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I don't believe anymore that real estate agents work very hard to sell houses. Certainly there are agents who work very hard to sell houses. But the process I've experienced suggests very few agents work had when selling. They work hard to get people to list and they work hard to keep their clients believing they are working hard selling. But in my experience, the real work is getting buyers to choose a house and buy it. Selling is all about listing the house on the MLS. It's the agents who bring buyers to the house because the MLS or websites relying on the MLS make the house available to be found that counts. There is nothing like this for timeshares. Some timeshares are on the MLS, some sites or companies work hard to provide what the MLS provides. But nothing works for timeshares yet (not even the MLS) like the MLS works for housing. A number of times (more than 10) I paid up front fees between $300 and $500 to have my houses (rentals, personal, and even a grandmother's) placed on the MLS where I did not use a broker to represent me. I still paid the buyer's agent 1.5%-2.75%. JayJay, I paid in advance to get listed on the MLS to save 1%-3% the selling agent would normally charge. That's a huge savings. I had to do the work the selling agent would normally do but I was comfortable with that. If you are unwilling to spend $500 for an option like this, it comes down to a few basic points: 1) You prefer to have an agent do the work and it doesn't matter how much additional money you are paying on the back end for this service. That's fine, but please stop insisting people who do it with the up front fee are doing something wrong. Especially in the case of regular homes, the MLS is the Valhalla of marketing engines and while sales agents can do a great job for people I get the feeling there is a lot of hype to what they represent they do. Getting listed on the MLS is what's critical. 2) If you're just going to refuse to pay an up front fee, nothing I can say to change your mind. Just recognize you wouldn't do it but it can be beneficial for others. Or do you need me to provide proof how I sold the houses so you won't call me an MLS shill? Unfortunately, the process of an orderly marketplace for timeshares is not as efficient as selling your home. Thus our dilemma. BTW, I have also sold a number of timeshares thru SMTN's broker service which I have previously mentioned as Timeshare Broker Services. The buyer has always paid the broker fee rather than me but I suppose this could be because I have so many listings with SMTN. I sold a few units thru TBS, one we are working on currently is a DRI US Collecitons 5,000 point contract. Currently the buyer is considering withdrawing because they want to get the contract back into Club and DRI wants to charge about $6k (re-sale buyer must buy about 2,000 points from DRI in order to get the resale purchase back into Club). IMHO it is DRI who is the scammer but DRI is doing what everyone would like to do - make some money. But I digress. I'm selling my 5,000 point contract for $1,500 with the buyer paying the broker fee to TBS of $1,500, plus closing costs and the resort transfer fee. I don't know the conversation between TBS and the Buyer. But TBS knows I won't sell a $1,500 timeshare and pay a $1,500 fee. I don't know the normal pitch TBS makes since my first conversation with Bob at TBS for the first unit he brokered has set the trend for my other sales thru him. In my case, we agree on a price which tends to be in line with what I'm selling my units for on my own, and the buyer pays all other costs at closing. Please don't call me a shill for TBS. Contact me via ad R416945 and in addition to asking to rent that unit you may also communicate with me about my docs for the subject transactions. I've already said my experience is probably different that for other people. Maybe a $1,500 lising fee is far too much. I have declined to pay fees this high in advance. TBS is licensed though, and they can take the fee on the back end and in my case they do so I assume there must be some way they make this work for other people as well.