Advise on How To Sell Timeshare

[GateKeeper]

I responded to an inquiry today and when I was through I realized that this information would be useful for public reading. A few tips on how to sell your timeshare and things to consider when bringing it to market.

Thank you for contacting TimeshareGateway.com. There are a lot of challenges facing timeshare owners trying to sell timeshare, and many companies are more than happy to take a fee and promise a sale. However, the resale market is very difficult and there are many articles on the internet regarding timeshare resales.




We developed TimeshareGateway.com as an affordable means of gaining exposure for the timeshare that you want to sell, without incorporating many of the fallacies that exist with other companies. We do not charge a fee up-front or membership fees. We believe that the marketing we provide should drive results, and the results are what have value.
There are two basic approaches to marketing with resale companies; "By owner", and resale services, and resale services are divided further into pre-pay companies, and those that charge only at the completion of the sale (a commission, and typically a very large one). As you embark on your decision as to how you want to market your timeshare, you should consider the above options. Do you want to be involved in the day-to-day process? If not, then you are left with two choices, pay a fee for a service company to list your resort, or sign up with a reseller that will charge nothing until the sale is complete. One variation of the paid ad approach is to use an auction site like Bidshares or eBay. Here is an article on a comparision of timeshare auctions and results-based classifieds.
For our part in this process, we allow you to extend one tentacle of the "By Owner" process by placing ads on our website with no up-front cost. Even if you decide to market your timeshare with other paid services, you can include TimeshareGateway in your equation because it costs nothing more. If our marketing efforts work better than the other guys, it is possible you will get an offer from a member of our website expressing an interest in your timeshare. At this point we charge $4.95 to respond to the offer and acquire the contact information provided by that member so you can begin an open dialogue. Because there are no guarantees that your first contact will result in a sale, we credit the $4.95 to a total spend for a one year period. You pay for the first five contacts and all subsequent contacts are free for the balance of the subscription period. Our model works hand-in-hand with any other "By Owner" service you may choose, or by itself, which is our goal as soon as our members see the value proposition on our model and decide only to advertise on TimeshareGateway. Once the word gets out, it will be a win-win for everyone. Buyers will only have to shop in one place, and sellers get the most equitable solution on the market to sell their timeshare.

Pricing Your Unit
As for pricing your unit, there are a lot of factors that play into this.
1. Did you borrow money to buy it and are you still paying on this loan? If so, you need to consider the amount of the payoff in the price. It may be possible for you to owe more than you can get for it. Sorry, we tell it like it is, and it is difficult sometimes for folks to understand how their timeshare has gone down in value when all they were ever told was the opposite. This is one of the realizations that makes resales for owners so difficult. They typically want more money then they can reasonably expect and the unit can sit on the market a long time as a result.
2. Are you prepared to see your timeshare sell for a lower price than you paid? You should look on the internet for other units for sale in the same resort. The price range will vary, but you should see that the ones selling will do so for 1/2 or 1/3 or what you originally paid. You can always work with this price and change it as time passes. At some point it will garner the interest you require to secure a sale. You should consider any avenue you can that doesn't cost you money up-front, in addition to any paid services. Bidshares is an auction site, TimeshareParadise.com is a totally free site, and finally TimeshareGateway.com. These are the three I'm aware of that do not charge an up-front fee and are not lead generators for other resale companies.
I hope this information will help you, and please keep in mind that developing your plan now will align your efforts with the services that you will enlist.

Regards,




GateKeeper