Panama has no yacht broker licence. Anyone can call themselves a broker, which is why buyers ask us how to tell a professional from a hopeful. What does apply: a registered company with an aviso de operación, income tax and ITBMS obligations on commissions, the Autoridad Marítima de Panamá (AMP) transfer process a broker has to shepherd, and Panama's anti-money-laundering rules, which treat high-value asset sales seriously. A broker who handles deposits is handling other people's money with no state escrow rule behind them, so contracts and bank arrangements do the work a licence does in Florida.
The three questions: do I need a licence to sell boats in Panama, how do commissions and listing agreements work here, and how do I check a broker before trusting them with a deal. No licence; commissions are negotiated and often close to the 10% international norm on small yachts; and you check a broker by looking at their company registration, asking for AMP transfer references and insisting on written listing terms.
This collection will cover becoming a yacht broker in Panama, the rules that do apply (company, taxes, AMP transfers, anti-money-laundering), starting a brokerage, commissions, listing agreements and ethics, checking out a broker before you trust them, and sales brokerage versus charter brokerage. The Panama City buying guide shows the buyer's side of the same deal.
Readers from Florida will notice the biggest difference immediately: the Florida yacht brokers sub-hub is about a state licence and bond that simply do not exist here.