Buying
How to check if a used boat is stolen before you buy
How to check a used boat for theft before you pay: match the HIN on the transom to the title, decode it, spot a tampered plate, and check the trailer on its own.
Facebook Marketplace · private sellers · your radius
Good boats sell in hours. DockSnipe checks for them every few minutes.
DockSnipe watches Marketplace in whatever radius you set and sends each new boat worth chasing to @DockSnipeBot on Telegram, with the engine, trailer and title already read out of the seller's own words.
Runs in Chrome or Firefox on a Windows or Mac computer that stays on. The alerts come to your phone.
7-day free trial, card required. $9.99/mo after. Cancel any time.
23,600+
alerts delivered
525+
accounts across the Snipe family
3min
Pro check interval
Why Marketplace
Cheap boats do not live on Boat Trader.
Boat Trader charges sellers to post. The guy who needs his pontoon gone before the next storage bill lists it on Facebook for free, at 6am, and it is pending by lunch. That timescale is the whole problem: you are deciding whether to spend a Saturday on a boat you have seen six photos of, which is why it pays to know how to inspect a used boat before you drive out to see it.
The hunting ground
Private seller. Own trailer. Listed from the side yard for whatever gets it gone.
How it works
Three pings and it does the checking.
01
Set the hunt
Segment, length, budget, how far you will drive.
02
The engine sweeps
Every 3 minutes on Pro, in your browser, on your own Facebook login.
03
Telegram buzzes
Facts and flags in the message, so you know before you drive.
It runs on your computer
DockSnipe works inside your own browser, signed in to your own Facebook. If the computer sleeps or shuts down, checking stops until it's back. The alerts still come to your phone.
DockSnipe runs on the shared Snipe browser extension. It sweeps Facebook Marketplace every 3 minutes on Pro and every 15 minutes on Basic (a third as often from 1 to 6 am), using the Facebook session already open in your browser, and sends each match to @DockSnipeBot on Telegram. It only checks while the Windows or Mac computer it runs on is on and awake. Across the Snipe family, CarSnipe and DockSnipe together, the engine has delivered 23,600+ alerts to 525+ paired accounts. Every boat alert carries the engine, trailer and title facts read out of the seller's own listing text, plus the flags that kill a deal, so you can judge a boat before you drive to it.
The alert
We show the bad news too.
Red flags appear on every boat, including the ones we scored well. A tool that only tells you good news is a tool you stop trusting in week two.
2016 Sea Hunt 211 Ultra
$21,500
Strong deal
Yamaha F150 four-stroke, about 480 hours
Trailer included, both titles in hand
Repowered 2019. Price dropped $2,000 four days ago.
No red flags in the description.
Sanford, FL18 miListed 3 days
2004 Bayliner 195
$6,900
Thin
MerCruiser 4.3L, hours unstated
No trailer, boat title only
"Ran when parked." Seller mentions a soft spot in the floor.
Price dropped $600.
Marietta, GA31 miListed 26 days
Engine first
Two listings, same price. One is a boat.
Green
Modern four-stroke, hours stated
Holds value and starts on the button. A repower newer than the hull is worth more than the year in the title suggests, so we read the two separately.
Red
"Ran when parked", "needs carb work"
From there we price the hull, not the ad. Putting an engine back on it runs $15,000 to $30,000, which is usually more than the boat.
No trailer, no drive home
Worth $1,500 to $5,000 by itself, and without one you are borrowing a truck and a friend.
The trailer is titled separately
"bill of sale only"In most states the boat and the trailer carry their own titles, so you should know which one is missing before you drive out. Run the hull number from the photos through our free boat HIN lookup too.
Sellers who need out
"storage fees are killing me"Moves a boat up your list, and it gets loudest at the end of the season when the storage bills land.
Where it lands
Boats get their own chat.
Cars stay in @CarSnipeBot. Boats land in @DockSnipeBot, so one feed never buries the other. Pair once with a deep link and the extension handles the rest.
/startOne tap from your dashboard pairs the bot/mute 2hSilence a hunt while you are on the water/scheduleQuiet hours, so nothing buzzes at 3am
DockSnipe
bot · 3 active hunts
🚤 2016 Sea Hunt 211 Ultra
$21,500 · strong deal
Yamaha F150 four-stroke, ~480 hrs
Trailer included · both titles in hand
Trailer included · both titles in hand
✅ repowered 2019, price dropped $2,000
⚠️ none
⚠️ none
Sanford, FL · 18 mi · listed 3 days
🚤 2004 Bayliner 195
$6,900 · thin
MerCruiser 4.3L · no trailer · boat title only
✅ price dropped $600
⚠️ "ran when parked", soft floor
⚠️ "ran when parked", soft floor
Marietta, GA · 31 mi · listed 26 days
🚤 2013 Sea Ray 190 SPX
$13,400 · price drop
4.3L MerCruiser · 210 hrs · trailer included
✅ dropped $1,100 this morning
⚠️ no service records mentioned
⚠️ no service records mentioned
Clearwater, FL · 26 mi · listed 9 days
🚤 2011 Carolina Skiff J16
$7,250 · good deal
Yamaha 40hp two-stroke · aluminum trailer
✅ both titles in hand, one owner
⚠️ trailer tires are 2016 date code
⚠️ trailer tires are 2016 date code
Savannah, GA · 21 mi · listed 2 days
Message @DockSnipeBot
Ask it
Skip the menus. Just tell the bot.
Type what you want, the way you'd text a friend. The AI assistant reads your hunts and recent alerts before it answers, and nothing changes until you tap yes.
