[2008] what is known on here about SellMyTimeshareNow.com?

[ChrisJedi]

I have looked at SellMyTimeshareNow.com and have spoken with one of their reps. I have not signed up yet, as I wanted to hear what you guys have to say. They are asking for an upfront fee of $399 for a $4500 sale price listing, so I am a bit uncomfortable about that... but you don't have to pay anything else (no broker's fees or anything).

They list your ad on 3 main timeshare sites with full color and well-written blurbs. Their sites do indeed come up first on search engines so if a buyer is looking they will see their sites (your ad) first. They've given me actual statistics and figures and have been realistic with me about what I can expect to get for my timeshare based on other similar timeshares that are selling at my same resort.

These people seem to really know what they're talking about. I Googled them and just about everyone on Amazon has rated them very high and says that they did indeed get results from this website. Just go look at the reviews. Type in "sellmytimesharenow review" in Google and look at them.

I realize that it is a unanimous recommendation not to pay up-front fees, but this company is also supported by the BBB and is recommended on the Today Show. They really seem legit and their website talks in cold, hard facts. It really seems like a good deal.

Does anyone on here have experience with this site and/or what do you guys think about it?

 

[sjuhawk_jd]

Stay away!

Stay away from all of these sites or brokers that ask for upfront fee for selling your timeshare! Even after 1 year, you will still own your timeshare minus the upfront fee.

 

[tlsbooks]

What I find amazing when I look at the Amazon reviews is that the all but one of the "so pleased" customers have only one review posted on Amazon and it happens to be for Sellmytimesharenow.

Reviews of books/movies/other products..that's what I would expect on Amazon. But a timeshare review? Does Amazon even sell timeshare services. And all those people managed to find that one forum to post their one review?

Seems suspicious to me.

 

[tlsbooks]

Me being even more suspicious:

3 reviews on May 20, 2004

 

[dioxide45]

Do you know for sure that they are being realistic about the price of your TS? They are not in the business of helping people to price their units for sale. If they told you what your TS was really worth, you wouldn't waste a $500 up front fee to sell it.
Stay away from them and read the how to sell article in the FAQ for this forum.

 

[NTHC]

I have rented to them and from them for many years now and all transactions have gone smoothly.


Thanks,
Cindy

 

[Lingber]

I am a newbie to timesharing. I decided to buy Disney a few months back after planning another very expensive trip and realizing a DVC membership would benefit our travel needs! I did alot of research online and ended up purchasing a resale. During my research, I found TUG and BBS. I began reading about other timeshares and decided I liked the Hyatt program based mostly on what I learned on this board. I visited the frequently recommended sellers page and then began researching sellers on the internet. I am prefacing with all this because, I too found Selltmytimesharenow and looked through their listings (as well as other sites, including ebay) extensively. I ended up inquiring about a listing on the sellmytimesharenow site, filled out the form and received a reply from the owner. After some negotiation, we are in contract and have sent the paperwork off to a closing/title company of my choice.

Many more experienced timeshare user's don't advocate using sites like sellmytimesharenow but as a buyer, it worked out really well for me. And I assume the seller because he saved paying a big commission.

FWIW and IMHO, if you have a desirable timeshare, good week, location, etc and you are willing to price it around what similiar weeks have sold for, then their site has great exposure! If your week has alot of competition and will not command a higher price point, then many here suggest ebay. I think it really must depend on what you are selling. I just wanted to point out that that there is someone (me) who did actually purchase with a seller advertising on this site.

Here is a link to recommended sellers on this board http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17673

 

[Carmel85]

Chrisjedi,

I do not know why you do not try selling your timeshare here on Tug and on ebay! Ebay has low fees and you can start the price very low with a reserve so if you get your price great if not you just lost your small listing fee but in return you will see exactly what your timeshare is worth.

What are you trying to sell exactly? I sure many people on this board can tell you what your timeshare is worth.

 

[Stefa]

If your price is realistic, you will be able to sell using sellmytimesharenow. The only difference between using them and someplace like redweek is that it will cost you a whole lot more. Personally, I like them better than most of the other upfront fee places because the buyer gets to work directly with the seller, but I wouldn't sell with them because I can sell on redweek for much less.

I don't think the fact that they show up first in most search engines is worth several hundred dollars, however. If your timeshare isn't worth anything, the $500listing fee will take a big chunk out of any possible proceeds from the sale. On the other hand, if your timeshare is worth so much that $500 is only a drop in the bucket, most buyers are going to comparison shop and not buy the first thing they find.

