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How do you safely buy Timeshare on Ebay

C

Carl

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Location
Naples, FL
If I want to buy a timeshare on Ebay, what is the safest way to do it? I have bought other items on Ebay and the seller usually wants his money within a few days, I am not comfortable doing that will a large amount of money. I would want to go through an escrow company, but am not sure exactly how that works with Ebay. I have heard of some people being scammed on timeshares through Ebay. Any advice?

Thanks

Carl
 
I would avoid any seller who is not willing to go through escrow. Make sure it's a well known and established escrow company. Scammers have been known the create phony escrow services online to transact their fake Ebay auction.
 
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i always call the broker and find out details

if I can't find a phone # or main office from a google search--then I don't buy.
 
Only Bought 2 eBay Timeshares -- Both Went Through OK.

The 1st time we bought an eBay timeshare was in 2003. The seller, a commercial timeshare resale broker, goofed up the listing by describing 1 timeshare in the item heading & telling about a completely different 1 in the detailed item description. I believe the confusion turned off most potential bidders. We were specially interested in the resort named in the eBay auction title & we did enough checking to find out that both timeshares -- the 1 in the title & the 1 in the description -- would be outstanding at a favorable price & we'd be happy with either 1. So we sniped in a winning bid during the closing seconds & snagged an outstanding Floating Diamond 3BR Orlando lock-off timeshare week (the 1 in the title, as it turned out, not the 1 in the description) for $1,925 -- not the lowest price ever (we met somebody shortly thereafter who snagged a whopping big eBay UDI worth 3+ weeks at the same resort for about what we paid for our 1 week) but still pretty good. Closing costs & resort transfer fee were added to our winning eBay bid. I think we paid by cashier's check -- sent it to the timeshare closing escrow company specified in the auction -- weren't into PayPal back then.

Part of our pre-bid checking was to look at the seller's eBay feedback -- not just the total feedback numbers, but specific comments from previous buyers as well. We looked at the seller's previous completed transactions, too -- those that were still retrievable on eBay. The seller's past customers were all happy, so that boosted our confidence.

In 2005, we felt the need for some timeshare points on an el cheapo basis, so naturally we turned again to eBay. Snagged 15,000 annual points for $152.50 -- plus closing, RCI Points membership, the year's maintenance fee, resort transfer, etc., which all told came out to right around $1,000. Seller is in the timeshare resale biz -- has an "eBay Store."

Coincidentally, I won the eBay bidding for a (used) eBay French horn right about that same time, with a non-snipe winning bid of . . . $152.50 (plus $22 shipping).

As with our 2003 eBay timeshare bid, before bidding in 2005 we checked out the seller's feedback numbers & specific comments -- all A-OK. We even had some E-Mail back & forth with the seller while we were deciding whether to bid. The seller was prompt, polite, responsive, & informative -- in addition to having favorable eBay feedback. So we sniped in with confidence, won the bidding, & paid f-a-s-t via PayPal. We sent the money to the seller & the seller sent the closing fee to the timeshare closing agent.

That was August 2005. In September we received our deed & RCI Points application. By the end of October we were up & running in RCI Points -- all expectations met or exceeded. Naturally we added to the seller's favorable eBay feedback.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.
 
I will bid if
1. the seller is using a closing company or I can pick a clsoing company that refered by TUG. then I will try to see some of the information seller put on the listing about the unit is acceptable or not by asking seller and call resort. And have all my concerns to the seller in writing.
or
2. If the seller is a broker, and using its own closing company, I will check the response rating s/he gets from other buyers, if there is enough history, I will make sure they are selling what they say.

Jya-Ning
 
We also recently bought another TS on Ebay. Purchased from the Holiday Group, one of the big Ebay / Web TS resellers. We didn't use escrow because of the small dollar amount and Holiday's reputation.

But if I were buying from an unknown the three things which would make me feel comfortable are:
- an escrow of my choice
- an esstopel letter from the TS which confirmed all details about the purchase
- Personelly talking with the seller. You can quickly get an idea if they're legit by speaking to them.

Good Luck
 
Look at and read feedback. I only bid on TS from well known sellers who have almost perfect positive feedback.
Pay with Paypal since you will have some recourse with eBay if you need it.
Read the complete description carefully. Some sellers will either try to hide certain costs in the description or not tell you of some costs that will be due in the next year or so.
Ask any question if you have one. If the seller cant answer, ask for the contract number so you can call the resort yourself and ask.
Do your research. Check past auctions to see how much similar items have sold for. Plenty of people get caught up in winning an auction and pay more than they should. There will always be more auctions coming up.
 
FYI paypal protection lasts 90 days from payment. Often it takes longer to close (and therefore for problems to be uncovered) than 90 days. Just be aware of that. Funtime
 
Same advice here... Check seller feedback. I have purchased quite a few timeshare on eBay. Never had any problem. I also get unit number, week number and name of seller, and call the resort to verify ownership. But most importantly, seller feedback is most important!

Mai-Wah
 
suggestion for all of your ?s and more...
use the advanced search feature on TUG using keywords (eg. estoppel, ebay scam...)
good reading
 
Estoppel letter is a written confirmation signed by the timeshare resort that the week that you agreed to buy is actually the unit, week, etc. as described by seller. Also, it states if mf's are current, if any special assessment is due, etc.

Ebay auctions are NOTORIOUS for having incorrect information in the listings, i.e annual mf's, float/fixed unit/# of bathrooms, etc.
 
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