Where to sell used marine electronics
You pulled a Garmin plotter, a radar dome and a sounder off the helm and now they're in a box in the garage. Here are the five realistic ways to turn marine gear into money — what each one actually pays, how long it really takes, and when you should pick someone other than us.
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Marine electronics don't behave like phones. A two-year-old iPhone has one price and a thousand buyers. A six-year-old chartplotter might be worth more than a four-year-old one, because what buyers actually care about is whether it still talks to the rest of the network — and there are only a few hundred people in the country looking for your exact unit this month.
That changes which route is worth your time.
eBay
The biggest audience for used marine gear, and for a single desirable unit it usually sets the highest price. If you have one clean, reasonably current plotter, this is a real option and we'll say so plainly.
What it costs you: roughly 13% in fees by the time you're done, your own photographs and description, and the shipping. That last part is not trivial with marine equipment. A 24-inch radar dome is heavy, awkward and expensive to post, and if it arrives with a cracked radome you are in a claim with a buyer who says it was broken on arrival. Transducers with through-hull housings and long cable runs are similarly miserable to pack.
Then there's the waiting. Niche gear can sit for weeks. Relisting is normal.
The Hull Truth, Panbo and the other forums
The classifieds on the big boating forums put you in front of exactly the right people: boaters who already know what a DRS radar sensor is and don't need convincing. No fees on most of them, and buyers who understand what they're looking at tend not to haggle as hard.
The catch is volume. The audience is small and specific, so your post is competing with everyone else's refit leftovers. Some boards only allow private sellers listing their own gear, which is fine for you but means no help with shipping or payment, and you're arranging a bank transfer with a stranger. Expect it to take a while, and expect to answer a lot of technical questions.
Specialist used marine electronics dealers
There is a proper trade in this — companies that buy used marine electronics, bench-test them, repair what's fixable, and resell with a warranty. Because they're carrying the repair cost and the warranty risk, their buying prices are conservative, and many of them are selective about what they'll take: current-ish generations of the brands they know, and not much else.
If your gear is exactly what one of them is looking for, it's a clean transaction with people who know the equipment. If it's older, odd, or broken, expect to be turned down.
Consignment
Some marine dealers will sell your gear for you and take a cut, typically a meaningful share of the sale price. It gets your equipment in front of buyers who are already in a marine store with their wallet out, and you don't do any of the work.
What you're accepting is that you don't know when you'll be paid, or whether you'll be paid at all — if it doesn't sell, it comes back. For a seller who just wants the garage emptied and a number now, consignment is the wrong shape.
A buyback store
This is what we do, so weigh this section accordingly — but here's the honest case for it.
You get a figure, you hand over the gear, you get paid. No fees, no packing a radar dome, no technical questions from strangers, no waiting to see if it sells. If you're in Miami you walk in and leave with cash the same day. If you're not, we send a prepaid label, inspect it within two business days, and pay the day it's approved.
The trade-off is the same as it is for anything: a shop has to make a margin, so a single desirable unit will fetch more on eBay. What you're buying with that difference is not having to become a marine electronics salesman for a month.
What actually moves the price
Marine gear isn't priced by a calculator here — a person looks at it. These are the things that make the number go up or down, and most of them are not age.
Which generation it is
The single biggest factor. A plotter typically networks cleanly with only about one generation either side of itself. Once the manufacturer stops supporting a platform, the gear it was built to talk to disappears and the price drops hard.
Screen and sun damage
Helm displays live in salt and UV. Delamination, a milky or bleeding screen, dead backlight or a touchscreen that's gone unresponsive at the edges all cost real money.
Corrosion at the connectors
Green on the pins is what we look for first. Surface salt is nothing; corrosion that's crept into the housing is often the difference between a working unit and a parts unit.
What's in the box with it
Mounting bracket, sun cover, power and data cable, network cables, bezel. These sound trivial and they aren't — a bracket and a cable for a discontinued unit can be unobtainable, and a complete unit is worth noticeably more than a bare one.
