Boats Group, parent to online listing sites Boat Trader, Boats.com and YachtWorld, is being sued in federal court in the Southern District of Florida for allegedly stifling competition by driving up prices and hindering “entry and expansion by rival platforms.”
Boats Group is owned by private equity company Permira.
The plaintiff, Brill Maritime Inc., which does business as Export Yacht Sales in Miami, is seeking injunctive relief and damages for antitrust violations pursuant to the Sherman Act, the Florida Antitrust Act of 1980, and for unfair methods of competition under the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.
The lawsuit alleges:
“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.”
According to the filing, Boats Group controls an estimated 75% of the global online boat and yacht listing market. The lawsuit also alleges that the company leveraged this dominance to levy price increases on customers.
As an example, the lawsuit states: “The plaintiff’s combined monthly cost of listing on Boat Trader and YachtWorld was approximately $1,004. By 2017, these prices rose to $1,221. Between 2018 and 2024, pricing surged again, reaching $2,794 in 2021 and $5,128 by 2024, a more than 400% increase over a decade. In 2025, Boat Trader alone charged $2,900 per month for its services.”
“This conduct has enabled Boats Group to preserve its monopoly power not through superior products or services, but through exclusionary tactics that suppress competition, reduce entry and innovation, and harm sellers and consumers,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit also makes class-action allegations, defining the prescribed class as:
“All persons and entities in the United States who purchased subscription-based marketing and listing services from Boats Group between January 1, 2014 and the present, and who suffered damages as a result of Boats Group’s anticompetitive conduct.”
Boats Group did not respond to a request for comment by the time Trade Only Today published.
Soundings Trade Only originally reported on Boats Group’s rate hikes in February, with additional reporting appearing in the June print edition of the magazine.
Look for additional reporting on this story in Trade Only Today.
