For the first-time timeshare purchaser, the experience can be overwhelming. Timeshare developers approach potential buyers with a free dinner or a weekend at the timeshare community and the only stipulation is that you attend a presentation on the community. Developers typically spend 40-60 percent of a timeshare unit’s asking price on marketing the unit. The presentation is a high pressure sales pitch designed to convince would be buyers to buy on the spot (www.tug2.net).

Most timeshare developers use a points system. The buyer purchases timeshare points that can be used at any timeshare community within the developer’s network. Wyndham is an excellent example of at timeshare points system. On the sample chart at TimeShareTidbits.com, Wyndham points are determined by the periods in the year when a timeshare community is the busiest. For example, in 2009 the Wyndham Nashville, TN community’s points chart shows that a one bedroom unit required 56,000 points for a week during the “quiet” season as opposed to 84,000 points for the same unit during a week in the “prime” period.

Most buyers purchase with the intent of keeping the timeshare for many years and reselling it to recoup the cost of buying. What most buyers fail to realize and are not specifically told is that timeshare re-sales are driven by supply and demand. When buyers decide to resell their timeshare they typically discover that supply greatly exceeds demand and that their unit is worth significantly less than they originally paid. At this point, the owners are faced with a challenge in reselling their timeshare and quickly discover that they will need an authoritative guide to selling timeshares as a reference.

There are several online sites competing for timeshare re-sales. Some of these sites ask for an upfront fee other sell on a commission basis. Tug2.net is an excellent resource for reselling timeshares. The site offers unbiased information and advice on reselling timeshares gained over years of working with resellers. The site offers several points to follow in reselling a timeshare.

Thorough research is essential to reselling a timeshare and the seller needs to understand that there will be a wide range of prices for similar units at the same location. It is also important to remember that timeshares typically resell for 30-50 percent of the original price (www.tug2.net).

Avoid using a reseller that asks for an upfront fee to sell the unit. This arrangement takes control of the process completely out of the seller’s hands. It is widely recommended that sellers use commission based firms that sell on a percentage of the sales price of the unit. This insures that commission is paid at the closing rather than up front.

Once an appropriate sales price is determined, advertise the unit aggressively on line, on bulletin boards and through the developer if possible. Respond quickly to any potential buyers and be willing to negotiate.

Contrary to what many believe, it is possible to resell a timeshare, even in today’s economy. Reselling requires a lot of learning about the resale market, research and the willingness to settle for a lot less than the original price. Perseverance and patience do eventually pay off.

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Royal Holiday Club is a fairly popular timeshare membership program. So if you are looking to sell this timeshare, you shouldn’t have too many problems doing so, as long as you price it reasonably. The problem is, with most sellers they really don’t understand what a reasonable price is for RHC credits.

Let me share this with you. I picked up 15,000 Royal Holiday credits for less than a $1000 dollars a few years ago, and that was including the closing costs. In fact, I think the timeshare auctions I was watching for that particular purchase were all about $100 to $200 range or thereabouts for the “winning bid” price. But once you add on the closing costs and transfer fees, that increases the amount that it costs by quite a bit.

Unfortunately, all this means is that if you are in the market to sell Royal Holiday Club, you are probably going to take a bath on the price if you paid the fuller developers’ cost for it. If you bought it on resale yourself though, and got at least a few years vacations out of it, even if you sell it for less than you paid for it initially, it should turn out well for you.

If you want to go the Ebay route to sell, I advise picking a closing company that does lots of timeshare closings. They will help make sure the transaction goes smoothly between you and the buyer and, most importantly, they will deal with the administrative work when it comes to the transfer. RHC can sometimes be a hassle to deal with so it is good to have an intermediary.

Normally, the buyer pays both the closing costs and the transfer fee, but if you are in a hurry to get rid of the membership before annual maintenance fees are due, then you might want to offer to pay part of these costs. Just keep in mind that the transfer fee is now $500 so it is a bit of a bite.

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