Offering your current timeshare for sale can be problematic with the existing economic system. Unfortunately, countless timeshare scammers are likely to reap the benefits of this financial susceptibility, adding to the growing increase in timeshare fraud and scams. Inexperienced providers are often the victims of timeshare fraud or improper marketing and advertising strategies and, out of desperation, jump to rash or reckless conclusions without proper investigation.

While the new Florida Timeshare Law helps protect against fraud of this nature, there are a few things to watch out for, involving a timeshare reseller. Be careful with any of the following:

• An Initial Charge for Any Reason: There is certainly never a good enough reason to shell out an initial fee to advertise your current timeshare. Whether a business is selling you ad space on its “highly visible” website, or perhaps guaranteeing to secure the deal for a “ready and waiting” buyer, it is rarely worth the risk of paying upfront for help. . and vulnerable vendors to cut all checks to “close a deal,” while advertising sites require a fixed payment to register your home among large numbers of other people “without a guarantee of sale. Yet instantly in which they get their cash, what is their incentive to exchange their timeshare?
• Repeated Cold Calls – Any reseller generating unsolicited phone contact should be suspicious. Be definitely wary of resellers who repeatedly contact you or make an effort to concern you in any way.
• Lack of current real estate licenses – Licensed agents’ movements can be verified quite easily by state boards in conjunction with other land providers; providing maximum transparency and truthfulness to your timeshare resale services. The American Tourism Development Association (ARDA) strongly recommends that individuals looking to buy or attempt to sell timeshare in the resale industry use exclusively certified real estate agents.
• Lack of BBB Accreditation: The job of the BBB, the Better Business Bureau, is to verify honesty and overall performance in the consumer marketplace by: setting benchmarks for faith in the marketplace; advocate and promote the best strategies; create a community of honest firms and object to poor market performance. When a reseller or agent does not achieve BBB accreditation, it could be an example that BBB cannot support their business strategies.
• Outlandish Promotions – Sound Too Profitable To Be Authentic? Maybe it is. The truth is, timeshares depreciate dramatically as time goes on. If a reseller or merchant claims to be able to recycle their timeshare for close to what they bought it for; consider.

Prefer a reseller or broker who talks honestly with you about your real estate rates for resale, and gets a fair business survey to get you a benchmark.

In the event that a reseller or agent exhibits some of the above characteristics, seriously consider dealing with them. To ensure you are receiving reliable brokerage assistance, select an established and BBB certified real estate agent, and remember, never pay an upfront cost to promote your timeshare.