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Marriott offers on Ebay are freaking me out!

W

WelcomeHome

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I've been reading the threads on this board about all the great deals on ebay. I've never bought or sold anything on ebay BUT I would love to own a Platinum Manor Club at a great price so I decided to simply take a look on ebay.

It winds up they do have a Manor Club (original MMC which sleeps 6) Platinum where the highest bid is $845. This is making me crazy - is this for real? I'd gladly bid more than that if I knew the bid I placed had a reasonable chance of passing ROFR.

Here's my questions: Is this legit? What bid price I should place that has a realistic chance of passing ROFR? Do I have to open up some sort of ebay account before I place my bid? Any help here would be greatly appreciated.

Best wishes,
Dave
 
The final sale price will undoubtedly go higher. You can't look at prices on an ongoing auction and think they are a steal or crazy. Most auctions start off at $1 and go up slowly, there will be a flurry of bids in the last few minutes of the auction.

Don't worry about ROFR. Marriott is rarely exercising ROFR these days, and if they do there are plenty more weeks to bid on. Make a reasonable bid on the week you want. Only you can determine your price. Many people here however are expecting resale prices to continue to drop.
 
WelcomeHome said:
I've been reading the threads on this board about all the great deals on ebay. I've never bought or sold anything on ebay BUT I would love to own a Platinum Manor Club at a great price so I decided to simply take a look on ebay.

It winds up they do have a Manor Club (original MMC which sleeps 6) Platinum where the highest bid is $845. This is making me crazy - is this for real? I'd gladly bid more than that if I knew the bid I placed had a reasonable chance of passing ROFR.

Here's my questions: Is this legit? What bid price I should place that has a realistic chance of passing ROFR? Do I have to open up some sort of ebay account before I place my bid? Any help here would be greatly appreciated.

Best wishes,
Dave
Click to expand...

Make sure that the seller has a positive feedback of 98% or more, that they have been sellers on e-bay for at least a couple of years, and make sure to never buy from a company that uses a closing company that isn't licensed and bonded. Always put your money into escrow with a licensed bonded closing company, so that your money won't be released to the seller until all paperwork is done and the deed is transferred.

Get the name of the current owner and week/unit number on the deed and call the resort to see if there are any back taxes or back MF's owed on that unit. Verify if it is a Platinum, gold, etc week, if it is annual use, and if any assessments are due or coming due at that resort.

Research the seller here on TUG loking for good and bad reviews. Don't write a seller off because one or two people don't like them. I have purchased many weeks from a seller that has a thread currently under buying and selling talking about them. A couple of people have complaints, but if you read all the way through the seller has refunded all money on any weeks that weren't as described. Be careful but don't miss a week because one or 2 people have a complaint that the seller had mistakes in their ads. Most mistakes can be uncovered by you by using due dilligence, and if they aren't all good sellers will refund your money if the week isn't as advertised.

Don't bid based on ROFR. Most any price you buy a week for will pass ROFR. Bid based on the most you would pay for the week for sale. You can use a snipe service which will bid for you in the last 2 seconds hundreds of times up to your maximum bid. Snipe services are why so many bids go up so fast in the last minute. You don't want to put in your max bid days in advance because people can keep bidding up to your max and then beat you by a few dollars. In the last few seconds people can't up their max bid to beat yours, they have to have beat your max bid in advance.

I have purchased over 15 weeks off of e-bay and I have only had one serious problem, and that was when I was new to e-baying and din't research the week and seller. Good luck and you can't buy a week anywhere I know of cheaper than on e-bay.
 
tombo said:
Always put your money into escrow with a licensed bonded closing company, so that your money won't be released to the seller until all paperwork is done and the deed is transferred.
Click to expand...

That discounts almost 50% of the sellers on E-Bay. Even some of the ones that do use a "separate" closing company is really in the same building and owned by the same people as the seller. The whole thing about mandating a closing company not only irritates me but also is in most states illegal. I think they are hoping for many people who don't know better or don't care. These are the same sellers that indicate in their add that the auction is binging even though per E-Bay rules they are not.
 
