Already own Wyndham thinking of buying more points on eBay

[BWhite]

I am new to here but wanted opinion. I am already an owner of Wyndham points, purchased back in 2010. I considered adding points this year on vacation but ended up not after looking online and on eBay to see how much cheaper they are. I’m just curious if I what I buy online (club access points I’m looking at) will be able to be used in conjunction with the points I already own. Thanks for advice.

 

[gwynhyvar]

Yes, points are points at the 10-month mark. They won't apply towards getting to VIP levels, or ARP except at the deeded resort. Except CWA resorts, if you buy those resale instead of a specific resort; you get ARP for those CWA resorts too, I believe.

 

[BWhite]

Thanks for your reply. So at the 10 month point I can make a reservation for any of the 66 Wyndham resorts with a combined points amount (105,000 I already own + 166,000 I am considering buying from a resale) for a total of 271,000. I could essentially book something for 250,000 points. I am just worried there is a catch somewhere I am missing since the resale is so much cheaper than what the resort tried to sell me this week.

 

[gwynhyvar]

The catch is, you're saving thousands of dollars!

 

[Jan M.]

No catch. Enjoy!

 

[grab]

Just make sure you buy from a reputable seller.

 

[BWhite]

That is awesome! Thank you all for the info. Buying the Wyndham access points from a reputable title company on eBay seems to be the way to go. Any other suggestions anyone has? Just trying to give my wife and 4 kids a great vacation ever

 

[breezez]

Look at tug market place too! Be careful on eBay to understand all fees in the listing some people add a bunch.

A reasonably cost is transfer fee $299 plus $250 closing. Some may charge a bunch more.

You might find what you are looking for close to free in the tug market place and sometimes sellers will cover some if not all fees.

Good luck.

 

[schoolmarm]

Just remember that the resale points can't be used for Club Pass (the Worldmark resorts....where you pay $99 and use only developer points). Unless you are buying Hawaii, you probably won't get Outrigger (your developer points probably don't have it either, unless your deed is in Hawaii). And Margaritaville is for people who own M-ville. <--However, in the Express period, this can open up, as can Presidential Reserve units.

I have added two resale contracts to my developer points. Spent $700 for 154K (Sedona) and $300 for an Odd Year 308K at Bali Hai. These points combine with my developer National Harbor (also 154K but I spent $22,000 for it about 10 years ago).

 

[Richelle]

Resale is by far the best value if you don’t want VIP. You don’t get Club Pass either, but if WorldMark resorts are important to you, they sell resale WorldMark contracts as well on eBay plus you get earlier booking privileges and you don’t have to pay the $99 exchange fee. You also don’t get Plus Partners but the only good thing about plus partners (IMO), is RCI nightly stays. Using points for air fare and car rentals is a waste of points. Tug offers some great articles on Buying resale. I also have my copy and paste blurb to offer. It’s about eBay but the majority of it applies to any resale venu.


Buying Wyndham resale

When buying on eBay, feedback is important to review before placing a bid. Keep in mind, that most people do not leave feedback until the process is completed. Me included. The problem though, is Wyndham takes weeks and sometimes months to complete the transaction, and that's not the seller's fault. I believe a buyer only has 45 days to leave feedback. That's not enough time to wait for the transaction to complete. So not everyone is going to have a ton of feedback. Just look for patterns. If you see negative marks, do they have something in common? Communication is a common complaint. If the seller doesn't communicate, it understandably frustrates the buyer. This causes them to leave bad feedback. If you are unsure, ask some of us about a particular seller. Some may have already worked with them. Also, end of the year is usually the best time to buy because people are getting their yearly assessments and decide they want to sell their timeshare to get out of the maintenance fee cost. I got my contract in November for $1. That same contract sold for $510 in May, and the buyer paid closing costs. Timing is everything. At the end of the year, it’s a buyers market. During vacation season, it’s a seller’s market. With that said, here are just some of the things you need to look for in the listing, besides price:

1. What are the monthly maintenance fees? Can you afford that on top of what you already have or your current budget? Some only list yearly, so you will have to do the math if you pay monthly. If you already own, whatever payment plan you currently have, should transfer over but you can always ask to change it. Some sales guy may tell you that the fees are different for resale contracts. This is NOT true. They are the same for every owner who owns at the resort it’s deeded to. The same with CWA contracts.

2. Who is paying the closing costs? If the buyer pays, how much are they? I would not accept closing costs that are more then $500 on top of the transfer fee. Especially since so many sellers are offering to pay those costs.

