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I need help with instructions for listing your timeshare on Ebay for the first time?

boyblue

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I am about to list a timeshare on ebay for the first time.
I have registered as a seller and given Ebay a credit card for automatic charges.
I have decided on a buy it now price wich is about the same as my reserve price.
I have not included a week number because it is not a fixed week
I have selected red time althoug it is a points situation and the color designation does not come into play. I did so because I know when I search for timeshares I always have the red filter on.
I have set the starting bid at $1.00
I am working on a detailed description of the resort.

I'm sure i have overlooked some stuff or gotten something wrong here. Please help
 

DavidnRobin

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Good start - many eBay TS sellers do not know what they are even selling - be complete and honest about the TS - any reasonable buyer will search anyway.

Read posts about setting a reserve - there are buyer strategies to seek out what that price is.

There are good threads on eBay here - use adavnce search feature
 

T_R_Oglodyte

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I don't feel there is any need to set a reserve price on a timeshare auction. If your listing is accurate and complete and your opening price is low, your adi will generate interest and it will get bid to a reasonable level.

If you put a reserve on it, you will drive away a fraction of buyers who don't bother with reserve auctions. OTOH - if you create a no reserve auction with a low opening price, you are announcing to the eBay community that you are serious about selling the unit. That will generate attention.

You're better off doing the auction as a no reserve auction, settng the opening at a low level, and letting it rip. You will get a price that is close to the market value of your unit, again presuming that you have created an accurate and complete ad.
 

DavidnRobin

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I agree with this. This is a better strategy in dealing with sales on eBay - people want to think that they are getting a bargin - in setting a reserve or 'buy it now' - you lose those buyers (pure psychology) - even if it is a 'reasonable' price in your opinion

Of course you worry about having a severe underbid, and therefore the desire to set a reserve price. And eBay has real estate selling 'conditions' - that don't pertain to the buyer.

I don't think eBay (or the buyer) can really do anything (legally) if you have a severe underbid that you fail to follow thru. Except a BAD eBay rating (if you care), bad karma.... but there could be more to it now with new eBay restrictions (so make sure) if you have to bail.

I don't think this will be a problem if your TS has value.
 

T_R_Oglodyte

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re people not looking at reserve auctions.

It's not only a matter of psychology - it's an issue of bidders not wanting to waste their time on auctions that have no chance of concluding succesfully.

Often people have unrealistic expectations of what they're item is worth, and they set the reserve accordingly. Then they put a low opening bid, hoping to attract interest.

You begin to learn quickly that many of those no reserve auctions have no chance of being bid to anywhere near reserve levels, so the auction closes with the reserve not having been met. Any anyone who spent time doing due diligence, as a serious bidder will do on a timeshare, has wasted that time.

Consequently, there are a large body of viable bidders who simply don't spend any time on an auction that has a reserve.

*********

To repeat an eBay bidding story I've posted several times. I was renting a Club Regina Los Cabos week. I run 10-day auctions, and do a pretty complete description. No reserve, and very low opening bid (usually $10 to $25).

A couple of days after I started my auction, someone else started a 7-day. auction for an identical unit. They even cut and pasted my auction description to use in their description. But they set their auction up as a reserve auction with a $400 opening bid. Since their auction was a 7-day auction, it ended a day before mine did.

Their auction ended without a single bid. My auction had about 10 active bidders, and closed at almost $600.

When you put a reserve on an auction, you drive away bidders.
 

DavidnRobin

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(case in point) It will be interesting to see what happens in a few days with the eBay WKORV OF LO unit that has a set reserve at 'below' but near market value. {whatever that means} eBay is a good measure of true market value, just like selling a house establishes market value - and you want to market that property properly, and to have as maximize the number of buyers. For TSs, eBay allows buyers to gauge resale prices since they are transparent as normal home sales are.

