Bought Worldmark Membership on eBay

[arch53]

Well, I finally took the plunge, and bought my first timeshare. After being an observer on this site (I like that term better than "lurker") over the last few years and reading about all the various timeshare opportunities and options, tonight I bid on a 7,000 credit membership on eBay and won. I'm pretty excited. Since I live on the East coast, I expect mostly to use the membership to exchange through II. I have benefited enormously from the collective wisdom on this site and I think I put this knowledge to good use in purchasing Worldmark at a very good price( 7,000 credits for $2275 plus $299 closing fee plus $150 resort fee). I expect to l continue to use the knowledge to get the most out of the membership. Hopefully, I will be able to be a contributor as well as an "observer " now.

 

[cotraveller]

If you are planning to use WorldMark to exchange through II be sure to take advantage of the two years for the price of one deal II is offering to WorldMark owners. You need the code number which is in the Destinations magazine (online at http://www.worldmarktheclub.com/destinations/index.shtml ) to get the twofer offer. The current issue (October) shows the offer expiring on October 31 which is probably before you will get the account transferred to your name, but they have extended it every time so far.

Welcome to WorldMark, enjoy your ownership.

 

[arch53]

Worldmark Exchange Though II

Do you think I can join II before I close?

 

[cotraveller]

Do you think I can join II before I close?

I doubt it but it doesn't cost anything to try. Give II a call and see what they say.

 

[gmarine]

You cant join II until the Worldmark membership is transferred into your name.

 

[rhonda]

Welcome! You done good!

 

[Robert D]

Sounds like you got a very good deal. If you add bad the $299 excess closing costs to the price, you paid $.368 per WM point. Not sure I've seen any go that low but maybe some of the WM experts can comment on it.

 

[Bill4728]

7,000 credits for $2275 plus $299 closing fee plus $150 resort fee

That is by far the lowest price I've seen on WM points.

 

[pianodinosaur]

arch53:

Welcome to the wonderful world of timesharing. Use your TS in good health. Did you purchase points only or a deeded TS? If a deeded TS, where is it?

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

That is by far the lowest price I've seen on WM points.

Part of the general collapse of resale prices in the last several months. All assumptions from three months ago about what resales are no longer valid.

Lately VI memberships that earlier this year sold on eBay for $3000 to $4000 are now auctioning for less than $500. I saw one small contract recently that did not attract any bids even with a no reserve, $1 listing. I guess in the current market it wasn't worth the closing costs.

 

[spatenfloot]

Part of the general collapse of resale prices in the last several months. All assumptions from three months ago about what resales are no longer valid.

Lately VI memberships that earlier this year sold on eBay for $3000 to $4000 are now auctioning for less than $500. I saw one small contract recently that did not attract any bids even with a no reserve, $1 listing. I guess in the current market it wasn't worth the closing costs.

I think all timeshare prices will take a hit due to the worsening economy. If you can still afford to buy one, you should be able to find great deals from desperate sellers.

 

[Robert D]

Here's the link on the auction that she won: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=300266951799&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=020. I don't know that much about Worldmark but this one looks like it's a point membership, not tied to any resort and she gets 7,000 pts. per year. It appears the M&T's are the same as a 6,000 pt. membership.

 

[arch53]

Timeshare

Sorry for not getting back to the thread, I have been out of town. I bought a points only membership--my first foray into the timeshare ownership world. The information I picked up on this site as well as WMowners.com has been extremely helpful. Also by finally buying, it kind of feels like I'm joining a community that I've been following on this site for a while. It does seem like prices are down and I figured it was as good time as any to buy--- even if prices go a lot lower I'm happy with the purchase and now will try to use the information this site has provided to effectively trade through II. Worldmark seemed to offer the greatest flexibility for trading because of the ability to rent additional credits from other owners for a reasonable fee while still having pretty good trade power.

John
Falmouth, ME

 

[linnysue]

I'm happy with the purchase and now will try to use the information this site has provided to effectively trade through II.

I'm so green at this. I was wondering what you mean by trading through II?

 

[Bill4728]

I'm so green at this. I was wondering what you mean by trading through II?

Owners of Worldmark can use either of the two main exchange companies RCI or II. IMHO, II has more top end resort systems but RCI has many more resorts.

 

[ecwinch]

I'm so green at this. I was wondering what you mean by trading through II?

II = Interval International - an exchange company (you probably know this).

If you sign up with II (using the 2 for 1 deal mentioned earilier), and add your Worldmark membership at the same time, you can exchange your Worldmark points through II, just like if you owned a week at a resort. Your Worldmark membership will show up in your II on-line account, and you can use it to trade for other locations.

The amount of points withdrawn from your account will vary, based on season and unit size. If you look at the WM Owners Manual it will describe the process. It only talks about RCI, but the same rules apply to II.

