Purchasing RCI Points

[LandenChase]

What is the best avenue to purchase RCI points at a discounted rate. I heard somewhere that Ebay was a good place to start. Would people have recommendations on how to get a hold of more points, and also is it worth the extra $?

 

[Bill4728]

There are three factors in buying a resort which will generate RCI points.

1. Cost to buy
2. Cost to close
3. Ongoing cost ( Maintenence fees)

Generally ebay has some of the best cost to buy but can often have high cost to close. You must research the ongoing cost yourself.

A couple of other things:
You must make sure when you buy a resort which some weeks are in RCI points, that the week your buying is also in points and that the point membership will transfer to you at little or no cost. Sometimes this isn't true. The resort may be in points but the week for sale hasn't been converted or the resort has a policy in which with change of ownership you need to reconvert( this is not common but also not unheard of).
Also the number of points a weeks gets will change if the resort loses it ratings ( gold crown to silver crown).

Good Luck

 

[gorevs9]

What is the best avenue to purchase RCI points at a discounted rate. I heard somewhere that Ebay was a good place to start. Would people have recommendations on how to get a hold of more points, and also is it worth the extra $?

One method is to purchase a 3 year lease
http://www.tugbbs.com/class/showproduct.php?product=988&cat=69&limit=views&date=1157909772
Annual fees vary based on point values of the lease. At the end of the three years, you can walk away or renew.

Other options include...

1. Buy a low cost/low MF unit at another Points resort
2. Buy a low cost/low MF unit at another Weeks resort to use with the Points for Deposit program (with either of these two choices you now have another TS you may not be able to sell down the road)
3. Rent points from RCI at $.02/point (sufficient for small one time purchases)
4. "Transfer" points from another RCI Points member

Each of these has it's own pros and cons.

 

[Egret1986]

What's the best option for extra RCI Points on an exchange by exchange basis

Other options include...

1. Buy a low cost/low MF unit at another Points resort
2. Buy a low cost/low MF unit at another Weeks resort to use with the Points for Deposit program (with either of these two choices you now have another TS you may not be able to sell down the road)
3. Rent points from RCI at $.02/point (sufficient for small one time purchases)
4. "Transfer" points from another RCI Points member

Each of these has it's own pros and cons.

What are the cons of transferring points from another RCI Points member or renting points from RCI? Is there somewhere I can be directed to where these are advertised (transfer from another member)?

I have always owned weeks resorts (since 1984). Two years ago I bought my first RCI Points timeshare with 59,000 points. I used my first year of points for a plane ticket since I didn't really need another week for vacation stays. I used my second year for exchanging for a great summer week back into my home resort. I just used next year's points (borrowed from 2009) for a 2010 vacation. That left me with 7500 points from next year. Lo and behold I see this great last minute unit at the beach for 8,500 points. What a sweet deal. I purchased 1000 points from RCI Points in order to get the week. The extra points cost me $20. I was very happy to get that exchange using only 7,500 points plus 1,000 purchased for $20. I'm really beginning to see some of the great benefits of RCI Points to the point I'm all tapped out of points until 2010. Would I be able to buy the complete amount of points for a last minute Points exchange (9000 or less) from RCI? That would be a fantastic deal to me at $180 + fees. I question if I could because when I called RCI Points about my hold on the above last minute exchange, the VC indicated he would have to check first to see if a Points purchase was available for that exchange. If I do a last minute exchange with my RCI weeks resorts, I'm getting a week for a week. This was incredible for me to get this exchange with a total cost of $244 (exchange fee+points cost+RCI points purchase). I'm salivating about taking advantage of more of these last minute availabilities close to home that don't require advance airfare purchases. Or should I just use PFD, which my weeks resorts are eligible for?

Any input from you savvy RCI Points folks would be greatly appreciated!

 

[gorevs9]

Would I be able to buy the complete amount of points for a last minute Points exchange (9000 or less) from RCI? That would be a fantastic deal to me at $180 + fees.

You can only rent 50% of the points required for the transaction, so no, you could not rent the entire 9000 pts.

What are the cons of transferring points from another RCI Points member or renting points from RCI? Is there somewhere I can be directed to where these are advertised (transfer from another member)?

I haven’t seen too many ads related to “selling” RCI Points, though I did find one listing several months ago on RedWeek. Any “sales” need to be handled discreetly, since RCI probably prohibits the actual “selling” of points.

Or should I just use PFD, which my weeks resorts are eligible for?

If you need to obtain the 9000 points a PFD might work out for the best, since that transaction should be able to be handled quickly by RCI, and you have the excess for more 9000 pt vacations.
Also if your TS is a lock-off you can consider doing a PFD for one portion of the unit, or you can do a separate PFD for each portion of the unit and get more points that one PFD for a combined unit, though you will have two PFD fees.
Finally, check the Last Call Vacations, many times the same resorts are offered for both Last Call and the 9000 point last-minute deals.

 

[AwayWeGo]

Linka-Linka-Linka.

One method is to purchase a 3 year lease
http://www.tugbbs.com/class/showproduct.php?product=988&cat=69&limit=views&date=1157909772

That's the outdated link for which nobody yet has been able to find a current replacement on TUG.

Click here to view something similar that's on some other timeshare web site (not that there's anything wrong with the other timeshare web site).

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[Egret1986]

You can only rent 50% of the points required for the transaction, so no, you could not rent the entire 9000 pts.


I haven’t seen too many ads related to “selling” RCI Points, though I did find one listing several months ago on RedWeek. Any “sales” need to be handled discreetly, since RCI probably prohibits the actual “selling” of points.


If you need to obtain the 9000 points a PFD might work out for the best, since that transaction should be able to be handled quickly by RCI, and you have the excess for more 9000 pt vacations.
Also if your TS is a lock-off you can consider doing a PFD for one portion of the unit, or you can do a separate PFD for each portion of the unit and get more points that one PFD for a combined unit, though you will have two PFD fees.
Finally, check the Last Call Vacations, many times the same resorts are offered for both Last Call and the 9000 point last-minute deals.

Thank you for the info. I was contacted after my post about renting points from a TUG member. But you're right, I think the PFD would probably work best right now. And, yes, I will check Last Call; though the area I'm looking at doesn't seem to show up there.