Buying Timeshares on Auction Websites While many people still go through traditional method of buying timeshares i.e. through timeshare brokers or real estate companies the trend of buying timeshares through internet auctions is catching up. We hear many horror stories about people being scammed into buying timeshares which do not exist or sometimes are not up to the quality that they were promised or in wrong location. And these stories cannot be ignored because the number of people that have been cheated is unusually high and increasing by the day. And imagine yourself sitting in a presentation given by timeshare companies to prospective buyers. It is a traumatic experience as you will be subjected to sit for many hours and pressure selling techniques of the timeshare companies. They wouldn’t let you go unless and until you give some of commitment or sign some papers. All these happenings lead to the emergence of internet auction sites for timeshares. Now the buyers have the freedom from those unscrupulous sellers who adopt illegal techniques to sell their timeshares. Popular auction sites like eBay.com and bidshares.com allows users to buy and sell timeshares through their website. Although there are many other websites for timeshare auctions eBay.com and bidshares.com are the most reliable and safe websites to conduct timeshare auctions. These sites charge absolutely no upfront fee either to put your timeshare on sale or to bid on timeshare sales. They only charge after the bid is successful. When bidding on a timeshare few points have to be kept in mind. Try to establish communication with the seller as soon as possible and know whether the seller is responding well to your queries or not, if yes how soon and whether he is giving you the complete information or not. Internet auctions are also not fool proof against scammers and frauds, so beware of them. The above practice would eliminate few of the possibilities of you being trapped in some kind of scam. But it doesn’t mean at the same time that if the seller is not responding he may not be a genuine seller. Some people are not good at written communication; in that case making a phone call to enquire about the timeshare unit is not a bad idea. One more important point to remember while bidding on a timeshare is to do your homework in advance by finding out complete information about the property. The details would include name and location of the property, number of bedrooms, number of bathrooms, Exchange Company’s name that seller’s resort deal with, the date by which the property is ready to use, annual maintenance fee of the resort, and sizes of bedrooms and is there any assessment this year. Also do research about the selling price of similar units sold recently in that location. Do not hurry whether you lose or hurry, there may be a better property in waiting for you. Also it is not a bad idea if you determine the mode of payment before hand by contacting the owner. Although there are many methods of payment available a seller may have a specific preference. Also be watchful if the owner is not responding to this question. Also the auction websites provides seller ratings, feedbacks and transaction history. This very important to you as you may not want go to a seller with bad ratings or feedbacks. Also if you miss a bid by a whisker say $10, don’t be discouraged you may contact the seller that you are ready to buy the unit just in case if the winner retracts his bid. Even if it doesn’t happen you may get another unit if seller has multiple units. But never agree to pay over your bid price which defeats the purpose of an auction which provides an open platform for fair and reasonable bargaining but within the jurisdiction of the system adhering to the rules and regulations. PPPPP Word Count 654

• Time Share Investments