Timeshare Resale Scams

The timeshare resale industry has a lot of “boiler room” companies that are only out for one thing, YOUR MONEY.  They will say just about anything over the telephone for you to earn their trust and hand over your payment information.

Some of these timeshare resale companies will stop at nothing just to get your money.  You see, that is how they make their money and they have to keep signing up new customers/victims to keep the cycle going.  We will save that post for another day and break down how people are paid and where the money can possibly go to.  Instead let’s focus on what a lot of the timeshare resale scam companies are saying over the telephone.

• We already have a buyer waiting – This is a very common thing that a timeshare resale telemarketer will use over the phone and highly illegal.  Chances are their is nobody waiting to buy your timeshare, that is just the bait they use on the hook to lure you in with.  You are thinking they are as high profile as they claim to be and will get the job done.  So you hand over your payment information and the scam has been set.  You can call the company a few weeks, a month or 3 months later and they will tell you the same story.  “The seller fell through, we are currently in the process of working with a new buyer”.  Sad thing is their is no new buyer as their was never an original buyer in the first place.
• We can sell your timeshare in 30-60 days – Another promise made by a timeshare resale company that is just looking for the next scam victim.  Timeshare properties are not like a house, they do not sell that fast and in some cases they do not sell AT ALL.  So for any timeshare resale company making this claim, stay away from them as they are just after your hard earned money.
• Large upfront fee – This is done by just about every timeshare resale company out their that uses telemarketing as their main source of advertising to make money for the company.  The fee’s can be as little as $300 and go into the thousands of dollars depending really on how good the sales person is in manipulating and if the person on the other end of the line falls for it.  It does not matter if you pay $300 or $2,000, you still get the same thing as everyone else…a small ad that will be shown on their website and possibly thrown into a book for people to flip through in their showroom.
• Drastic price drops – When you begin talking with the timeshare resales person, they say the marketing fee is only $795 and your response is that is to much money.  Not a problem, after a few minutes you are told they can drop the price to $595 if you sign up today.  Once again you back away from the price so they either ask to put you on hold to get a manager or just do it themselves…the drop the price yet again!  Now it is only $300 but you have to sign up today with the timeshare resale company to get the low discounted price.  What a load of CRAP! Before it was $795, but now it is magically $300 for the exact same thing?  That is called a price drop and is very common in the industry.
• We have a high volume showroom – Think of a showroom like a car dealership.  You walk in and find brand new cars scattered all over the place.  Well in the timeshare resale industry they love to lie and tell you about the luxurious showroom they have that get’s all of this walk in traffic from people on vacation.  First ask yourself this, when on vacation how many timeshare resale showrooms do you see?  Out of the 1 in a million, would you take time away from your family and vacation to walk into one and inquire about more information?  Chances are slim to none as walk in traffic to these showrooms that in many cases do not even exist is highly unlikely.  Yes some timeshare resale companies do have a showroom, but it also doubles as their office space as well for all of the sales people.
• I just sold that resort last week/month – While on the phone with the timeshare sales person, they get all excited that you own “Example resort name” as they just sold that same property last week or last month.  That sales pitch will make many people feel confident in the fact that the company can truly resell my timeshare for me.  This is just another part of their sales pitch that is used to lure people into the trap of handing over either their credit card or checking account information.
• We can sell it for more then you paid for – So the sales person informs you that they can get more money for your timeshare then what you had originally paid for it the first time.  The short version (look for a follow up post regarding this) is the value of the timeshare itself drops by 50%-70% as soon as you buy it.  So if you paid $20,000 for your timeshare property, how in the world will it be resold for more then that?  The truth is it WILL NEVER SELL for more then what you paid for.  At most you could see $10,000 if you are lucky and living in reality.

Before choosing any timeshare resale company, especially one that calls you out of no where.  Think twice about what you are being told, the main goal for a timeshare resale telemarketer is to get your money.  Plain and simple, most of these timeshare resale scam companies do very little advertising for you and in a rare case actually sell a property.  More information will be added to this site to help inform the general public about the timeshare resale industry that is turning into an epidemic for scam rooms all over the United States.