I haven't been to smtsn recently, but if they told you how much they receive in "offers" each month/year, you should know that the way their site works you can't even ask a seller a question without putting in an offer. You can put zero, but I'm guessing a lot of people put in a dollar amount even if they are just window shopping, thus increasing the total value of offers received without resulting in a sale.

In short, if you use them you are paying several hundred dollars for something you really don't need, but you will likely sell if your price is reasonable.

 

[Patri]

I went to their website and had some trouble with the search. I checked out a particular resort, and the prices are what the owners think they are worth, not what they are selling for on eBay. I think a sharp buyer won't waste much time making an offer that should be 1/4 of the asking prices. The owners get so insulted with the market-based offers.
I recommend another route to try to sell.

 

[Purefct]

I have advertised on SMTN, RW, CL, eBay and TUG. I rent and sell a lot of units and have 30 ads on SMTN, thousands of ads on CL, dozens on eBay and at one point 21 ads on RW. I have limited TUG experience do to a misunderstanding (Marketplace says all ads are free but when I posted 40 ads they decided to charge me. I understand TUG decides I'm not an individual even though I personally own the units but the "Free" statements are not clear at all about when fees are charged).
- I get better rent and sale prices from SMTN but not as many inquiries.
- I receive A LOT of inquiries from RW but very few bookings.
- I got the most inquiries and bookings from CL (a free site, go figure) but at times there are too many bargain hunters so the ratio of inquiries to bookings is very high.
- eBay is only useful if you're giving away the unit. Only 10% of my listings were acceptable prices, but if you need money eBay is the best site to get some!
- TUG appeared to have strong responses to my ads but since I only had them open for a few days I am unable to share whether I feel the rental prices were worth while!

 

[e.bram]

Shill for SMTN?

 

[TUGBrian]

Please note on the page you are asked to "read and then click I agree to continue" prior to posting any ad, you are informed of the broker fee of $3 per ad. However like many other areas, instructions and information is simply glanced over or ignored completely.

the fact that you have 30 ads on one site, thousands on another, and dozens on ebay...pretty much makes you a broker instead of an individual member trying to rent out his or her timeshares personally. It matters little if you own all these properties or not.

It was not the intention of the marketplace to offer free ad space to those who are renting or selling timeshares for profit as a business.

The $3 per ad fee is 70% less than what TUG used to charge for ads, we feel its more than acceptable as we are not a timeshare resale website, nor do we intend to become one.


However everyone is free to judge for themselves.

 

[AwayWeGo]

Selling Timeshares Is Best Considered A D. I. Y. Proposition.

Does anyone on here have experience with this site and/or what do you guys think about it?

Click here for a (hypothetical) clue.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[Purefct]

shill? Judging shows your ignorance

Thanks for judging me e.bram without knowing me. I'm going to post my web page showing my links to all my ads to SMTN after this post. I assume TUG will delete the post but even if they do I have posted a very accurate picture of a number of sites, both pros and cons. Rather than judge everyone as a liar because they say something you don't agree with, perhaps you can help people instead.

 

[Purefct]

[TUG rules do not permit you to post links to your Ads in the forums. For more information, please click on "posting rules" in the blue bar at the top of the page. - DeniseM Moderator]

 

[Purefct]

Brian,

I agree $3 for an ad is a great price. And if your site were up front about this last month I would be using TUG for advertising. Unfortunately the idea that I overlooked your notice about the $3 is not an accurate portrayal. I carefully reviewed 4 or 5 web pages last month which heavily emphasized FREE UNLIMITED ads with a very light reference to the words "for individuals". I suspiciously read each document on each page I had to read before completing my first ad. I do this because I buy timeshares from timeshare companies, and I deal with a lot of not quite full disclosure people and I'm always working to figure out where the catch is. SMTN is a great site, but I had to work very hard to sort out their catches. For example, they make a big deal out of the sales and rental volume their site provides to owners. that is somewhat confusing. The words they use are accurate, but they are worded in a way to convey the impression that COMPLETED sales and rentals are what they are talking about when they are really talking about OFFERS. Offers and bookings/sales are clearly different but most people listen to the sales rep and believe the reps are talking about completed/booked deals when they are not.