I agree - sellers put themselves at a disadvantage with a reserve - understanding the 'true' value is key. It is human nature to overvalue their property. I also understand the desire to set a reserve to protect against underbids, but it is worth the risk. It is a lot different to have an item at a few dollars versus a few thousand, and that increases the seller nervousness - and the desire to have a reserve. BUT - it is an auction, and you want buyers bidding against one another - and not keep away any potential bidders/buyers whether it is 'finding a bargin' mentality, bidders who won't bid on a reserve price, etc.
 

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I won a minimum bid auction on ebay

The timeshare auction I won had a minimum on it close to final value.

The good news for the seller was the minimum was met. The bad news is that there were only 3 bids. My first bid, a second bid, and my winning bid.

I was happy to see a fairly high minimum on the auction, as no reserve/no minimum auctions lure bidders in, and they start to get emotional about winning the auction, and bid it up. I was only competing with one other bidder.

It is a risk that only you can determine if you're willing to take. I can tell you as a bidder I was very happy to see the minimum, knowing it would probably work in my favor.
 

T_R_Oglodyte

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With times that are worth thousands of dollars, the people you want bidding on your auction are serious bidders, which are bidders who know the market and true value. With a big ticket item the casual bidders are the ones who will underbid because they will be afraind of paying too much. Those bidders only enter bids that they are sure are not overbids, and because they don't know true value, that means their bids are underbids.

Serious bidders are the ones why are most likely to ignore reserve auctions. When you use a reserve auction, you drive away the bidders that you most want to have involved.

When you get bidding going that gets closer to true value, some of those less serious bidders will increase their bids because they no longer are as concerned that they might be overbidding. When they see ohter people bidding at that level, it's easier for them to increase their bid level. But that won't happen until you get serious bidders involved.

******

Now shift your perspective to that of the serious bidder, and you can see why serious bidders almost always snipe. If they get invilved in the bidding early, all they do is drive up the price by enouraging less serous bidders to raise their bids.
 

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Does it help if I mention what the reserve is or if I set the reserve at the BIN price and let it be known?

What's the worst that could happen if I make it a no reserve auction. Is it likely that a $2000.00 TS could go for $200.00?

If that were the case could I then mention it on the sightings board as the auction expired so that at least a Tugger would benefit?
 

boyblue

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I know Back Porch has that deal with Bidshares any of the closing companies have a deal on Ebay auctions?
 

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In an effort to set a fair price for my timeshare, I have been following a couple auctions for similar units on eBay. One auction stated that the reserve had not yet been met and the other stated that there was no reserve. Both set opening bids in the $4500-$5000 range.

Neither auction has had any bids during its 30-day listing. One auction has already closed without any bids and the other is due to close in a couple of days. Without any bids on those units, I am left still wondering how to price my own unit.

Based on zero bids, I would conclude that the fair market value of these timeshares is less than $5000; but some of the previous comments imply that perhaps the presence of a reserve and/or moderately high opening bid drove serious bidders away. Does that mean that these units might have come close or even above the $5000 range if the owner had used a different strategy by setting up the auction with very low opening bid without a reserve?

I was hoping that these eBay auctions would give me an idea of my own unit's worth, but the absence of bidding on these units leaves my wondering. I've seen many units go for incredibly low prices, or not get picked up at all even for a few dollars. Does that mean that all of those units are really worthless or just that their owners used poor strategy?

I know not to expect anywhere close to the amount I paid, but I am not ready to let my unit go for just a few dollars. I really believe my unit is worth something, I am just not sure how much. Can one really trust that reasonable bids are likely to come during a 30-day listing?

I can understand not setting too high an opening bit, but how do you protect yourself in an auction if you does not set a reserve? Are there any other strategies one needs to consider for eBay?

Thank you for any advice you can share.
 
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T_R_Oglodyte

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boyblue said:
Does it help if I mention what the reserve is or if I set the reserve at the BIN price and let it be known?

What's the worst that could happen if I make it a no reserve auction. Is it likely that a $2000.00 TS could go for $200.00?

If that were the case could I then mention it on the sightings board as the auction expired so that at least a Tugger would benefit?
Mentioning the reserve may help a bit. But you are then counting on serioius bidders actually reading the auction description to find out the reserve.

