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Newsletter / Issue #3

Published to the archive Oct 27, 2026.

Issue #3: One price, every fee, before they call

Subject line: One price, every fee, before they call By: Mason Bennett, boat dealership GM

Last week was about the FTC and the advertised price. This week a website vendor shipped a tool for it, and a dealer survey told us what we'd want first if business picked up. Short version: more leads, and a price that holds up when they get here.

1. All-in pricing is now a website feature

On Oct. 26, Dealer Spike launched Price Box. It shows one all-in price on every unit, with freight, setup, doc fees and discounts listed underneath. Dealer Spike says it's included with its websites at no added cost, works with any DMS (including Lightspeed fee fields) and has a no-DMS option where you set store defaults or enter fees per unit.

Two numbers from the release worth thinking about. Dealer Spike says 54.06% of dealer web traffic happens outside business hours, and top-turning dealers show pricing on 83.30% of their units. Both come from its own "State of the Dealer: 2026" report, so they're the vendor's numbers.

The release also says the plain thing: "Dealers remain responsible for their own compliance decisions." A tool doesn't fix this for you. Your fee setup does.

What I'd do this week: write down every fee you actually charge on a new boat (freight, prep, doc fee, anything else you require) and check that your website, your listing-site ads and your canned texts all add them up the same way. Whatever website vendor you use, ask them if they have something like this and what it costs.

2. What dealers say they need most

The September Pulse Report from Soundings Trade Only, Baird and MRAA surveyed 118 retailers:

One dealer in the report put it this way: "We need to work for every sale." Another said they'd seen a positive return from "advertising and getting web page AI-capable."

My read: if leads are the thing everyone wants, the leads you already get matter more. Answer fast, and make sure the price they saw online is the price you quote.

The October Pulse survey asks dealers about AI use and FTC compliance plans. If you take it, the results come back in a future report.

3. DockMaster doesn't publish a price. Its contract is public, though.

New on the site: DockMaster pricing 2026.

DockMaster has no pricing page. Capterra and Software Advice list $165 "per feature, per month," but that number isn't on DockMaster's site, so I've labeled it unverified.

What is on DockMaster's site is its Master Service Agreement. It says:

None of that is unusual. But a 120-day cancel window is easy to miss. Whatever system you run, find your renewal date and put the cancel-by date on the calendar now.

4. This week's pricing check

I re-checked nine vendors on their own sites: DockMaster, Winboats, Ideal Computer Systems, Commander, Total Control Software, Blackpurl, DP360 CRM, Traffic Log Pro and DealerDock. None of them publish a dollar price, and that didn't change.

One thing did change:

Also noted:

No new vendors in the directory this week. Full list with sources: pricing tracker.

5. Worth knowing

One question for you

Do you show an all-in price on your website today, or MSRP plus "call for details"? Hit reply and tell me. I'll share the anonymous results in a future issue.

Mason

Sources

No sponsor this issue. No vendor paid to be mentioned. Vendor prices are as published on the dates checked.

Get the next issue.

Related: DockMaster pricing · software pricing tracker · Issue #2 on advertised prices