I understand you are treating me as a broker. But that's not why I'm unhappy. I'm unhappy because even though I quoted to TUG on each of the pages (I had printed them before placing my first ad) where it says free unlimited and no mention of any fees anywhere, and I read all the text of the agreements which I printed and quoted the same thing back to TUG, TUG refused to add this clarification to their site and refused to honor what they were advertising.

I'm glad that NOW, a month later, you HAVE added it to your site such as at
http://www.tug2.net/timesharemarketplace.html
"(please note that brokers, which are members posting or renewing more than 25 ads a year will be subject to a $3 per ad fee for each ad over the limit, since 99.9999% of our members will never reach this limit, you all can feel free to post away!)"

That is exactly what I was asking you to put on your site last month. I'm just sad you refused to do it, then terminated my Marketplace membership, then decided to put the information on your site in an appropriate manner.

I understand people might say "$3 is not much, just pay it". All I was asking for was fairness. TUG Marketplace said free unlimited with no mention at the time about fees for large advertisers. I offered to pay for the ads when they were renewed, since you had now informed me I would have to pay. I did add the condition that I only wanted to pay if you published it on your site. But instead of providing some customer service and recognizing your site might not have been clear on this topic, you chose to ban me from advertising. I just don't understand why you would refuse to add the clarification on the site, then you did it anyway.

 

[TUGBrian]

actually, after you repeatedly refused to listen to anything and simply demanded I let you post all your ads for free. I chose to discontinue arguing with you, told you that you didnt owe TUG a dime for anything...and refunded your membership.

while you can be free to quote all the pages you want that mention unlimited ads, you STILL had to click "i agree" to the ad warnings and guidelines page before posting EACH AND EVERY AD, which explained the fee for brokers.

I terminated your ads and your membership because after numerous emails and phone calls, all you wanted to hear was that you could post as many ads as you wanted for free despite the rules of the site.

I offered you to remove a number of your ads to come in under the limit and you refused, I offered you everything that every member gets on the site with their membership, and you again refused...you merely wanted to argue.

I personally dont have time for that, and its certainly not worth my time over $15 dollars. You obviously didnt feel that 25 free ads with your membership was worth it, and you demanded that all of your ads be free constantly repeating the same thing over and over on the phone.

It was at that point I removed your ads, refunded your membership fee, and cancelled your membership since it was obvious there was no way to satisfy you in any way short of letting you abuse the system and post all of your ads for free.

You dont owe TUG any money, and you were given a complete refund on your membership as we obviously cannot satisfy you in an acceptable way.

There is nothing more to discuss on this matter, and it has nothing to do with the thread at hand. further offtopic posts will be removed, as you have already violated the posting guidelines by posting your ads here.

 

[Robert D]

Purefct, I think it's pretty suspicious that you come charging in here with a total of 8 posts touting how great this SMTN website is. I've looked at SMTN and think it sucks. All I saw was a bunch of overpriced TS's. TUG charges $3 per ad over the limit, what does SMTN charge? I went on their site and it could find no place where it says what they charge - you have to fill out a form and I guess someone calls you to try to drag lots of $'s out of you. The people on TUG are not the audience SMTN is looking for - they are knowledgeable and don't easily fall for scams. You should be going after the same market as Timeshares Only - people who are not knowledgeable about what their TS is worth and think that you have to pay some firm big $'s upfront to get rid of it only later to learn that they are dealing with a company that's in the business of collecting upfront fees, and not in the business of selling TS's.

 

[malyons]

CL = craigslist? is it best to post the rental/sale ad on the city's page in which you're renting/selling? probably a stupid question as i don't know where else would make sense, but I don't know much about craigslist.

 

[AwayWeGo]

How We Do It -- Not That We've Even Close To Being Craig's List Experts.

CL = craigslist? is it best to post the rental/sale ad on the city's page in which you're renting/selling?

We figure people looking on Craig's List for (say) Orlando timeshares are apt to start looking in the Orlando section of Craig's List, so that's where we put'm when we want to rent'm out.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virgnia, USA.​

 

[e.bram]

I wonder if SMTN charges less than $3.00 for volumn posters?
i know the said my $1.00 TS(at best) was worth $10,000.00 and they would get the seller to pay the closing costs. I wonder how the previous pays less than TUGs $3.00 request of he is a shill.