Many of them won't even look at the auction description if it's a reserve auction.

But the bigger question to ask yourself is why you feel you need to put a reserve on the auction in the first place. Doing a reserve does three things, all of which are bad:
  1. it increases your listing fee,
  2. it drives serious bidders away, and
  3. it increasees the probability you will conclude the auction unsuccesfully (thereby wasting the listing fee entirely).

So why do you want to do a reserve?
 

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T_R_Oglodyte said:
...So why do you want to do a reserve?

My questions/comments may be naive as I have never sold or purchased anything in an auction.

I always assumed that a reserve would offer some protection against the risk of offering my unit at the wrong time or place.

A while ago in another thread, someone suggested using an ebay auction as a way of getting a sense of fair price for your unit. They suggesting setting a low opening bid to attract attention but then setting what you think may be a reasonable reserve (not unrealistically high). If you don't get bids close to what you think your unit might be worth, then you might decide to stick with other resale options for a while. Perhaps it's just the wrong time of year to attract buyers for your type of resort. If you let it go for just a few dollars, you might be cheating yourself out of the chance to offer it at another time or place.

As noted in my post above, I've seen many units go for incredibly low prices or not get picked up at all even for a few dollars. I am not sure exactly how much my unit is worth, but I am not ready to just give it away.

Is eBay really just for people who have already given up on other resale options so they are ready to risk letting their unit go for next to nothing? Without a reserve, can one really trust that reasonable bids are likely to come during a 30-day listing?
 

T_R_Oglodyte

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tartanwood said:
... Without a reserve, can one really trust that reasonable bids are likely to come during a 30-day listing?
Yes!!

People who are knowledgeable, serious timeshare buyers go through the eBay timeshare listings regularly. There is no better venue than eBay if you want to ensure that your timeshare is viewed by a significant number of serious buyers within a 30-day period, provided you make it worth their time to visit your auction. And you make it worth them investing their time in your auction by putting it up as a no reserve auction with a minimum opening bid. To get their attention be sure the title of your auction flags it as a "No reserve" auction; most selllers do this by putting the abbreviation "NR" in their item title.

When you put the unit up on a no reserve auction with a minimum opening bid, you are inviting all of those people to come in and take a look. In contrast, if you list the unit in an ad at Redweek or a TUG classified, many of those same buyers will bypass your ad because it's not a resort they're currently interested in or your price might be too high. That minimum opening bid and no reserve auction lets people know you are truly serious about selling and invites them to come in and take a look. You will get buyers taking a look at your listing who would ignore your listing if it was a conventional ad, or a reserve auction.

***********

It's still a buyer's market out there. Look at the sheer number of timeshares that are listed on eBay at any given time. Do you have the time to pay even scant attention to every one ot those listings? Half of those listings? One-quarter of those listings? Even a tenth of the listings? Probably not, and neither do the people you want to visit your auction. Be sure you understand this: your listing is competing with every other eBay listing for the attention of the much smaller number of serious buyers.

Let me be blunt for a moment here and provide some thoughts from someone who has been involved in selling professional services for about 20 years. For those of you who are concerned that you might get taken advantage of if you do run a no reserve minimum opening bid auction, almost all of you are making a classic sales error. You are far too focused on ensuring success on your end of the transaction. If you want to sell your unit, whether it is on eBay or any other venue, you need to quit thinking like a seller and start thinking like a buyer. Quit focusing on how you might get taken advantage of. Once you've created a decent description of your unit and you've identified a location where you can put your listing in front of buying eyes, you need to obsess over how you can drive interest in the item you are selling, not how you can ensure you're not taken advantage of. If you don't make that switch in thiking, it is almost assured that you will end up selling it for less than it is worth, or you will fail to sell it at all.

It's a self-fulfilling prophecy - if your primary goal is to protect your interest in a transaction, you will come out on the short end in the transaction. You will either not conclude the sale (which will leave you stuck with an item that you've already decided you would rather sell). or you will be forced to make a deal in market where you've depressed the price by driving away potential buyers.

