How much will you spend to sell your timeshare?

[GateKeeper]

It is a commonly stated fact that up to 50% of the amount paid for a timeshare bought from a resort development goes towards the cost of marketing each unit sold. Applying some deduction and math you can conclude that unless you are prepared to spend a lot of money to sell your timeshare, you'll have to consider a price far lower than what you paid. And even if you did plan on pricing your timeshare at around the same price you paid, you would expect then to spend half of the amount of that price on marketing fees.
Oddly, the resale market has a far different expectation when it comes to paying companies to help market timeshare. In fact, since the resale of timeshare is so difficult to achieve, particularly at prices equal to what was paid for a new unit from the resort, the blame has been turned on the companies that advertise these units for sale. Of course, many have risen from the shadows of greed and scandal to simply take easy money from unsuspecting owners. Many owners are in distress over a suden change in their personal lives and are often relieved to find a company willing to help market their timeshare (for a fee). Of course, we all know how many ads go unanswered regardless of where the ad is placed, or how much was paid to get the ad there. The bottom line is that the demand just isn't there for all private owners to sell their timeshare. It is my estimation that 80% of all ads go unanswered.
I compare timeshare resales to the antithesis of a run on a bank. Everyone wants their money out at once, and the bank simpy doesn't have the funds to cover all of the withdrawls. Folks trying to sell timeshare are all busy spending good money after bad to try to sell their units. Whether it's on eBay, or any of the 10s of websites out there promising a quick sale, you are the lucky one if you find a buyer.
Every owner should have an ad on this site. With no cost up-front, it makes much more sense than to continue the massive spending that is taking place in this industry. Put the ad online, and pay only when a offer comes in, much like a pay per lead marketing program. The site continues to gain ground with all of the search engines and the site is designed to support your efforts to market your unit. Write a review; they do wonders to add fresh content to our site and bring readers to the review (and the ads). It costs nothing to joing to write a review, and you can save a lot of money over buying expensive ads on other sites. Statistically you're much better off not spending the massive amounts of money to market your timehare at a price near what you paid, and rather price it so that it will sell quickly. You may just avoid the next monthly payment and/or your next maintenance fee.

[BlueParrot]

The key is in buying as much as selling. I have owned 18 timeshares, and sold 12 of them, most for at least what I paid for them and some for a good profit, one for a small loss. I have never paid a big upfront fees to anyone to sell. I have sold weeks on ebay, in the local newspaper ads, on Redweek, on MyVacationNetwoek, and on a British t/s site. If you buy a timeshare at the right price, there is no difficulty in selling it at a price you can live with. The key is to always buy resale, never from a developer.

[GateKeeper]

BlueParrot,
You hit it right on the head! You sound like an experience timeshare owner, and for that you are able to navigate the "system". My point, IMHO, remains true for all of those owners that buy timeshare at a presentation and believe everything they hear about the "value" of what they are getting. What advice can you give an ex-college coed friend of mine who bought a studio unit at David Walley's Resort in Nevada for a whopping $15000.00, borrowed $10,000.00 of it and is paying an equal amount in interest every year as she is in maintenance fees? I doubt she's going to be happy with what she'll price her unit to sell, no matter where she advertises.
If you know what you're doing, timeshare can be a great way to pre-pay your vacations, and even capitalize on that knowledge by making a little money now and then. The majority of timeshare owners don't fall into this category, however, and will find themselves chasing their investment down the drain. Buy timeshare resales and you have a better chance of coming out whole. The problem is that many first time buyers know nothing about resales, let alone have any reason to believe they can't resell their timeshare for what they bought it for from the developer.
Thanks for posting.

[dioxide45]

The big problem is that at the TS sales presentations, the salesman always makes it sound easy to sell if you want out. They fail to mention how much you would lose on the sale. If they did indicate how much you would lose they wouldn't make any sales. But they are always willing to tell you that you can sell the unit any time you want.