The majority of defendants are headquartered in Florida.

Ya Mon Expeditions claims that the defendants are coercing sellers to pay 10 per cent commission on a vessel’s sales price — an amount that is split between agents on both sides in a yacht sale. To show a yacht on a listing service, sellers must agree to the commission, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit centres on yacht commission fees and claims this violates antitrust law.

In January 2023, Lamm sold a 58ft sportfish boat named Click Bait in Wanchese, North Carolina, using several of the named multiple listing services (MLS). As part of that sales transaction, worth $1m, YME paid a ‘substantial broker commission’ of 10 per cent.

The lawsuit argues that seller-brokers list their client’s vessels on an MLS, as required by IYBA and YBAA rules, among others, to ensure that buyer-brokers and prospective buyers are aware of the vessel being listed for sale. If a seller-broker does not list a client’s vessel on an MLS, most buyer-brokers will not show that vessel to prospective buyers. These MLS listings are also the main source sources for listings on websites such as YachtWorld.

“These outdated, anti-competitive practices have no justification,” the plaintiff’s lawyers said in a statement on Friday.

Reuters reported Friday that International Yacht Brokers Association and defendants including United Yacht Sales and Yacht Brokers Association of America did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Boats Group owner, investment firm Permira Advisers, which was also named as a defendant, has also reportedly declined to comment.

The case has parallels with a wave of recent cases in the US revolving around the real estate industry, which claim ‘buyer broker’ commissions — required for sellers to list their properties — violate antitrust laws.