Also, regulation of the external resale market isn't going to happen without acknowledgement from those who are playing in the timeshare sandbox that the reputation of timeshare businesses being sleazy is perpetuated by those in the sandbox!
How many who own timeshares take advantage of lax rules to further their own gains? For example, it's completely transparent which exchange companies expressly prohibit private rentals of exchange intervals. Yet there are some who rent exchange company inventory as a cottage industry, some who have no problem renting such intervals for their own use and many who turn a blind eye to it when it's happening right under their noses. How many TUG discussions about these prohibited rentals come to a crashing halt when somebody posts the rules?
How many who own timeshares take advantage of known fraud practices in order to buy timeshares at rock-bottom prices, but then turn around and bemoan the fact that the market is unregulated? For example, it's well-known on TUG that you can get around a developer's Right Of First Refusal by submitting completely fraudulent purchase documents that inflate the price in order to circumvent known ROFR thresholds. How many ignore it when buying and how many practice it when selling? And again, how many TUG threads come to a screeching halt when somebody posts about it?
How many buy cheap timeshares from known scam/postcard companies, effectively keeping these outfits in business, despite knowing that they exist off the backs of timeshare owners who are victims of the companies' sleazy practices?
It's important to recognize that these and other questionable actions on the part of owners, in sufficient numbers, are as damaging to the industry as any full-out scam outfits. They may be more blatant about it and they stand to lose a whole lot more in total than we owners might individually, but again the fault for timeshares having a sleazy reputation doesn't completely rest on everyone except the owners.