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Happy with our eBay purchase! (by Mack F.):

A lot of people (like me) come to this forum wondering about the best way to acquire a timeshare. As a complete newcomer, I do not claim to be an expert on timeshare economics or on timeshares purchased on auction sites - I just want to report on my own personal experience in case it will help any other folks out there ...

My parents and I attended a timeshare presentation in Orlando purely to get a free stay in a resort. We declined purchase, but couldn't help being intrigued by the idea of timeshare point ownership. I came home and began researching timeshares online, as was eventually inspired to check out eBay.

We bought a Florida timeshare already converted to RCI points for about a third of the price of the unit being offered to us at the place we stayed. There, they could only promise that our week could be converted into "points"; they could not give us any clue about how many points we might get - there was a vague statement that "Interval International will assign your week a point value later". On eBay listings, you can see upfront how many annual points your purchase will be worth. I chose to bid on a unit with a high number of points + an affordable maintenance fee.

My family's purchase is complete now, and we are able to log into the RCI website and make vacation reservations. I think it's safe to say at this point that our eBay experience was successful. My only complaint is that the transaction took four months to complete. I don't remember it taking so long to get the deed to our home, and this time we were buying the equivalent of a splinter of wood compared to an entire house!

The gentleman we purchased from was very communicative and helpful throughout the process. He readily helped us out when there was a mistake made by the title company in charge of the deed transfer.

In summary, my family is very happy with our timeshare purchase. Although it is advisable to be careful when making real estate deals on auction sites, I would purchase from eBay and Mr. Ochoa again.

Mack F.