There are a lot of problems with sellers making you use their closing companies, but if you use credit card to pay and/or paypal you have some extra protection.

The sellers say that the auctions are binding to try and prevent people from winning the bid who aren't interested in actually buying. The sellers can't enforce it, but I do understand their bluff. If you have 4 people bidding, 3 of of who would actually buy the week, and the winning bid goes to a bidder with no intention of following through with the purchase then the other three might not ever bid again when it is relisted. The seller lost real bidders and has to relist the week thanks to a bidder who got cold feet or was never serious. If I was selling a week on e-bay, I too would like the person who placed the winning bid to actually buy the week.
 
Last edited:
Its not that unusual for an auction to have a low price up until the very end. However I do think that prices are going to continue to drop. I also think there are going to be many steals to be had when maintenance fee bills start to get received and units are put up for sale.
 
tombo said:
If I was selling a week on e-bay, I too would like the person who placed the winning bid to actually buy the week.
Click to expand...

I agree with this statment. However; I think they misleading and really don't have a leg to stand on if the winner doesn't come through. No strikes against the bidder as they often suggest. The E-Bay policy is clear though always way down at the bottom of the page.
 
gmarine said:
Its not that unusual for an auction to have a low price up until the very end. However I do think that prices are going to continue to drop. I also think there are going to be many steals to be had when maintenance fee bills start to get received and units are put up for sale.
Click to expand...

I think the recently anounced changes may also lead to extra weeks out on the resale market, though this may be matched by more people buying resale due to the lessened benefit of the points exchanging option.
 
I am still waiting to see if these ebay weeks are actually passing ROFR. Until some Tuggers tell us they are the ones getting them and they passed, I am skeptical. I am checking the ROFR database. I saw a MMC pass for 7100 recently.
 
If you do use eBay then be sure to use your own escrow agent. It is the Buyer who has to pay for the closing, so by selecting your own closing company you can be sure they represent you.

Don't let the seller dictate who the closing company will be.
 
TheTimeTraveler said:
If you do use eBay then be sure to use your own escrow agent. It is the Buyer who has to pay for the closing, so by selecting your own closing company you can be sure they represent you.

Don't let the seller dictate who the closing company will be.
Click to expand...

I agree in theory, but many sellers say use who I say or don't buy. It is a situation where you have to decide if you want to miss the purchase on principal, or succumb to the seller and buy the week. I have argued with several sellers after I purchased, and all said it specifically states in the ad that you have to use XYZ closing company. Virtually all of my 15 plus weeks I have purchased off of e-bay were purchased using their closing company because they required it.
 
tombo said:
I agree in theory, but many sellers say use who I say or don't buy. It is a situation where you have to decide if you want to miss the purchase on principal, or succumb to the seller and buy the week. I have argued with several sellers after I purchased, and all said it specifically states in the ad that you have to use XYZ closing company. Virtually all of my 15 plus weeks I have purchased off of e-bay were purchased using their closing company because they required it.
Click to expand...

+1

The half dozen or so auctions I participated in, the buyer had no option to select the escrow company. You just need to research the escrow company (typically one of half a dozen you see time and time again) and determine whether the stated escrow fee is reasonable.
 
dioxide45 said:
I think the recently anounced changes .
Click to expand...

What changes are you refering to? Is it the one about the reservation restriction. I started that thread about 1 year ago and have not heard as of yet.

Thanks
B
 
davis6 said:
What changes are you refering to? Is it the one about the reservation restriction. I started that thread about 1 year ago and have not heard as of yet.

Thanks
B
Click to expand...

I was referring to the changes in the MR points program and recent devaluation of the program.
 
Jpollo said:
+1

The half dozen or so auctions I participated in, the buyer had no option to select the escrow company. You just need to research the escrow company (typically one of half a dozen you see time and time again) and determine whether the stated escrow fee is reasonable.
Click to expand...

