A Miami based boat brokerage has filed an anti-trust lawuit against Boats Group.
Brill Maritime, Inc. on behalf of itself and all others similarly situated doing business as Export Yacht Sales, alleges that Boats Group holds an illegal monopoly in the US boat market.
The lawsuit alleges that the company behind the boat-buying and selling platforms Boat Trader, YachtWorld, and boats.com has engaged in tactics to choke competition and alleges yacht buyers are being boxed in and priced up.
The class action antitrust lawsuit, filed in a Florida federal court, alleges that Boats Group has used its market power to jack up prices on brokers and dealers.
Boats Group has willfully acquired, maintained and expanded monopoly power in this market by engaging in exclusionary and anticompetitive conduct.
Lawsuit
The action calls for injunctive relief and damages for antitrust violations. Plaintiff seeks to restrain and remedy Boats Group’s unlawful monopolisation and/or attempted monopolisation of the US boat listing and marketing services market.
And the action states that Boats Group controls an estimated 75% share of the global market for online boat listing and marketing services, states the lawsuit. The organisation operates the three largest online platforms used by brokerages and dealers to list and market recreational marine vessels.
“Boats Group has willfully acquired, maintained and expanded monopoly power in this market by engaging in exclusionary and anticompetitive conduct, including the serial acquisitions of its main competitors, unilateral price increases, restrictive contractual terms, and practices that hinder entry and expansion by rival platforms,” the lawsuit alleges.
Recreational boating marketplace
“As a result, sellers face supracompetitive outreach costs, competitors are foreclosed from competing on the merits, and consumers encounter reduced choice and higher prices in the recreational boating marketplace.”
Brill Maritime alleges it has been forced to pay supracompetitive prices for essential marketing services, with effectively zero viable alternatives available.
The lawsuit continues: “Boats Group’s exclusionary behavior has suppressed competition, harmed sellers and brokerages, and distorted the structure and dynamics of the online boat sales marketplace.”
Market dominance
And Brill Maritime alleges that “Boats Group reinforces its market dominance through the use of contractual restraints that functionally foreclose competition.
“Specifically, Boats Group’s subscription agreements contain exclusive dealing provisions that either prohibit or strongly discourage sellers, particularly brokers and dealers, from listing their inventory on competing platforms.”
Sellers who might consider switching platforms or dual-listing are contractually restricted.
The lawsuit provides IYBA as an example. IYBA launched an alternative platform, Yachtr, in 2024 ‘in direct response to Boats Group’s escalating and anticompetitive pricing’.
High barriers facing new entrants
However the lawsuit states: “Despite IYBA’s institutional backing and market familiarity, Yachtr has struggled to gain listings and user traffic due to the industry’s high barriers to entry and to Boats Group’s entrenched dominance, strong network effects, and restrictive contractual practices.
“Yachtr’s inability to compete with Boat Group’s platforms demonstrates the high barriers facing new entrants in the relevant geographic and product markets.”
The lawsuit also states that uyers of marine vessels have sustained antitrust injury as a consequence of Boats Group’s exclusionary conduct with the supracompetitive fees imposed on brokers and dealers passed through to buyers in the form of higher prices.
The plaintiff and the Florida Class are calling for a jury trial and are asking for damages, costs of bringing the lawsuit and attorney fees.
Boats Group is owned by the global private equity firm Permira which is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
