Ebay Rentals - anyone ever scammed as a renter?

[GoodTimes]

Has anyone had any issues renting Timeshare weeks on EBay from owners? I have only rented on TUGBBS, RedWeek...and no issues yet.

For the EBay listings, the seller might only have 5 historical transactions. It looks like owners need to be eBay Travel Verified? Does that mean anything? Also any preferred payment methods?

Thanks in advanced, I just don't want to have any issues.

 

[flatiron]

Hello- I am a member on eBay since 2000, and have bought a few things but never sold anything. As a result I have relatively few comments in my feedback section. I recently posted a timeshare week for sale and in order to do so I had to become "eBay Verified". This means I had to upload documentation that I am the owner, (reservation in my name, deed etc.). My understanding is I can only accept payment via PAYPAL, which charges a 3% fee. This is in addition to the 10% "final value fee" they charge. We'll see how it goes, this is a first for me!

I am also thinking of posting this unit on TUG. How is payment done here and is there a cost associated besides the $15 annual fee? I may be able to lower my asking price a few hundred dollars on TUG depending on fees. I'm only looking to break even on my maintenance fees. Let me know your experience here!

 

[dgalati]

Hello- I am a member on eBay since 2000, and have bought a few things but never sold anything. As a result I have relatively few comments in my feedback section. I recently posted a timeshare week for sale and in order to do so I had to become "eBay Verified". This means I had to upload documentation that I am the owner, (reservation in my name, deed etc.). My understanding is I can only accept payment via PAYPAL, which charges a 3% fee. This is in addition to the 10% "final value fee" they charge. We'll see how it goes, this is a first for me!

I am also thinking of posting this unit on TUG. How is payment done here and is there a cost associated besides the $15 annual fee? I may be able to lower my asking price a few hundred dollars on TUG depending on fees. I'm only looking to break even on my maintenance fees. Let me know your experience here!

Good luck on the rental. It is very hard to cover maintenance fees if you don't book a very coveted or high demand week. On the Wyndham side If you are not a VIP it gets much harder in the 60 day discount window to compete when Wyndham VIP owners are passing along their 50% discounts and free upgrades. Quote below sums up why pricing is overly competitive.

It's also because it can be an overly competitive rental market. It's based on the age-old marketing law of supply and demand. If the supply exceeds the demand, like it is for most rentals available, then the rental prices are going to plummet.

Let's say I have a week that I want to rent out. My MFs are $1000. There are other owners in the same boat in the same area. Let's say, for round numbers and argument's sake, there are 100 owners (myself included) who want to rent out their week but there are only 90 people who want to rent. What do I have to do to be one of the 90 owners who get at least some money for their week and not among the 10 who get nothing? The answer: Price it below what the others are charging.

Unfortunately for me and the other owners, there are 99 other owners who are thinking the same thing. Hence, a "reverse" auction ensues. Owners are going to undercut other owners in their prices, even if it means charging less than the MFs. Even if I have to price mine at $800 when everyone else is listing for $900 or more, I'd rather get $800 than be stubborn and get nothing.

Remember, the renter(s) do not care one iota what the owners pay in MFs. They just want to pay the lowest price.

 

[GoodTimes]

Hello- I am a member on eBay since 2000, and have bought a few things but never sold anything. As a result I have relatively few comments in my feedback section. I recently posted a timeshare week for sale and in order to do so I had to become "eBay Verified". This means I had to upload documentation that I am the owner, (reservation in my name, deed etc.). My understanding is I can only accept payment via PAYPAL, which charges a 3% fee. This is in addition to the 10% "final value fee" they charge. We'll see how it goes, this is a first for me!

I am also thinking of posting this unit on TUG. How is payment done here and is there a cost associated besides the $15 annual fee? I may be able to lower my asking price a few hundred dollars on TUG depending on fees. I'm only looking to break even on my maintenance fees. Let me know your experience here!

Thanks for the view from your side. Those fees are much higher than I thought. From searching older posts it looked like owners could upload any deed (not that specific week/location). But that may have changed. It does seem to be more secure than craigslist.

 

[Tank]

eBay would be pretty safe because you have to provide personal information to partake.
Redweek could be a safer option as well to get it rented. Again you have to provide personal info weeding out scammers.
TUG has more potential for scams do to anyone can contact you without being a member.

good luck!

 

[montygz]

I have rented more than 30 times on ebay and all the transactions were smooth. On ebay you can see the history and feedback of the seller, of which many have been renting timeshares for years.

Sometimes you'll get a newbie timeshare renter, but most have sold and bought other items you can check. Also, you can exchange messages with the seller.

I have always used paypal to pay, which was easy and convenient.

The downside of ebay is that the selection is a bit limited, mainly to the most-popular spots, like Orlando.

 

[Sandy VDH]

I just rented out my first week using Koala. ( https://www.go-koala.com/ ) Rented out using several other places, but generally don't like the hassle of posting weeks and waiting. So I don't generally use the various boards to rent. But thought I would try Koala.

I am waiting on the payment process now, before I come back and indicate the end to end process, since this is the first time I have rented. Commissions costs are a little higher than other forums, sure, but I only have to pay IF the person rents and the rental actually happens. So I priced their commission into my asking price.

As for other comments on this page, I agree that there are too many people giving away timeshares at barely their cost, or even lower, at times, on TUG. People come to TUG because they know they can get it at below market. I too am Wyndham VIP but I rarely rent on TUG. I did turn down a request on Koala because whoever was asking wanted a spring week in a 3 BR at Bonnet Creek for less than my actual cost. So I declined, but someone agreed to rent it. So someone either has far lower costs than me, or they are desperate to cover some of their costs and agree to rent it for less than cost.

I am not desperate, and I do not want to encourage or foster behavior that the renter is getting something for LESS than it costs me to provide. I may find I have to get there, but that day is NOT here yet. Kicking the can down the road is what is happening for now at least.

The key to renting at a premium is to find hard to get places and unit sizes at hard to get times.

 

[montygz]

If you are trying to rent your unit on ebay, especially for a popular place like Wyndham Bonnet Creek, there is a lot of competition and right now there is more supply than demand which is depressing prices.

I just looked and there are nearly 400 listings for WBC units. The prices are also lower than have seen in years.