3. Who is paying the transfer fee? It's a $299 fee that is required by Wyndham. Sometimes the seller will pay for this and not closing, or both.

4. Is it annual or bi-annual? Bi-annual is usually listed as odd or even years, or may use the acronym EOY which stands for every other year. They are all the same thing. Bi-annual contracts are cheaper only because the yearly fee is split over 24 months instead of 12 for annual. The rate per 1,000 points is the same whether you have annual or bi-annual. You can only use the points on that contact on the years designated. In between you have nothing. These are a good ideal if you only take vacations every other year.

5. How many points is it? This will usually be listed in the title but it should be noted here, as something to consider. Do you need that many points? Do you need more then that many points? Be sure to have an idea on how many points you want before you start to shop. Using the directory will help you determine where you want to stay. From there you can determine about what time you will travel there. The points chart will tell you how many points you will need for a certain room, at that resort, at that time time.

6.Does the seller have a recent estoppel letter? You can PM them, and ask them to provide one. Wyndham charges a fee to the owner for this. Do not pay this yourself. It will provide some valuable information such as how many points the contract is for, how many points are left for that year, how much the maintenance fees are, and if there is money owed such as back MF or a loan balance. This letter should save you from nasty surprises like it having zero available points, maintenance fees higher then advertised, or months worth of back dues Maintenance fees.

7. What is the home resort? Will you be traveling there? It's ok if the answer is no, but if you know it's a resort you will go to a lot during prime season, you may want to consider buying a contract for that resort so you can have ARP.

8. What is the fine print? Some companies will add some special fee or have some special payment requirement. Always read the fine print.

Finally, if something seems “off” with a seller or the transaction, trust your gut. There are TONS of contracts for sale. If the one you want is not available at that time, it will be later. Just be patient. You can also ask us for advice if you have questions.


Hope this helps.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[BWhite]

Thank you all for the great guidance and info. Certainly what little trade off for having resale points over original purchase seems to be very little considering the savings. I was literally considering spending 20k on another 105k points for all access because we do enjoy our Wyndham stays minus the annoying sales pitches. The savings from resale pays many times over for the perks that we in most cases don’t use. We have used RCI once with our points and hated the resort the entire time we were there. So probably not going that route ever again.

 

[WyndhamBarter]

So probably not going that route ever again.

Just a brief counterpoint - through RCI we have gotten delightful stays at the Jockey Club
in Vegas, the Nob Hill Inn in SF, and even the elusive Manhattan Club before Wyndham
Midtown 45 was finished.

It's certainly a case of YMMV, and I've never seen such consistently good accommodations
over the decades as I have with Wyndham and to a slightly lesser extent Worldmark. But
you might not want to write off RCI completely - think of it more as a treasure hunt!

 

[paxsarah]

even the elusive Manhattan Club before Wyndham
Midtown 45 was finished.

We exchanged into Manhattan Club last year, and even with the exorbitant nightly fee, the exchange fee, and the exchange points, our cost was still less than our MFs for a week at Midtown 45 direct via Wyndham. Good exchanges definitely can be had, but we also only deposit when we have someplace specific to go and not because we have extra points at the end of the year.

 

[famy27]

Thank you all for the great guidance and info. Certainly what little trade off for having resale points over original purchase seems to be very little considering the savings. I was literally considering spending 20k on another 105k points for all access because we do enjoy our Wyndham stays minus the annoying sales pitches. The savings from resale pays many times over for the perks that we in most cases don’t use. We have used RCI once with our points and hated the resort the entire time we were there. So probably not going that route ever again.

With resale points, you'll still be able to use them in RCI, just not for nightly stays. You can use them for week-long stays, just like you use your developer points. And as mentioned above, there are some great resorts in RCI, including Hilton and Disney. I like to look for ones that are gold crown rated.

 

[Fitzriley]

I am new to here but wanted opinion. I am already an owner of Wyndham points, purchased back in 2010. I considered adding points this year on vacation but ended up not after looking online and on eBay to see how much cheaper they are. I’m just curious if I what I buy online (club access points I’m looking at) will be able to be used in conjunction with the points I already own. Thanks for advice.

I am looking to sell 164,500 points, what are you looking to buy those for?

 

[BWhite]

I am looking to sell 164,500 points, what are you looking to buy those for?

What is the maintenance fees. Is this club access points or a deeded property. All that makes a difference.

 

[Avislo]

The parties may want to take the above conversation to the PM system before a moderator wacks it.