Original Message:
Re: EBAY $1.00 TIMESHARE AUCTIONS DEVALUING ALL TIMESHARES .... (by KC):
carries25 states, quoted in pertinent part:
>>If I'm not mistaken, the $1 eBay sales are really $3000 or some such sales, as that is what the original owner is paid by the company selling them. << =======================================
Actually, Carrie, it's not really that way at all......... In specific regard and reference to the so-called "Postcard Companies", who auction off weeks on eBay which have been obtained from desperate timeshare owners, those desperate owners are the ones who have actually PAID the "Postcard Company" several thousand dollars to just "take the unwanted timeshare off their hands", so that they can get out from under it and terminate their ownership. The PCC then just "dumps" the week on eBay for whatever they can get for it, having ALREADY been paid several thousand dollars. Anything extra retrieved on eBay in the auction process by the PCC is just gravy for the PCC. The original owner gets not one nickel.
So in the end, the original owner(s) have paid whatever he/she/they bought the timeshare for in the first place, PLUS have also PAID OUT several thousand dollars more to the "Postcard Company" to just "take the timeshare off their hands". The Postcard Company is a pure profit operation (legalized theft, in my personal opinion) making thousands of dollars even if they "dump" that timeshare on eBay for only $1.00. The PCC then makes even more money with inflated closing costs imposed by their own "in house" closing company. Often, they don't even allow the buyer to choose or use a closing company of the buyer's own choice).
There are folks who believe that there are timeshare bargains to be found on eBay. That may be so, but I personally would never do business with any Postcard Company under ANY circumstances, regardless of any "bargain price", knowing full well that they have basically "stolen" that week from some desperate timeshare owner in the first place. Personally, I can't (and I won't) simply ignore how the PCC got that week in the first place just to get a "bargain" ---- but I also acknowledge that such a position / decision is one which every person has a right to make individually.
In fairness, not every timeshare listinge on eBay is by one of these thieving Post Card Companies, but many people on many timeshare sites believe (and openly state) that well over 90% of all eBay timeshare listings are actually by PCC's, operating under multiple, different names within each company. I don't claim to know if this statistical claim is correct, or how those claiming it have derived it. What I DO know with certainty, however, is that I personally will NEVER do business with ANY Post Card Company.