Buying on eBay

Hi all,

Wonderful forum you've got here. Between the threads here and the info I've researched online, I've had a serious crash course in TSs.

I've been looking at resale opportunities out there, instigated by the pending sale of our vacation cabin, which we currently own with our sister and brother-in-law. (That's an interesting comparison -- owning a vacation home vs. buying a timeshare...for another post) And also by the depressed economy which I see forcing sales well below value.

I've seen the fantastic deals (some, not all) on eBay. I love eBay and have had wonderful experiences purchasing just about everything under the sun off the auction board, so it seems a natural place to look for a good deal on a resale TS.

But...I read an article that says NEVER buy a timeshare without a broker/real estate agent. It said that title companies--while they CAN handle the paperwork--won't identify problems with the deal and you COULD get screwed.

The businesses I've seen selling on ebay (the ones I'd consider purchasing from) have excellent reputations as far as ebay goes, and are very upfront about costs involved in closing and maintanance and transfer fees, etc., and offer full refunds in the event what you bought isn't what you thought you were getting. BUT, they don't mention being real estate professionals/brokers, which I'm sure they'd mention if they were.

SO -- what are the issues related to buying on eBay? Are there sellers out there others here know about that are either great or horrible? What would you look for or watch out for when considering puchasing off eBay? And what about that "NEVER buy w/o a RE professional handling the transaction"?

Thanks in advance.

Joan

Hi Joan and welcome to TUG!

"NEVER buy w/o a RE professional handling the transaction"

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I will venture a guess that you didn't read this on TUG - many Tuggers have bought multiple weeks on ebay. I've bought 5 weeks on ebay myself. Yes, you need to do your homework, and you should also use a good closing/escrow company - it's their job to find any title problems. The last TS I bought on ebay ($98 for an ocean front unit on Kauai) did have a title problem! (The resort had forclosed on the unit before the owner sold it, so they owner didn't actually own it any more.) However, both the seller and the closing company guaranteed a clear title, so they gave me the option of a full refund, or they would find an exact replacement for me. At $98 - I took the replacement!

Ebay has the lowest prices, hands down. If you use an agent, yes they will walk you through the process and that's helpful for a newbie, but you will also be adding their commission to the price of the TS, and that will cost more money. Some people feel that the hand-holding is worth it, and I can understand that, but personally, I'd rather have the lowest price.

My best advice is to take your time and be sure you understand the product before you buy. It's a buyer's market right now and there is absolutely no reason to rush into a purchase. A good place to start doing your research is the TUG Advice page - linked in the red bar at the top of the page.

My advice for buying your first timeshare.

Good luck!

Buy Timeshares Resale. Save Thousands.

ultraswan said:

I read an article that says NEVER buy a timeshare without a broker/real estate agent. It said that title companies--while they CAN handle the paperwork--won't identify problems with the deal and you COULD get screwed.

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I think that article has it backwards.

What's needed to seal the deal on a resale timeshare purchase is the services of a timeshare closing services agency. A real estate broker or agent is mox nix.

Some savvy TUG people also say the closing services agency must have a lawyer on staff (or an established equivalent biz. relationship with an accredited attorney) and must be in the state where the timeshare is located.

The USA timeshares we bought -- all resale, 2 via eBay -- had the deal formalized by timeshare closing services agencies in the respective states (2 Florida, 1 Arkansas). Ditto our 2 non-eBay USA timeshares. (We sold off 1 of our resale timeshares after owning it a year. That deal, too, was formalized by a timeshare closing services agency in the same state as the timeshare.)

Our overseas timeshare that's located in a far-off foreign land we bought via a ReMax resale agent who knows the ropes over there. How the closing process actually works over there I'm not sure. We received a Share Certificate upon completion of ownership transfer instead of getting a notarized & recorded deed like those for USA deeded timeshares. In any case, it's apparently all on the up & up, because we've been getting trouble-free use of our foreign timeshare (via RCI exchanges) since 2003.

Bottom line = real estate broker/agent is optional but professional timeshare closing services agency is essential. (But some TUG folks say they have done resale ownership transfers on a do-it-yourself basis. That's too tricky for me. I sprang for $350 in closing fees on a $500 resale timeshare. Better safe than sorry.)

BTW, we got to pick our own timeshare closing services agency for our (resale) Florida timeshares. The eBay seller specified the closing services agency for our Arkansas timeshare, & that requirement was spelled out right there in the eBay item description. If we didn't like it, we didn't have to bid. As it turned out, we were OK with it -- & the rest is history.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

Thanks, Denise. There is a wealth of information (literally) in those articles. Great deal in Hawaii :whoopie: I'm in agreement with you on the price vs. the handholding.

Joan

Alan,

That is great info to know. I recognize many of your comments from eBay posting I've seen. They looked professional and credible to me, but I just wasn't sure. So good to have someone with the first hand knowledge to set minds at ease.

Thanks.

Joan

The HUGE advantages of buying on eBay are the seller feedback/rating and Paypal protection.