In many cases their fees are not reasonable. Usually $100-$150 higher than you can get on your own. I am thinking this is the sellers kickback from the closing company. Though I will give them that in many cases the closing fees do cover recording fees.
If you want to push the issue the seller can not go through with the sale, however they may get some unwanted digging from the state AG if you file a complaint. As long as the buyer is paying the closing fee then the seller can not dictate who to use.
 
dioxide45 said:
In many cases their fees are not reasonable. Usually $100-$150 higher than you can get on your own. I am thinking this is the sellers kickback from the closing company. Though I will give them that in many cases the closing fees do cover recording fees.
Click to expand...
While it true the fees are higher than you can get on your own, the closing company may have to do extra work that we aren't aware of. Like transfer the deed from the owner to the seller than a second time to the buyer. This is because the seller may not own the TS but simply be an agent or have POA.
 
Bill4728 said:
While it true the fees are higher than you can get on your own, the closing company may have to do extra work that we aren't aware of. Like transfer the deed from the owner to the seller than a second time to the buyer. This is because the seller may not own the TS but simply be an agent or have POA.
Click to expand...

This may be true, but the end result to me the customer is the same. So those fees are high when compared to the same service I can get at other places. It isn't my problem that this is how they choose to operate.
 
dioxide45 said:
In many cases their fees are not reasonable. Usually $100-$150 higher than you can get on your own. I am thinking this is the sellers kickback from the closing company. Though I will give them that in many cases the closing fees do cover recording fees.
If you want to push the issue the seller can not go through with the sale, however they may get some unwanted digging from the state AG if you file a complaint. As long as the buyer is paying the closing fee then the seller can not dictate who to use.
Click to expand...

escrow company kick backs are actually illegal in many states. The reason the fees are so high is because of how many of these resellers acquire packages. Often times, they are not licensed and they need to title company to do double closes to avoid licensing law. That costs more to do.

If you are in any way uncomfortable with that business model, perhaps you should work with a licensed agent with a standard brokered transaction. It's safer since your money is in escrow and the licensing law gives you consumer protections.
 
Thanks...

tombo said:
Make sure that the seller has a positive feedback of 98% or more, that they have been sellers on e-bay for at least a couple of years, and make sure to never buy from a company that uses a closing company that isn't licensed and bonded. Always put your money into escrow with a licensed bonded closing company, so that your money won't be released to the seller until all paperwork is done and the deed is transferred.

Get the name of the current owner and week/unit number on the deed and call the resort to see if there are any back taxes or back MF's owed on that unit. Verify if it is a Platinum, gold, etc week, if it is annual use, and if any assessments are due or coming due at that resort.

Research the seller here on TUG loking for good and bad reviews. Don't write a seller off because one or two people don't like them. I have purchased many weeks from a seller that has a thread currently under buying and selling talking about them. A couple of people have complaints, but if you read all the way through the seller has refunded all money on any weeks that weren't as described. Be careful but don't miss a week because one or 2 people have a complaint that the seller had mistakes in their ads. Most mistakes can be uncovered by you by using due dilligence, and if they aren't all good sellers will refund your money if the week isn't as advertised.

Don't bid based on ROFR. Most any price you buy a week for will pass ROFR. Bid based on the most you would pay for the week for sale. You can use a snipe service which will bid for you in the last 2 seconds hundreds of times up to your maximum bid. Snipe services are why so many bids go up so fast in the last minute. You don't want to put in your max bid days in advance because people can keep bidding up to your max and then beat you by a few dollars. In the last few seconds people can't up their max bid to beat yours, they have to have beat your max bid in advance.

I have purchased over 15 weeks off of e-bay and I have only had one serious problem, and that was when I was new to e-baying and din't research the week and seller. Good luck and you can't buy a week anywhere I know of cheaper than on e-bay.
Click to expand...


Great post! Thanks for those tips and reminders.
 
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