*************

Divide the world of timeshares into two broad classes
  • recognized ownerships. These are resorts that are sufficiently attractive that a listing of the resort will generate a reasonable numbers of inquiries from an ad listing.
  • unrecognized ownerships. These are resorts and weeks that aren't very popular and are not likely to generate any ineterest in an ad.

For the first type of resort, an eBay auction will probably net you somewhere between 80% and 100% of what you could realize in a conventional listing sale, provided you have described the unit accurately, properly, and completely. A badly written listing will drive down the net proceeds. The advantage of the auction in ths case is that it almost guarantees that a sale will be completed.

For the second type of resort, an eBay listing may well be the only way to attract interest.
 
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Wealthyes

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Great advice! You have inspired me to look at E-bay to try and sell my timeshare. I have two and would like to sell one of them for now and see what happens. Any other helpful information for a novice like myself would be appreciated. I am not a member of E-bay so I have to start from scratch. I want to sell my Mayan Palace (Riviera Maya) timeshare (Suite/Red Week/Floating) that I just bought last summer, is this a good (popular) timeshare in your opinion? Where do you think I could find the best description for this resort to help me in an E-bay listing? Thanks!

T_R_Oglodyte said:
Yes!!

People who are knowledgeable, serious timeshare buyers go through the eBay timeshare listings regularly. There is no better venue than eBay if you want to ensure that your timeshare is viewed by a significant number of serious buyers within a 30-day period, provided you make it worth their time to visit your auction. And you make it worth them investing their time in your auction by putting it up as a no reserve auction with a minimum opening bid.

When you put the unit up on a no reserve auction with a minimum opening bid, you are inviting all of those people to come in and take a look. In contrast, if you list the unit in an ad at Redweek or a TUG classified, many of those same buyers will bypass your ad because it's not a resort they're currently interested in or your price might be too high. That minimum opening bid and no reserve auction lets people know you are truly serious about selling and invites them to come in and take a look. You will get buyers taking a look at your listing who would ignore your listing if it was a conventional ad, or a reserve auction.

***********

It's still a buyer's market out there. Look at the sheer number of timeshares that are listed on eBay at any given time. Do you have the time to pay even scant attention to every one ot those listings? Half of those listings? One-quarter of those listings? Even a tenth of the listings? Probably not, and neither do the people you want to visit your auction. Be sure you understand this: your listing is competing with every other eBay listing for the attention of the much smaller number of serious buyers.

Let me be blunt for a moment here and provide some thoughts from someone who has been involved in selling professional services for about 20 years. For those of you who are concerned that you might get taken advantage of if you do run a no reserve minimum opening bid auction, almost all of you are making a classic sales error. You are far too focused on ensuring success on your end of the transaction. If you want to sell your unit, whether it is on eBay or any other venue, you need to quit thinking like a seller and start thinking like a buyer. Quit focusing on how you might get taken advantage of. Once you've created a decent description of your unit and you've identified a location where you can put your listing in front of buying eyes, you need to obsess over how you can drive interest in the item you are selling, not how you can ensure you're not taken advantage of. If you don't make that switch in thiking, it is almost assured that you will end up selling it for less than it is worth, or you will fail to sell it at all.

It's a self-fulfilling prophecy - if your primary goal is to protect your interest in a transaction, you will come out on the short end in the transaction. You will either not conclude the sale (which will leave you stuck with an item that you've already decided you would rather sell). or you will be forced to make a deal in market where you've depressed the price by driving away potential buyers.

*************

Divide the world of timeshares into two broad classes
  • recognized ownerships. These are resorts that are sufficiently attractive that a listing of the resort will generate a reasonable numbers of inquiries from an ad listing.
  • unrecognized ownerships. These are resorts and weeks that aren't very popular and are not likely to generate any ineterest in an ad.

