Tips For Selling Timeshares

There is a great big marketplace out there now for anyone selling timeshares on the Internet. I can’t even count how many different websites now purport to be facilitators of such transactions. Here we will take a good look at the best ways to sell your timeshare, both offline and on. We’ll also go over some general wisdom that’s out there. What are the best practices? What to look out for, etc.

Selling Your Timeshare on eBay or Craigslist

First of all, let’s take a look at two obvious choices of where people go when they’re selling timeshares: eBay and Craigslist. Yes, it is legal to conduct these transactions here, as long as your deed does not have a no-sale clause in it. Nowadays, more and more developers are putting these no-sale clauses in because they don’t want their owners selling their timeshares. Why not? I think it’s because it makes them look bad for their future customers when their current ones all want to get out of their agreements! I know that that is one thing I’d look at if I were buying a timeshare today: are all of this guy’s current customers doing whatever they can to get out of his obviously sub-par condos and vacation weeks. It’s definitely a sign that something’s up.

Anyway, you can start selling timeshares on Craigslist and eBay right away if you want. To sell on the first one you don’t even need an account. It just involves posting an ad. Then you will probably get some interested customers who will email you at your anonymous email address. You can pick through these to have further contact with the ones who sound like they might be legit buyers. Selling your timeshares in this manner is probably the number one new way to do it.

On eBay you would just put a listing of your property up and see how high it gets bid up. There is less chance of fraud here, because eBay and Paypal are involved in the mix and they have their big forceful selves to intimidate criminals. Of course you still have to proceed with caution, but that’s true in the real world, too.

Don't Expect To Get What You Paid For Your Timeshare

One thing I would caution people selling timeshares about is that you better be prepared to get some lowball offers. As soon as you bought that thing it decreased notably in value. (Maybe it was never worth that much to begin with.) I know that it’s typical for people not to even be able to sell their timeshare for anything at all. I’ve seen listings online where they are just trying to give them away. “Take it for free just let me out of this thing.” I even heard of one person who had to pay someone $2,000 to take it off her hands. I guess this is a “sale” in a certain sense of the word. Some timeshares are definitely worth less than $0.

Chances are that your timeshare is worth something. So the first thing I would do is figure out what you think it’s worth to someone who will actually use it to its full extent. You may not be able to get this amount, but at least you can use it as a figure to compare others’ offers against. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that it’s worth something like what you bought it for, unless you also bought it second hand from someone. In that case you might have a chance of breaking even.

What To Do Before Listing Your Timeshare For Sale

Before selling timeshares educate yourself thoroughly on the secondary market. The far and away best method of doing this that I know of is to join an online forum that has a high reputation. Make friends with a lot of the users who have been around a long time, and learn their secret wisdom. (And believe me, they do have that.) These people really represent the best information on the Net, and they can definitely help you if they develop a liking for you. Even if they don’t, you can just go through the archives of the site and see all the recommendations that have been dropped about selling timeshares. With this information in tow, you will be able to know if you’re getting ripped off or if you’re getting as good a price as is realistically possible from your sale.

That’s about it for my best tips on how to sell your timeshare, folks. The sad truth is that it will take some work and studying on your part, and you will probably have to take a pretty good hit versus the original price paid, but you can still salvage some of the value. And that’s the thing: most timeshares will have some value to someone. You just have to be able to find where that person is and make your “presentation” to him or her. There’s a market for virtually anything, and it’s probably sitting right on your desk.