Charts and registration
Registration can usually be moved to a new owner, but the cartography bought for a unit has not historically travelled with it — worth confirming with the manufacturer before you sell. A buyer who has to buy charts again pays less for the unit.
Radar and transducers
Plenty of boaters prefer to buy these new, so used examples are discounted more than displays are. Through-hull transducers with the housing and a full cable run are still worth having; a cut cable badly hurts the price.
None of this needs you to guess. Send photographs of the screen powered on, the back of the unit and the connectors, and say what's included — that's enough for a real number.
Side by side
| Option | What you get | How fast | Effort | Takes a whole suite? | Takes broken gear? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| eBay | Highest for one good unit, less ~13% fees | Weeks | High — photos, packing, claims | As separate listings | At a low price |
| Forum classifieds | High, no fees | Weeks to months | High — small audience, technical buyers | Rarely | Sometimes |
| Used-gear dealer | Conservative — they carry the warranty | Days | Low | Only what they want | Usually not |
| Consignment | Good price, minus a real cut | Unknown — if it sells | Low | Sometimes | No |
| Buyback store | Fair cash price, no fees | Same day in store, 2 days shipped | Low — one quote, one payment | Yes, the lot in one go | Yes, priced individually |
So which should you pick?
One good modern unit, and time
eBay or a forum. You'll probably net more than we'll pay. Pack it properly and be ready to relist.
A whole helm after a refit
A buyback store. Eight listings and eight buyers is a month of your life; one quote is an afternoon.
Old, obsolete or dead
Us, or recycling. Dealers will turn it down and private buyers won't touch it — it still has parts value, and if it has none we'll recycle it free.
You want it gone this week
A buyback store. Price first, then ship free or walk in. No waiting to find out whether it sold.
What we buy, and what we'll pay for it
Garmin and Furuno, displays through to transducers: GPSMAP and ECHOMAP chartplotters, GMR and Fantom radar, Panoptix and LiveScope, Reactor autopilots, GMI and GNX instruments, marine VHF, Airmar transducers, Furuno NavNet and FCV sounders and DRS radar sensors. Working, tired, or completely dead.
Bring it to 1879 W Flagler St, Miami and leave paid the same day — Monday to Friday 9am–7pm, Saturday 10am–2pm, photo ID required, se habla español. Anywhere else in the US, we send a free prepaid label.
See what mine is worth → Browse modelsCommon questions
Who actually buys used marine electronics?
Four kinds of buyer: private buyers on eBay and the boating forums, specialist dealers who refurbish and resell with a warranty, consignment shops who sell on your behalf for a cut, and buyback stores who buy it outright. The right one depends on whether you have one good unit or a whole helm, and on how long you're willing to wait.
How do you price a chartplotter you can't test?
Photographs of the screen powered on, the back of the unit and the connectors, plus a note of what's included. A person prices it from that, usually the same day. If it arrives and it doesn't match the description we send a revised offer, which you can accept or decline — declined gear goes back for a flat $10.
Do you buy transducers and radar domes on their own?
Yes. Transducers are worth most with the housing and the cable run intact — a cut cable hurts the price. Domes travel badly, so if you're shipping one, pack it as though it will be dropped, because it might be.
My gear came off a boat I sold. Can I still sell it?
Yes, as long as it's yours to sell and wasn't part of the sale. Bring photo ID — Florida law requires a secondhand dealer to record identification for every used item bought. Anything reported lost or stolen is checked by serial number.
Will you buy a complete system from a refit or a repower?
That's the case we're best for. Private buyers want single components, so a complete suite is hard to sell piecemeal. We'll quote the whole lot, including the parts that have no resale value on their own.
What happens to gear that's worth nothing?
We recycle it responsibly, free of charge. Dead displays and corroded sensors shouldn't go in a bin, and you shouldn't have to pay anyone to take them.
Do I have to be in Florida?
No. Walk-ins get paid the same day in Miami; everywhere else in the US gets a free prepaid label, inspection within two business days, and payment the day it's approved.