 

[Purefct]

I did not intend to lead anyone to believe I was saying that SMTN is an economical place to place an ad. Based on the thread to date I thought it was already clear they charge a lot, and up front. I also concur with e.bram that some of their listing sales people tell owners to list their ad a lot higher than it can sell for and lead them to believe it will sell at that price.

I agree that, differences aside between myself and TUG, TUG appears to be an excellent place to list units. The community forum has been a source of valuable information for me. I'm sorry if you find it suspicious I haven't posted much in the two years I've been a member. Please read my first post though. My intent was to help provide a comparison between the sites based on my experience. I am sorry I did not realize I should have included pricing I've experienced.

But I don't agree SMTN is a bad site. It is better organized than most (search and sort based on resort, region, unit type, etc), and as I said most of the buyers/renters who book via that site tend to pay better than RW, eBay, or CL. Again, I can't compare to TUG since I got cancelled.

I placed my first ad with SMTN because at the time the sales guy did an excelent job of showing me that their site was the number one timeshare site for traffic in the world. Now I believe VRBO has that title, which I can't believe because it is very difficult to filter down to a specific resort or week or unit. At the time I did not know about TUG, although I wish I had. Would have helped avoid the dispute they and I have. I wish I hadn't trashed the printouts I had of the guidlines and terms from last month, but I did, so I have nothing to validate my point and TUG has finally changed their site so it's a moot point. I never said I wouldn't pay for TUG ads. I asked TUG to honor what the site said and I'd pay when the ads renewed if the site listed the fees. TUG decided I was difficult and as they said they refunded my Marketplace membership and cancelled it.

Anyway, SMTN is expensive. My first three ads 5 years ago were $800, then they agreed to charge $100/ad after that. Now, however they want $400/ad and I think it's too much. All my ads are perpetual. I believe (it's been 6 months since my last rate inquiry) they currently provide three options. 1) a 1 yr rental ad for $200, 2) A never ending rent/sale ad (like all of mine) for about $800, 3) A sales program thru an affiliated site for $1,500. Usually they charge the $1,500 up front but twice last year they brought a buyer to me and we worked the fee out to be a part of the sale price to the buyer. I sold a DRI Powhatan Wk27 4BR LO for $7,500 plus the $1,500 and just last December a 2BR DRI Scottsdale Villa Mirage for $3,500 plus $1,500. Last week they brought a buyer to me for a DRUSC (DRI FL Trust) where I could have sold 10,000 points for $2,000 plus the $1,500 fee ($3,500) but I'm selling those for more elsewhere and I passed. Mind you, I've been with SMTN for about 5 years and these are two of six units I've sold thru their site out of about 30 ads. This is not high volume (for sales, but I do a lot of rentals) and some of my units take years to sell. If you want to sell quick, dump your unit on eBay, although I believe setting a competitive market price on TUG would work pretty quick as well!

Please let me be clear, I feel SMTN sales people (for getting owners to list) use higher pressure and are somewhat misleading. But that doesn't detract from the fact their site is effective. I'd like to try TUG again, but by their response it doesn't look likely. In my experience, SMTN is more worth their money than RW is, even though RW costs far less. I think TUG is probably far more effective for owners than RW.

 

[AudraLee]

timeshare

We were successful with our timeshare resale and we paid approx. 1,000 for the listing. The agent was very friendly, informative, and highly professional. I recommend calling and asking for her (Anna). She showed us that redweek, cl, ebay, all these free places are lacking two of the biggest legal aspects of timeshare resale: brokerage and closing. These other agencies offer nothing but an advertisement where as this company had a licensed agent take care of our buyers, and all closing was done through their licensed and bonded company. it made us happy knowing that they had an incentive to sell for us! When it comes down to it, its your price and your timeshare, they do deliver on what they sell, which is the highest marketing, the brokerage and the closing of a timeshare.

 

[Saintsfanfl]

We were successful with our timeshare resale and we paid approx. 1,000 for the listing. The agent was very friendly, informative, and highly professional. I recommend calling and asking for her (Anna). She showed us that redweek, cl, ebay, all these free places are lacking two of the biggest legal aspects of timeshare resale: brokerage and closing. These other agencies offer nothing but an advertisement where as this company had a licensed agent take care of our buyers, and all closing was done through their licensed and bonded company. it made us happy knowing that they had an incentive to sell for us! When it comes down to it, its your price and your timeshare, they do deliver on what they sell, which is the highest marketing, the brokerage and the closing of a timeshare.

Thanks for the plug, Anna.