How is this industry not better regulated? People like myself get scammed and lose lots of money!
They scam you coming in and then they try to scam you when you sell it . I will be posting my timeshare here for sale
Glad you dodged a bullet and did not pay $600 to some utterly worthless and useless third party "listing service". Good for you.
Don't shoot the messenger, but now you must brace yourself and be prepared to accept and deal with the fact that your timeshare may have little (or no) resale market value at all and that you may very well even have to give it away for free
and pay all associated closing costs and transfer fees yourself in order to find a willing new, valid recipient. In short, you will likely end up spending (not receiving) some money in order to attract and close with a legitimate new "grantee".
To your question about "industry regulation", bear in mind that the (far too many) parasitic "listing services" are essentially just third party opportunists, not directly connected to the timeshare industry at all. They are essentially just (...ahem) "entrepreneurs" of sorts, putting themselves out there to take advantage of people desperate to exit their timeshare ownership. Their contracts actually usually state, very clearly and in writing, that they are
nothing more than an advertising venue, with absolutely no guaranty of success. Worse, their "listing site" might very well be obscure, virtually unknown and seldom even viewed.
These "listing service" parasites thrive by appealing to owners who desperately want "out", with minimal effort if possible, but who just don't know how to "exit" lawfully and without actual foreclosure. Being little more than an advertising service, there is frankly not a lot to "regulate" --- the "listing service" parasites generally make sure that their butts are well covered in their carefully crafted contracts. Just placing a useless "listing" usually fulfills their contractual obligation. I am certainly not in any way defending the practices of these thieving parasites; I am merely explaining how they operate and how they manage to get away with (and continue to thrive in) their "operations", conducted at the expense of desperate others who "pay to play".