For the first type of resort, an eBay auction will probably net you somewhere between 80% and 100% of what you could realize in a conventional listing sale, provided you have described the unit accurately, properly, and completely. A badly written listing will drive down the net proceeds. The advantage of the auction in ths case is that it almost guarantees that a sale will be completed.

For the second type of resort, an eBay listing may well be the only way to attract interest.
 

boyblue

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Well by the time I decided to go No reserve, my auction had already started. I could lower the reserve to the next highest bid. Will this improve my results with just 4 days left or should I let things run it's course on this 7 day auction and then do the 30 day no reserve. I'm in no rush to sell.
 

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Steve,

As usual, your thoughtful and thorough response to my questions has given me lots to think about. When I am finally ready to enter an eBay auction, I will think about reserves, opening bids, etc. from a whole new perspective.

I always thought of a reserve as safety net and I might have been tempted to "test the waters" just to see what kind of interest there might be knowing that I would not lose anything if my preconceived price was not met. Now I understand that such as strategy would probably be a waste of time and money and not give me the information I wanted, anyway.

Without the safety net of a reserve, I will proceed more cautiously. I realize that I will have to give much more thought to how I create my ad so that it will capture and then maintain interest in what I have to offer. In another thread, PerryM emphasized the importance of a well-crafted ad. It seems as though this is doubly important on eBay if you are going to keep a serious bidder interested after their first peek at a no reserve listing.

Again, thanks for a new way of thinking about eBay.

Bonnie
 

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tartanwood said:
... In another thread, PerryM emphasized the importance of a well-crafted ad. It seems as though this is doubly important on eBay if you are going to keep a serious bidder interested after their first peek at a no reserve listing.

Again, thanks for a new way of thinking about eBay.

Bonnie
I think a well-crafted ad is critical for three reasons:

1. You want the bidder to be drawn into the ad; to be encouraged to continue reading the ad. You can have all of the information in the ad, but if the viewer has to work to find the information, they are going to be driven away.

2. You want build the bidders confidence that they are dealing with someone who is familair with the unit they are selling.

3. There is a risk component in the pricing on eBay. If there are unknownn questions or issues, knowledgeable bidders will bid less to compensate for ths risk that they auction might not be as described, or that there might be information that has been left out of the ad.

Follow this link for an auction that I recently ran on eBay. Although it's a rental, it illustrates the factors I'm talking about.

BTW - the ad was prepared using Microsoft Word and saving the document as a web page.
 

tartanwood

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Thanks for example of good eBay ad

Steve,

Thank you for the good example of an eBay ad.

I notice that you include a "Buy it Now" price.

Is this good to do in most cases--for sales as well as for rentals?

Any reasons not include a "Buy it Now" price?
 

T_R_Oglodyte

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tartanwood said:
Steve,

Thank you for the good example of an eBay ad.

I notice that you include a "Buy it Now" price.

Is this good to do in most cases--for sales as well as for rentals?

Any reasons not include a "Buy it Now" price?
I'm kind of ambivalent abou the "Buy-it-now". This particular unit rented off auction for the buy-it-now price. If I do a buy-it-now, I put the buy-it-nw at the price I think the auction will go for. I think it indicates to bidders where you think the auction will end up.

As both a buyer and a seller, I don't like the way eBay does buy-it-now. With a no-reserve auction, the buy-it-now option goes away as soon as the first bid is entered. With a reserve auction, it goes away when the reserve is met.

I think the buy-it-now option should remain in place until it is either removed by the seller, a bidder selects it, or the bidding surpasses the buy-it-now price. (Of course, the person who first enters a bid above the buy-it-now should esercise the buy-it-now instead of putting in the bid.) Further, I think the seller should have the option to change the buy it now as the auction progresses, either up or down.

As a seller it gives me a way to end the auction by somply coming to a price agreement with a buyer. In fact, that often happens now; the seller and the buyer agree to a price off line, they complete the deal and the seller cancels all bids and ends the auction early. As a bidder, I may want to preempt other bidders and anybody who has a snipe set up.

