Building the world’s largest powersports catalog.
Why I started RideOpen
A decade in the marine industry, and the two problems I could not stop noticing.
Ihave been an outdoors person my whole life, and I spent a decade working in the marine industry. That decade is where this started. I watched owners and dealers struggle with the same two things over and over: nobody could move good inventory, and nobody could get straight information about a machine more than a few years old.
Those problems are the same problem. When the spec sheet for a 2011 model has vanished from the internet, a buyer cannot tell a good one from a tired one, so they hesitate, and the seller sits on it another two months.
I wanted to build the modern resource the industry never got: somewhere the details survive, so owners can actually look after what they own, and so the machines that deserve a new home find one instead of depreciating in a shed.
I did not do that from a whiteboard. I spent years talking to the people who know how this really works: service techs who know what fails at what hour, product people who know what actually changed between model years, logistics people who move these things for a living, and dealers carrying the cost of it all. What you see here is their knowledge, organized.
We do not take a cut from sellers, so we have no reason to push anyone toward the wrong machine. And if something here does not hold up, I want to hear about it. There is a person on the other end of every message, and often enough it is me.
Every Machine, One Marketplace
Water, trail or snow. Whatever you take out, you will find it here, along with the gear, parts and accessories to keep you on it.
SundancerSea Ray 
Kitty CatArctic Cat 
GENERAL XP 1000 SportPolaris 
Sportsman 600Polaris 
240 SundeckSea Ray 
MXZ SportSki-Doo 
GENERAL XP 4 1000 SportPolaris 
Sportsman 600 EPSPolaris 
R-25Ranger Tugs 
MXZ AdrenalineSki-Doo 
GENERAL XP 1000 UltimatePolaris 
Sportsman 600 PremiumPolaris
Information is what makes a market move. Without it, everyone just waits.
You already know how this goes
Anyone who has hunted for a used machine has hit all four of these, usually in one weekend.
Three photos and “runs great”
No hours, no trim, no service history, no idea what year the engine is. You find out what you are actually looking at after a four-hour drive.
Nobody can tell you what a 2011 model was
Once a machine is a few years old, the spec sheet is gone, the brochure is gone, and the dealer who sold it has moved on. The information just evaporates, right when an owner needs it most.
Good machines sit for months
Sellers and dealers watch solid inventory age on the lot while the only calls they get are from people who were never going to buy. Capital stays tied up in metal that is not moving.
The right one is never local
The exact machine you want is three provinces away, and nobody wants to sort out a trailer, a route and a stranger with a deposit.
Four things, on purpose
A catalog that remembers
Every listing hangs off a real make, model and year, with the specs that came with it. Those model pages stay up whether anything is for sale or not. Look up what you already own, or compare two machines properly before you commit.
We look at it before anyone else does
Every listing gets reviewed. We chase the photos that are missing, the paperwork buyers ask for, and the details sellers forget. The listing you read is the one we were willing to put our name on.
An offer means money on the table
Offers come with a deposit behind them and a seven-day clock. Sellers stop fielding maybes, buyers stop getting ignored, and both sides know exactly where the deal stands.
Distance stops being the reason
Found it, and it is nowhere near you? That is our problem to solve, not yours. We sort out getting it home so the right machine wins instead of the closest one.
How we make money
Most marketplaces would rather you did not ask. Here it is in three lines.
- Listing costs nothing
- Sellers and dealers list free and keep their full asking price. We never take a cut of what you sell for.
- Buyers put 5% down with an offer
- If the offer is declined or ignored, or you walk away from a counter, the deposit comes back to you in full. No deal, no cost.
- Accepted offers pay us
- When a seller says yes, that deposit becomes our booking fee and we make the introduction. That is the whole business model.
We only get paid when a deal actually happens. That is deliberate. It is what stops us nudging you toward the wrong machine just to close something.
What we hold ourselves to
Owners first, every time
The test for anything we build is whether it makes a real day better, the one that starts at 5am with a trailer and a thermos. Not whether it looks good in a deck.
Say the true thing
Real specs, real condition, real prices, and the flaws written down next to the good parts. A marketplace is only worth anything if you can believe what is on it.
There is a person on the other end
Ask us something and a human answers. Before you commit, while the offer is live, and after the handshake. You are never talking to a form.
Go find the one you have been looking for
Every make, every model, every year, and the specs to tell them apart. Have a look around.
Rather talk to someone first? Get in touch.