"bump center consoles to 25k, no dealers"Shows the hunt with the change, and one tap applies it"why didn't I get this one?" + a linkChecks that listing and tells you which filter stopped it"is this thing even working?"Looks at your last checks and whether the extension is connected"look in Tampa too"Offers to make it your home, or on Pro, to watch it alongside home"pause the pontoon hunt"Pauses it after you confirm, and turns it back on the same wayIncluded on Basic and Pro. It replies in whatever language you write in.
Boats we watch
Tuned in the order these actually flip.
01
Center consoles
02
Pontoons
03
Bass, flats and bay
04
Bowriders
05
Jon boats and skiffs
Opt in
Sail and cruisers
Before you buy
Know what you are looking at.
The same reading DockSnipe does on every listing, written out longhand. Free, and worth the ten minutes before you drive anywhere.
- what to check before you buy a used boat In cost order, so the findings that end a viewing come up before the ones you can negotiate.
- what "ran when parked" actually costs to fix The phrases a listing uses about the engine, and the repair bill sitting behind each one.
- what "no title" means, and when it is only a discount Three different situations wearing one phrase. One is fine, one is a delay, one is not the seller's boat.
Pricing
One boat found $120 under market pays for the year.
A computer left onWindows or Mac, awake while you want alerts
Chrome or FirefoxSigned in to your own Facebook
TelegramOn your phone, where the alerts land
Basic
$9.99
per month
- 2 saved hunts
- Checks every 15 minutes, slower from 1 to 6 am
- Every flag, red and green
- A Telegram alert for each new match
- AI assistant in the chat
- Runs in Chrome or Firefox on your computer
Pro
$24.99
per month · $249/yr saves $50
- Unlimited hunts
- Checks every 3 minutes, slower from 1 to 6 am
- Home plus up to 4 more markets per hunt (beta)
- Price-drop alerts
- Days-on-market context
- AI assistant in the chat
- Priority support
- A Telegram alert for each new match
- Runs in Chrome or Firefox on your computer
Each hunt is checked on your plan's interval. Hunts share one hourly request limit with Facebook, so with a lot of them each comes around less often. /status in the bot shows the pace you're really getting.
What is the difference between Basic and Pro?
| Basic | Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Per month | $9.99 | $24.99 |
| Per year | $249, saves $50 | |
| Check interval | Every 15 minutes | Every 3 minutes |
| Checks while your computer is on | Yes | Yes |
| Saved hunts | 2 | Unlimited |
| Markets watched per hunt | 1 | Home + 4 more |
| Every flag, red and green | Yes | Yes |
| Price-drop alerts | No | Yes |
| Days-on-market context | No | Yes |
| AI assistant in the chat | Yes | Yes |
| Support | Standard | Priority |
| Free trial | 7 days of full Pro access, card required | 7 days of full Pro access, card required |
Basic and Pro read the same listings and flag the same things. The difference is how often each hunt is checked, and how many hunts you can keep running at once. Basic checks every 15 minutes and holds two saved hunts, at $9.99 a month. Pro checks every 3 minutes, holds as many hunts as you want, and adds price-drop alerts and days-on-market context, at $24.99 a month or $249 for the year. Both plans check a third as often from 1 to 6 am, and only while your computer is on. Both start with seven days of full Pro access. A card is required up front, and we do not charge it until the trial ends.
Questions
Straight answers.
Does my computer have to stay on?
Yes. DockSnipe runs in Chrome or Firefox on your Windows or Mac computer, so checks only happen while it's on and awake. A minimized browser is fine. The alerts come to your phone wherever you are.
How often does it check?
Pro checks each hunt every 3 minutes and Basic every 15, a third as often from 1 to 6 am. All of your hunts share one hourly request limit with Facebook, so with a lot of them each comes around less often. Send /status to @DockSnipeBot to see the pace you're really getting. Each alert says how soon we caught the listing after it showed up on Facebook, when we can confirm it.
Do I hand over my Facebook password?
No. It runs as a browser extension on the session you are already logged into, and reads only what is public on the listing.
Do you tell me what a boat is worth?
No, and be suspicious of anything that claims to. You get a soft read plus every fact and flag we pulled.
Where does it work?
Anywhere Facebook Marketplace runs. You set the metro and the radius, and on Pro a single hunt can watch your home area plus up to four more. It looks at one place per check, so each place comes around less often than the hunt does. Boats worth driving for are rarely all in one place.
Will boat alerts bury my car alerts?
No. @DockSnipeBot is its own chat with its own mute and quiet hours. @CarSnipeBot stays exactly as it is.
Can I just type to the bot?
Yes. Write what you want in your own words and the AI assistant works out the rest. It can change a hunt's price, year, distance or keywords, pause or resume a hunt, look up why a listing didn't alert, and tell you whether your extension is running. It shows you any change before making it. Questions about refunds or charges go to a person. It's on both plans, in whatever language you write.
Guides
What the listing is actually telling you.
The same reading DockSnipe does automatically, written out longhand.
Buying
What it means when a boat is listing
A listing boat leans to one side at rest. What causes it, how to tell water in the hull from gear stacked on one side, what the waterline gives away in a photo, and when a list is a discount rather than a walk-away.
Buying
Boat title requirements by state: what paperwork a used boat needs
Does your state title boats at all, which boats need one, and what a bill of sale alone can do. All fifty states and DC, each row read off that state's own agency and linked so you can check it.
The next good one gets listed today.
Seven days of full Pro access. A card is required up front, and we do not charge it until the trial ends.
Start the 7-day trial