You also can have WM deposit a week into your II account on your behalf. This is a useful strategy for obtaining an exchange for less points then using your generic WM week that appears in your account.

It can get a little complicated. More detailed information is available on the WmOwners.com site.

 

[LLW]

I'm so green at this. I was wondering what you mean by trading through II?

Are you a Worldmark owner? If so, this Vacation Exchange Information forum on WMOwners.com would give you a lot of detailed information on exchanging using WM.

Welcome to WM!

 

[linnysue]

Are you a Worldmark owner? If so, this Vacation Exchange Information forum on WMOwners.com would give you a lot of detailed information on exchanging using WM.

Welcome to WM!

No, I'm not an owner, but would love to find a 7,000 pt. deal like this. We joined a vacation club last Friday called Global Discovery Vacations and rescinded yesterday. I found mostly negative feedback on this company, so we decided to opt out of the contract.

I've had my heart set on WorldMark for several years now. We live in Utah, so this seems to be the best timeshare system for us. They have several properties within just a few hours driving time, so WM seems like a perfect fit for us. I love the flexibility of the point/credit system. I've been looking at ebay and TimeshareAngels resales. I'm pretty impressed with TA. Any guidance you can give me in purchasing WM resales is greatly appreciated.

Thanks, everyone, for your feedback on my question regarding Interval Exchange. I get it now.

 

[ecwinch]

I think you might do a little better on price, via e-bay. I would recommend setting up a saved search on e-bay, and have them e-mail you the results daily.

Monitor the auctions for a few weeks to get an idea on pricing. Be sure to factor in closing fees to your price point.

I have heard good things about TimeshareAngels, but I rarely see a fully loaded acct with them (2 years of points plus ability to borrow). They seem to strip off excess points for sale seperately. And their prices are a little higher than e-bay right now.

Have heard good things about how quickly they can close.

 

[arch53]

linnysue,
I saw that this old thread had been resurrected.Thought I'd just tell you what I did and it may or not be helpful. I monitored the WorldMark eBay auctions for several months and got a pretty good sense of the price ranges and general direction of prices. I also noticed that inexplicably there would at times be auctions for the same or very close to the same amount of points within days of each other that had a .10 to .15 per point difference. I was not always rationally able to explain the difference i.e. lower rated seller , fewer banked points etc. To this day I cannot really explain the difference in price in that sometimes occurs in similar point auctions within several days of each other. In any event, I establised a range in price per point that I was willing to pay and with the help of some information by some sniping specialist Tuggers on these boards, I used a sniping service to bid on a number of auctions. Finally, after at least several failed attempts, I ended up with the deal that started this thread. I kind of made buying a WorldMark membership a hobby for a little while so I did spend a fair amount of time researching and reviewing sales on eBay (my wife thought that I was a little nuts since I spent quite a bit of time on it).

So far I have been very happy with the purchase and my wife is slowly coming around to the idea that I'm perhaps not completely insane. In late January, We traded for a 2 bedroom unit at Coconut Beach Resort in Key West for a stay in March (March 7-March14) for 4,000 credits because we got it during II's flexchange period (59 days or less before check in ). We had an absolute ball at the resort and greatly enjoyed the people that we met there. The information on this board and on WMowners.com has been essential and I have spent many an evening enjoying the posts on this site. I have found this site to have an amazing collection of experts on not only timeshares but on a number of other topics as well (for example technology issues discussed in TUG lounge).

Hope this helps. There is some excellent information available here as well as some very nice and very smart people.

 

[linnysue]

Arch, I am so glad you noticed and replied. Thank you so much for these tips. I figure I am going to take my time as well with this and read and research as much as possible. I figure the best deals to be had are not during this time anyway but more towards the fall and winter months. We did get a vacation award from this last presentation we attended with Global, so we should have a nice vacation this year anyway. Heck, maybe I'll attend a WorldMark presentation and see what I can score. I definitely won't buy through a developer though. This I know without a doubt.

May I ask which ebay sniping service you used and did it cost?

 

[discorsage]

Are worldmark resorts available through wyndham points?

 

[arch53]

Sniping service

I used esnipe.com because one of the experienced Tuggers had used it and had had good experiences with it. There are certainly others but I have used esnipe for several eBay purchases now including the Worldmark purchase and have been very satisfied. The cost is 1% of the purchase price up to a maximum of $10 per auction, well worth the cost

 

[LLW]

Are worldmark resorts available through wyndham points?

There is a very limited number of units (about 30 out of almost 6,000 WM units, for all of Wyndham Vacation Resorts owners) available to Wyndham as an exchange, but you might have to buy from the developer in order to have that ability starting next February. If you want WM, you need to buy WM, and vice versa.

 

[discorsage]

Thanks LLW. Worldmark points look much more expensive than Wyndham points on ebay. Why such a difference?