Again, as a seller I may want to increase the buy-it-now if bidding is strong. Or I may want to decrease the buy-it-now if I think I've overpriced it. I can't see a good reason for eBay removing the buy-it-now option as they do. If they lift it in, more there would be fewer cancelled sales, and they would get more revenue because they would lose the selling fee from those early cancelled auctions.
 

funtime

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An argument for the reserve

I like to use a reserve and a BIN. As other posters have mentioned, a Buy it now (BIN) feature on a no reserve auction is almost worthless as it immediately expires on the first bid. There are several people who will bid 1.00 on a no reserve auction as soon as it comes out to lock it in so there goes your BIN. In my view, the BIN should be at least 10% higher than what you think the auction will go for and should only be used with a reserve auction.
As to the reserve, I suggest that it should be ten to twenty percent lower than what you would like to see the auction end at.
Think of a ten day auction in several segments:

No reserve -- serious bidders take no action for 9 days and 23 hours;
New ebayers play around bidding and may or may not bid it up. If they do not, a sniper may get it for much less than it is worth.

Reserve with reserve at 10 to 20 percent lower -- New ebayers play around and many try to bid it up, some just to see where the reserve is. Other bidders bid feeling that they are not on the hook since the reserve has not been met. Auction gets higher.
Day 8 or 9 - reserve has been hit, you have all the early bidders still interested and you have the serious last minute snipers still ready to play in the last day.

I have had auctions that sold with one determined bidder bidding up to the reserve. So, I like reserves. It is important to separate the reserve tool which I think is valuable from the misuse of the tool by setting it too high.

The worst offender in misuse of the reserve is by sellers putting a 30 day listing out there on their one and only unit and their own ebay score is 5 or less. These are sellers who do not really know the market. And 30 day auctions are not good. Ebayers are far too impatient to wait that long. I recommend a ten day auction starting on Thursday night.

Also, I see no advantage of telling people what the reserve is, especially in the text of the ad. Nor is their an advantage in lowering your reserve too soon.

Although I like ebay, at the present time, it is far better for buyers than sellers and other venues like bidshares or redweek might get you a better price. Good luck!
 

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Actually Funtime your post describes my mindset when I set up my auction. I have been thinking though that it may be better to set the reserve more like 20% - 25% below your acceptable minimum. I think the lower reserve displays a confidence in your product, price & the eBay process.
 

flapmyarms

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reserve and selling

We sold a timeshare on ebay and actually had a reserve price. In retrospect I don't think I would do it that way again because it sets a limit in the buyers mind. I agree that psychologically it is better to not have one so that the buyers bid each other up not knowing what the cap or expected price will be.

Also, make sure you know what your property is currently selling at your resort and list it in your ad. Also expect to only get 50-60% of that value. We even put in links to the resort in our ad.

I don't agree with a 30 day auction. This is too long. 7 days is plenty of time otherwise people will either get tired of checking, or other properties will come in that they might be interested in and abandon yours.

Be careful with realestate brokers. My wife spoke with one regarding our timeshare and after it sold on ebay, he tried to contact the resort and get our paperwork as if he had brokered the deal. Luckily our resort caught it but it caused a delay and we lost our first buyer.

Goodluck!
 

T_R_Oglodyte

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Personally, I like 10-day auctions, timed to cover two weekends. People do more looking on weekends. Two weekends maximizes the probability they will see your auction
 

DavidnRobin

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Resorts Owned
WKORV OFD (Maui)
WPORV (Kauai)
WSJ-VGV (St. John)
WKV (Scottsdale)
As to the discussion of setting a reserve - an eBay auction for an Ocean Front Lockout at Westin Kaanapali (WKORV) in Maui failed to have any bidders (I mention this on the Hotel-based section).

The seller (broker) set a minimum bid about 7K below similar units that are listed at the lowest prices on the main listing boards (TUG has 2) - not a reserve price, but similar in function I guess. Looks as if they would have been better off trying to create a bidding contest. Interesting - not a single bidder on a unit well below resale market - or maybe a new resale value.
 
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