Is SMTM an above board timeshare resale site?

[Wexflyer2]

SMTM is sellmytimesharenow dot com
If you look their resale prices (presumably owner asking prices), they are all over the place.
From $0-1 to over $100k!
I wonder what SMTM charges in fees.....

 

[HuskerATL]

Not really. I would look at the TUG marketplace, eBay, and Judi's site before them.

 

[TUGBrian]

https://search.tug2.net is a quick way to search for a company name and find all the previous discussions about them!

 

[GT75]

I wouldn't recommend using SMTN to purchase a TS and certainly not to sell one.

 

[alwysonvac]

Here’s a few threads with references to their practices and fees

smtn are they legit

thinking about selling they want 2600 upfront is this ok

tugbbs.com

SMTN

Fairly quick and simple, I searched and didn't find much that fit my scenario. I typically purchase resales from ebay, timesharenation or sumday however I've been in the market and looking for quite some time for a particular resort. Nevertheless, I found what I was looking for in the price...

tugbbs.com

SellMyTimeshareNow

Has anyone any info about this company? They pop up in all searches.

tugbbs.com

 

[dioxide45]

For sellers, they are a high upfront fee listing company. Their goal is to charge a fee to put your timeshare up on their website. They don't care how much you list it for. They want the upfront fee.

For buyers, they charge high closing fees. When the industry norm is a few hundred, their fees are over $1000. This is also bad for sellers because it drives potential buyers away. Who wants to take a timeshare that would normally sell for $0 with little to no closing costs and end up having to instead pay a thousand or more in closing costs.

 

[brp]

For sellers, they are a high upfront fee listing company.

For buyers, they charge high closing fees.

Right, but other than that, are they OK?

Cheers.

 

[dioxide45]

Right, but other than that, are they OK?

Cheers.

If you don't mind paying more for something, then they are okay. Kind of like asking if buying from the developer is okay.

 

[HuskerATL]

If you don't mind paying more for something, then they are okay. Kind of like asking if buying from the developer is okay.

I have heard people say that they have listed there and nothing happened and, on the other side, responded to a listing with no response.

 

[dioxide45]

I have heard people say that they have listed there and nothing happened and, on the other side, responded to a listing with no response.

Yes, their customer service isn't great either. I have contacted them on a couple listings and did get a response. Then many followups about other listings similar to the ones I asked about. All with the mention of the high closing fees.

 

[Chris-ATX]

For buyers, they charge high closing fees.

First off: SMTN should be avoided. Their model appears to offer sellers the dream of being able to sell their TS for a high price while simply collecting listing fees.

Regarding their closing fees charged to buyers: they are not the only ones charging, IMO, high closing fees to buyers. I've had to walk away from attractive deals once I learned what some brokers charge buyers for their services. This includes some of the very well known agents who get idolized on multiple FB pages.

 

[WorldT]

Right, but other than that, are they OK?

Cheers.

You mean other than tanking your ability to get rid of your unit while collecting money from you? Or asking you to pay quite a bit for something you can get somewhere else for less?
Or not even answering you when you submit an inquiry for a listed unit they have already charged the seller to list?
Or never removing units listed on their website even when they have been sold?

Yes, other than that, they are "okay".

 

[dayooper]

First off: SMTN should be avoided. Their model appears to offer sellers the dream of being able to sell their TS for a high price while simply collecting listing fees.

Regarding their closing fees charged to buyers: they are not the only ones charging, IMO, high closing fees to buyers. I've had to walk away from attractive deals once I learned what some brokers charge buyers for their services. This includes some of the very well known agents who get idolized on multiple FB pages.

Yup, but for first time resale buyers, you do get more of a piece of mind for the money. I bought off of a Facebook Marketplace and had to walk the seller through the process. If we’re a first time buyer, I would be lost and worry if I was being scammed or not.

I also have to look at deal, is the combined cost still worth it? It’s the same way I look at HGVC fees, do I pay less than I would with another system? Usually it’s a big yes so I have less issues with them.

 

[Chris-ATX]

@dayooper > very valid and important points.
New buyers, yep, this can be worth it if the broker can help them through the process. But yeah, having to teach the broker how to do everything is somewhat annoying!

