Do people really pay the TS Resale prices?

[squiggle]

"the auction sale price (i.e., the highest price the public is willing to pay for that commodity) is, by definition, the market "

Not necessarily - there are many variables in an auction - "the type audience present" prob the most impt - It's only when knowledgeable bidders are bidding against one another , as in antique dealers in a dealers only auction, then that would be market price. If none watching, can really have a steal but that does not make it market price, I call that luck. When somebody is jsut dying to get an item, it drives the price up; simply an aberation, not market price.

 

[camachinist]

I trust one can extrapolate an average selling price from historical auction data of the same property, yes? Many TUG'ers do this, in a spreadsheet.

I do similar with equipment and machines, for use at live auctions. It works pretty well.

Pat

 

[Hoc]

Most people I know don't like take loss. To take loss, the majority has one reason and that is they are in distress.

Just because they don't like taking a loss does not mean that they do not have to. If they bought at a price in excess of the market price, then they have to take a loss when they sell at the market price. If they choose not to take a loss, then they simply choose not to sell.

Once in awhile you might get a sucker who pays way over market price for a timeshare because s/he is unaware of the true market price. In addition, the developers sell above market price because they have this huge marketing machine that plays on emotion and naivete. But they are selling above market price. Their price does not establish the resale market. It exceeds it.

Most timeshare sellers on ebay are not distress sellers. Some are individuals. Many are timeshare resellers. I recently sold a timeshare, and chose to list it on ebay. Not because it was a distress sale, but because that was the best way to get the best price for my timeshare without listing it for years and without having to find out what the units are really selling for (as opposed to what they are listed for in overvalued ads).

I rent some of my timeshares profitably on ebay year after year. They are not distress rentals, but rather they are market rentals.

As I said above, ebay sales prices are probably as much as 10 percent below market; but then the sellers do not have to pay brokers' fees, so the sales price is probably about what you would net after listing for years through a broker. They are essentially the fair market price for those timeshares, even if people who bought from the developers don't like to take a loss on the sale.

 

[boyblue]

I CFI can sell me a 3br EOY lock out for $10,600 buy it back from me 5 years later (after exercising their right of first refusal) for $2,100 and turn around and sell that same unit for $14,000; I don't know that I can accept that eBay TS prices are market prices.

I chose to take the loss on my Westgate Lakes unit because I found some steals (thanks to TUG) that neutralized my loss... but if I could have gotten a dozen people to sit down with a half decent ts salesman (one at a time) I bet I could have gotten my 10,800 back...of course I would have netted $5,400.00 after splitting the proceeds.

I would say market value is neither developer price nor eBay price; it is somewhere in the middle.

 

[Jya-Ning]

Hoc:

Thanks.

Don't quite sure. But I will guess the purchased price offered by experienced Tug that do buy and sell a lot probably is lower than eBay, and for Tuggers that buy and hold and has much less TS is probably close to avg. eBay price. And prob. is higher for the other cases. I will take your word that it maybe 10% higher, but probably takes years to sell.

Don't know too much on eBay TS rent market. So I will just talk about selling market. Not watch eBay auction a lot, but when I watch, most of the sellers on eBay are brokers, resellers, very few never sell timeshare or just sell once or twice. I do know that as seller on eBay, you can determine the starting price, the reservation amount. Although I sometimes saw one get pull out, but I will assume eBay don't like an auction get pull out, so it usually is not an option for seller. Most of the auctions start at a level lower than avg. eBay closing price. And most of them do not have reservation amount, or at a level lower than avg. eBay closing price. I will assume the assumption is with the traffic on eBay, there will be enough buyers that jump to the action and push the final price to the level established on eBay. So, you try to sell it at right season, close the auction at the right weekday and time to make sure you have max traffic. Maybe distress is not a right word, but I don't know what will be the best word to descript it if a seller is willing to accept a price much much lower than that market willing to give by starting at a low bid and low/no reserve.

eBay does provide several benefits IMHO. It gives a credential to the seller, it is open, it has history sell price. For TS if it belongs to big resorts or resort chains, there are enough volumes to establish a stable market price as reference. And does not matter how you and I descript the market, the underline TS good is seldom in distress. Most of the time, the description is not good though.

However, I tender to think as buyer, if you really depend on eBay’s price as your market price, you will intend to bid no more than the avg. price, which, unless some fundamental changed, will gradually cost the avg. price going down.

Jya-Ning

 

[BocaBum99]

There is no single market for timeshares. There are many. And each market has it's own supply/demand curve that represents it.

There is an eBay marketplace for timeshares. There are many timeshares there that I would characterize as having a relatively stable supply and demand and therefore price stability. Whenever there are lots of completed eBay auctions, there is an established market.

But, that doesn't mean that is the "market price" for the timeshare. It is only the eBay marketplace. And, it could be extended to much of the online marketplace since many, if not most, of those online shoppers will at least take a peak at eBay prior to bidding on an online listing.

There is also the offline marketplace. Those resale outlets that exist in resort areas. The average sales price for those venues is higher than the online price primarily because those buyers are not aware of the online venues. They probably heard about the timeshare from a sales presentation.

Then, of course, there is the market for developer sales.

There are at least 3 distinct markets with different "market prices" for timeshares. Each has a different supply/demand curve and differing market prices.

For some timeshares, there is no market. There is no market when available timeshares have no way of finding available buyers. There is no market place and so it results in firesales. It's similar to the garage sale. When someone wants to sell their household goods and they run a garage sale, their market is garage sale buyers, not the general public. So, their prices tend to be lower than an eBay or consignment shop for certain goods.

 

[geekette]

There is no single market for timeshares. There are many. And each market has it's own supply/demand curve that represents it.
...
But, that doesn't mean that is the "market price" for the timeshare. It is only the eBay marketplace. And, it could be extended to much of the online marketplace ...
There is also the offline marketplace. ...
Then, of course, there is the market for developer sales.

YES

eBay is a giant flea market where sellers try to get what they can. It's not the end-all be-all by any means. It's worth noting what prices are being paid, of course, but if you really want an idea of what people will pay, there are a lot more places you have to look, and that includes seeing what people WON'T pay!

 

[Phargraves2]

BradC you hit it right on the head the ebay price IS the market price. People who sell on ebay are real sellers. Meaning that they are committed to selling whether it is one day or one month they have put their properties on the market to get the highest price. Sellers on other sites are deluding themselves if they think that buyers are somehow going to find them on the internet yet NOT compare what the prices are on eBay. Now I understand that some sellers are totally unsophisticated like the little old lady in Pasadena who doesnt know what the internet is and therefore just calls the resort to sell it back to them but by and large the buyer pool is fairly sophisticated and as time advances more and more sellers will be forced to reconcile the reality of the ebay marketplace for establishing price/value.
Sincerely,
Paul Hargraves