RCI Points on EBAY

[mishpat]

Under the category of" If its too good to be true, it probably is," why are there RCI Points deals in EBAY that seem incredibly good? What are the usual catches? What should the Buyer (me?) be careful about?

 

[nightnurse613]

Recurring maintenance fees (points to $$ cost); special assessments. There are numerous discussions regarding what is good but the initial investment (plus closing costs)-which you seem to think are exceptional need to be balanced with recurring maintenance fees and any looming special assessments. By the way, there have been discussions regarding these great deals. The truth is, this is a great time of year to buy. People would rather sell than pay another maintenance fee!:whoopie:

 

[AwayWeGo]

Better Deals Than Ours Are Out There On eBay.

The guys who sold us our eBay timeshare points last year have another points package up on eBay right now that looks like it could turn out to be a better deal than we got, depending on whether the bidding stays low. That is, it's double the points for about half the yearly maintenance fee.

In buying resale into RCI points, we wanted to make sure the points timeshare week we were buying was already converted to RCI Points (it was), & would stay converted upon ownership transfer to us (it did). So what we paid was the total of our winning eBay snipe-in bid, our transaction cost for closing services (deed preparation & recording, resort ownership records transfer, etc.), & our RCI Points initiation fee. Soon after that we were billed for our 1st year's resort maintenance fee, as expected.

Sure, it would have been nice to get twice the points for half the annual fees. But in our case we're not talking lots of points or all that much money. Our points timeshare is 1 of the dinkiest around -- only 15,000 points per year. We bought it just as a toe-hold into the points system so that if we choose we can do Points For Deposit with our regular non-points timeshare weeks at our other regular non-points timeshare resorts. By doing that (a couple of times now) we've built up our points account balance to 91,500. Lately our RCI reservations have all been via Instant Exchange & Last Call, & if that continues 91,500 points will be plenty.

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

 

[bogey21]

We bought it just as a toe-hold into the points system so that if we choose we can do Points For Deposit with our regular non-points timeshare weeks at our other regular non-points timeshare resorts.

I did the same thing as Alan and have never looked back. My total cost for 19,000 points annually was exactly $1,000 (which included purchase price, closing costs, RCI Fee, and 1st year's MF). What I have now is a Week with a $450 MF which generates 19,000 Points, a poor Points/MF Ratio, but when you take into account PFD, 9,000 (sometimes 7,500) Point Reservations and Last Call, I consider it all money well spent!

Looks to me like there are two ways to look at RCI Points: (1) Try to get the most Points for the lowest MF, or (2) try to find the lowest cost of entre in order to be eligible for PFD, Low Cost-45 day reservations, and Last Call. Those of us who are retired probably like Alternative 2, while those still working (often with families) probably like Alternative 1.

GEORGE

 

[mishpat]

Before paying Ebay(seller), how do I insure myself, as Alan wrote, that the t/s has both already been converted to Points and more important, will not revert back to Weeks after the first years ownership has passed? This does seem like the crux of the issue so thank you for pointing this out to me.

 

[AwayWeGo]

O.K. To Call Up & Ask.

Before paying Ebay(seller), how do I insure myself, as Alan wrote, that the t/s has both already been converted to Points and more important, will not revert back to Weeks after the first years ownership has passed?

Rightly or wrongly (rightly as it turned out), I had confidence in the eBay seller. (Shucks, with so little at stake for that el cheapo points timeshare, I wasn't risking much in any event.)

Otherwise, it doesn't hurt to call up the resort & ask what's what. (In my case, it's not at all difficult to play dumb.)

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

 

[nightnurse613]

Well, we bought points at a points resort. Using the same philosophy others have used (toehold) we bought 27,500 points. Just got our annual assessment for $250. I would say once you buy into a points resort it doesn't matter if it reverts (I own weeks at a points resort so I would guess you could own points at a weeks resort).