 

[Hoodwink]

I bought my first timeshare off of them. It was a cheap price (about $1000) for the unit itself, which was a good deal. By the time it was all done, I was about $5k in the deal - including all the Hilton fees and next years maintenance fees of around $1400 (I bought at the end of year and knew I'd be paying MF's basically at closing). I don't remember the exact amount for closing, but it was around $2k. I've bought several other units over the years and their closing has been by far the highest. I've bought several on Ebay through a seller known as "
buyandselltimesharescom" and they are currently charging $550 for closing.

I've inquired about a few other units since my initial purchase through SMTN, and either got no response or the units were already sold. I have a feeling they leave up sold units as "still available" to generate traffic. I've gotten a few random email from them over the years too about "great deals" that they know I'd be interested in.

Overall, I wouldn't recommend them unless you find a killer deal on what you've been hunting for.

 

[Wexflyer2]

Here’s a few threads with references to their practices and fees

smtn are they legit

thinking about selling they want 2600 upfront is this ok

tugbbs.com

Interesting. I did perform a search, don't remember seeing that first thread/link.

Thanks to everyone for the informative and eye opening replies

 

[TUGBrian]

vs using the full name, SMTN is a common term used to discuss this entity as well.

 

[brp]

You mean other than tanking your ability to get rid of your unit while collecting money from you? Or asking you to pay quite a bit for something you can get someone else for less?
Or not even answering you when you submit an inquiry for a listed unit they have already charged the seller to list?
Or never removing units listed on their website even when they have been sold?

Yes, other than that, they are "okay".

It seems that some may have missed the joke implied by the emoji given that I've seen serious answers to this. Apologies for any confusion.

Cheers.

 

[RX8]

In 2024 I analyzed all of the timeshares for sale at Sell My Timeshare Now. There were almost 2800 timeshares and almost 1300 of them (47%) exceeded $25,000 in price. A shocking 112 exceeded $150,000! That is not realistic. If that isn’t bad enough, SMTN provides timeshare owners with “market data” to influence what the timeshare owner will list it for. Below is what SMTN provides when you enter your timeshare info. As you can see, they “analyze current ASKING prices in our marketplace for similar properties”. What that means is that all those inflated, unrealistic prices of timeshares just sitting on the site (because they aren’t selling), are factored into their market analysis, as are those $150,000+ timeshares for sale.

“Your ownership information was received and has been assigned to one of our Timeshare Resale Specialists for immediate review. We are analyzing current asking prices in our marketplace for similar properties, as well as other market data, in order to compile your market value survey.”

 

[TUGBrian]

my favorite part is how they claim any message about any listing is considered an "offer" for the asking price of the timeshare!

think i had one of the database guys make a query for that on TUG (calculating message count x asking price) and came up with a number in the hundreds of millions of dollars!

Makes for fantastic marketing though!

 

[mountainboy]

deleted

 

[chapjim]

You mean other than tanking your ability to get rid of your unit while collecting money from you? Or asking you to pay quite a bit for something you can get somewhere else for less?
Or not even answering you when you submit an inquiry for a listed unit they have already charged the seller to list?
Or never removing units listed on their website even when they have been sold?

Yes, other than that, they are "okay".

Other than that, how did you like the play, Mrs. Lincoln?

 

[Eric B]

deleted

Edited to subtract any useful information.

 

[jackio]

My son in law purchased a unit from them a couple of years ago. He was able to negotiate the bottom line a bit and paid about $2K total for a 4 BR fixed week 29 VV Williamsburg with the current year included. He felt it was worth it, and he’s very happy with his purchase.

 

[BingoBangoBongo]

I’ve posted before that I went through them to buy my EOY District. My inquiry on a listing got a pretty quick response from a broker in FL. I initially sought them out as another broker had quoted me fairly high closing costs. SMTN was less expensive and they refunded me (I think) $500 after closing for returning the original contract in less than 5 days.

Overall I had a good experience with the rep and the transfer was the quickest of any of the four I’ve purchased. YMMV