# How to tell if TUG message are legit?



## ellert1 (May 16, 2022)

New user here.  I just submitted my first classified sale ad a couple weeks ago and just received my first message regarding the ad.  However, it seemed rather suspicious to me:

"This time share is only $1.00? Is this true?"

I am aggressively pricing my ad due to oversupply in the market for this resort.  The last thing I want is to reply to this message using my true email address (I understand that I have to use my own email browser/program to reply) and the sender now has my email address to sell and/or flood my personal inbox with spam.  On the flip side, I want to be a good, reliable seller and get back to any prospective buyers quickly.

Is there any way to know the legitimacy of the messages that come in to my TUG inbox?  Does anyone else have experience receiving these messages?

Thank you for any help/opinions you may have.


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## TUGBrian (May 16, 2022)

anyone can contact you thru your ad, the "send message" button is open to the public.

you are correct in that your email address is not shared with anyone nor provided anywhere via TUG, unless you respond to the message.

would really be no way to tell based on the short message above if the buyer is legitimate or not.

if they provided a phone number, you could always call that!


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## DaveNV (May 16, 2022)

ellert1 said:


> Is there any way to know the legitimacy of the messages that come in to my TUG inbox?  Does anyone else have experience receiving these messages?
> 
> Thank you for any help/opinions you may have.



Does the person indicate anything about being a Tug member?  If they're someone with a number of posts, chances are good they're on the level. But if someone expresses surprise you're selling for only $1, they may not understand how things work. Experienced t/s buyers and sellers know that a $1 price tag is common.

In future, you may want to set up a Gmail account (or similar) to use when posting ads. That way you aren't receiving every message to your primary email account. If the address gets compromised, it's a simple matter of filtering spam online, before it hits your computer.

You may also want to place a posting in the Buying and Selling forum on Tug.  The Marketplace can be a bit of a coin toss sometimes, but if you're basically giving away your t/s, that forum is read by folks who are shopping.  It's worked well for me.  https://tugbbs.com/forums/forums/free-timeshare-giveaways-and-bargain-deals.55/

Dave


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## NiteMaire (May 16, 2022)

ellert1 said:


> Is there any way to know the legitimacy of the messages that come in to my TUG inbox? Does anyone else have experience receiving these messages?





DaveNV said:


> In future, you may want to set up a Gmail account (or similar) to use when posting ads.


That's exactly what I did.  I created a new email address like "[resort-name].[week-number]@gmail.com".  I set the "name" as the same.  I copied the note from TUG and included it at the bottom of my email.


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