Then when you factor in the huge timeshare savings on eBay, buying a timeshare on eBay vs. a broker becomes a no-brainer...

ace2000 said:

The HUGE advantages of buying on eBay are the seller feedback/rating and Paypal protection.

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Based on information I've learned here on TUG -- I don't consider that a huge advantage at all. With seller's changing their ebay ID, having mutiple IDs, buying & selling other items to boost their rating, interpretting the feedback rating is something that you need to be careful about. In additional, I heard that by the time you find out your deal is not going the way you wanted it to, feedback time limits may have expired (not 100% sure if this is still the case).

Also, Paypal does not offer the protection that some think. Again, a dispute has to be does in a relatively short time -- compared to the extended time it might take for a closing by a low quality closing company.

Bottom line, you need to exercise plenty of caution.....

ace2000 said:

The HUGE advantages of buying on eBay are the seller feedback/rating and Paypal protection.

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Buying a TS on ebay is a lot different than buying most other items on ebay. For one thing, your bid isn't binding. Instead, it is an offer to enter into negotiations for purchase. Per ebay rules, this statement is at the bottom of every TS Ad:

By participating, you are not entering into a contract to purchase this property. You are, however, expressing serious interest in the property and in pursuing contract discussions.

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Secondly, you don't pay the seller immediately, like you do with most items. The wise buyer uses an escrow/closing company and sends the funds to them, so Paypal may or may not be used. I've bought on ebay 5 times, and I think I used Paypal once - the other times I sent the closing/escrow company a certified check.

DeniseM said:

Buying a TS on ebay is a lot different than buying most other items on ebay. For one thing, your bid isn't binding. Instead, it is an offer to enter into negotiations for purchase. Per ebay rules, this statement is at the bottom of every TS Ad:



Secondly, you don't pay the seller immediately, like you do with most items. The wise buyer uses an escrow/closing company and sends the funds to them, so Paypal may or may not be used. I've bought on ebay 5 times, and I think I used Paypal once - the other times I sent the closing/escrow company a certified check.

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Many of the eBay listings will not allow you to use an independant escrow/closing company though. Many listings are from the PCCs (post card companies) and they will often use an in-house agency to handle the closing. Like Denise, I experienced an issue with closing and fortunately, the seller/closing company made good but ymmv.

Good point, Gary! - what I was really trying to emphasize, is that you don't immediately pay for a TS purchased on ebay, with Paypal, like you do other items.

I also wouldn't consider Ebay timeshare purchases as being protected, and I think when buying from Ebay you have to be more careful to do your due diligence and confirm with the resort that the property is as advertised. Many listings have been found to contain errors, including annual usage really being EOY (and in a few rare cases the opposite was true), occasionally size errors and frequently lock-off/non-lock-off option errors, frequent errors in season listing, MF's are commonly listed incorrectly, errors in view category, etc.. That said, the extra work on your part may be more than offset by the price difference.

Take time to read here and familiarize yourself with whatever system and/or resort you are interested in purchasing and don't enter into the resale foray until you are comfortable with what to look for. If you are looking at the more expensive units, I would say never to buy on Ebay without using a closing service. In general, whether through a broker or not, I would not recommend buying without using escrow. If you are looking at a very inexpensive week the escrow costs may not be worth it, but you still need to make sure you're secure in the details of your purchase. Remember, when you buy a timeshare you are buying not only the potential to have years of wonderful vacations, but you are accepting an on-going obligation (ie- annual MF's), so even that $1 Ebay bargain can be a very costly mistake if it turns out to be for a mud season unit that you thought was a prime season purchase.

There are many resale brokers that people here on Tug can recommend as well, if you feel you'd be more comfortable with hand-holding and/or want to increase your exposure to the resale market. Depending on what you are looking for, there may or may not be many resale units on Ebay for that property and you may even get a better pricing through a broker. Nothing prevents you from looking everywhere simultaneously and grabbing your best deal when it comes up. Once you decide what you want, people here will be happy to offer some direction.

Good luck, and welcome to Tug

I Resemble That Remark.

m61376 said:

I think when buying from Ebay you have to be more careful to do your due diligence and confirm with the resort that the property is as advertised.

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That's how it was with 1 of our eBay timeshare purchases. The mass-production eBay seller garbled the item description, using in the heading the name of the timeshare we wanted, but in the reading material using descriptions of a completely different timeshare.

We determined the identity of that the completely different timeshare & decided it was also pretty nice, so therefore we'd be content with whichever of them it turned out to be -- if we could snipe in a low winning bid.

We could & we did.

When the dust settled, it turned out to be the timeshare we were trying to get in the 1st place, & we still own it today.

All's well that ends well.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

Very sage advice, m61376. I will definitely be doing the footwork to get comfortable and looking in multiple places for resales. I am also in conversation with a broker gathering info and reviewing properties that way, as well.

Thanks!

Joan

Alan, I think that's good kharma coming back at you.

Joan