 

[GadgetRick]

Are you talking about buying a TS which you can convert points to RCI?

Sorry, I'm a little confused on what you're doing here.

The Rickster

 

[AwayWeGo]

"Points For Deposit" Is 1 Thing. "Conversion" To Points Is Another.

Are you talking about buying a TS which you can convert points to RCI?

Sorry, I'm a little confused on what you're doing here.

The Rickster

I bought a low-cost resale timeshare week that was already converted to points & that stayed converted after I bought it. That was my smalltime entry into the RCI Points system. By becoming an RCI Points member that way, I gained the option of depositing the other timeshares I already owned -- regular non-points timeshare weeks set up to exchange through the old-fashioned week-for-week system -- into the points program instead if I want. RCI calls that Points For Deposit. It used to be free, but now RCI charges $26 every time I deposit a straight non-points timeshare week into their points system. (It's still free to deposit a regular timeshare week into the conventional RCI week-for-week timeshare exchange system.)

Points For Deposit is not the same thing as converting a timeshare week permamently over to the points system. As a practical matter, yes, Points For Deposit "converts" my use of my straight-weeks timeshare over to RCI Points. But Points For Deposit is a year by year option, depending on whether I want to keep on doing it. I can do Points For Deposit some years & not do it in other years if, for example, I want to use my timeshare week myself without any kind of exchange, if I want to rent it out, or if for any reason I'd rather go for a straight week-for-week timeshare exchange in any particular year. I can do Points For Deposit this year & next year, then skip the following year, then do Points For Deposit once again the year after that -- it's all up to me. By contrast, once a timeshare week is converted over to RCI Points, then it stays in the points system year after year automatically, generating points for the owner's use within the RCI Points timeshare exchange system -- year after year, that is, so long as the owner keeps on paying the annual resort maintenance fees (just like all other timeshares) & remains a paid-up member of RCI Points.

Conversion to points & Points For Deposit have some similarities in that both are ways of getting timeshare-exchange points out of a timeshare week. But in addition to the difference in terminology there are also so major administrative differences within the RCI Points system of how those 2 features work. It's not really all that complicated once I caught on, but until I did catch on it confused me mightily & actually held me back from buying into the timeshare points system, even in my penny ante kind of way, until I did grasp the distinctions between conversion to points on the 1 hand & Points For Deposit on the other hand.

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

 

[BillR]

Before paying Ebay(seller), how do I insure myself, as Alan wrote, that the t/s has both already been converted to Points (CALL RCI) and more important, will not revert back to Weeks after the first years (DEPOSITS ARE FOR 3 YEARS) ownership has passed?

 

[wbtimesharer]

I did the same thing as Alan and have never looked back. My total cost for 19,000 points annually was exactly $1,000 (which included purchase price, closing costs, RCI Fee, and 1st year's MF). What I have now is a Week with a $450 MF which generates 19,000 Points, a poor Points/MF Ratio, but when you take into account PFD, 9,000 (sometimes 7,500) Point Reservations and Last Call, I consider it all money well spent!

Looks to me like there are two ways to look at RCI Points: (1) Try to get the most Points for the lowest MF, or (2) try to find the lowest cost of entre in order to be eligible for PFD, Low Cost-45 day reservations, and Last Call. Those of us who are retired probably like Alternative 2, while those still working (often with families) probably like Alternative 1.

GEORGE

I had purchased a points resort in Orlando last year off of EBAY that ended up having incorrectly stated weeks usage and severly understated MF. The resort ended up going back to the seller. I just bought a Tennessee unit off of EBAY that I sniped and didn't expect to get. Ended up getting the 25,100 point account for a total of $619 out the door with a .13 ratio.

I was beginning to lose hope that I would be able to find a resort that fit my purchase price and ration expectation. Best of all, the unit allows me to float weeks 1-21, 36-39 and 44-52 if I decide to use the unit rather than the points. Even better I can reach it by car in 10 hours.

Life is good.