Honesty of ebay sellers is lacking

[shopgirl Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close shopgirl]

One listing I have been watching and bidding on is a resort that we own. I am very well aware that the seller is trying to underplay maintenance fees for this resort. I am surprised to see him/her quoting fees from 2006 for an even-year week. When someone asked what the fees for 2008 would be, the seller said the resort does not know. It might have been wise to quote the 2007 fees, even though it is an even-year usage, as they are $130 more than they were in 2006. I guarantee they will go up another $130 for next year, as they go up more than 10% every year, so the new buyer is going to be angry with the seller. Hopefully, the winner of the auction will call the resort and confirm the current fees.

When I let this person know the fees were incorrect and the correct amount for 2007, this is the response I received:

Hello,
We strive to gather as much accurate information as possible before putting on an ad. We acquire informaton from the prior owner & also contact the resort to receive a Estoppel Certificate which confirms that it is morgage free, what the maintenance fees are & that they are also current. The amount of the maintenance fee listed in the ad is what the resort told us. We certainly wouldn't jeopardize our credibility for a mere $127.00 So, it has nothing to do with honesty.

We also have a caveat at the bottom of the ad which states the following: You will be liable for any future fee increases or additional fees associated with this timeshare after you are the winning bidder. We have listed the known fees (at this time) associated with this timeshare but no one can guarantee future additional fees or fee increases. Feel free to contact the resort before bidding to verify all fees.

Thank you for your interest. Kind regards - Denise

See, the problem is not the $127 dollar difference from 2006, it will be the $260 from 2006 to 2008. That is a huge difference. Very deliberate. If this is a TUGger, you ought to fix the ad.

When I posted this information on TUG, another poster accused me of policing ads??? I don't do that at all. I have a very limited knowledge of what maintenance fees should be for resorts because we own a miniscule number of them and those are the ones I know. I was bidding on this one.

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

Cindy Just so you know. You both could be right. See the MF might be $127 than What you are paying. He might not have added the Tax which could be that much. The resort might have told him what the MF is but omitted the tax on the unit.

[BoardGirl Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close BoardGirl]

Policing ads? That's silly. You found an inaccuracy, you tried to get it fixed. Your intentions are honorable, but I wonder about the intentions of the seller.

[Keitht Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Keitht]

The fact that m/f is increasing $130 this year doesn't mean they will increase by the same amount next year. It may be highly likely but not a fact. The vendor has informed the potential purchaser that the fees for '08 are not available and that would seem to be fact.
Nothing that has been said in the ad is incorrect from what you say. There is also nothing to stop the purchaser from contacting the resort to obtain this information. In fact the prospective purchaser should contact the resort anyway to ensure that the vendor does have title and there are no outstanding charges.

[shopgirl Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close shopgirl]

Keith, this particular resort is in Hawaii, at the Shearwater, and increases every year by at least that much. The fees are likely to make an even bigger leap because labor and energy costs are at double-digit inflation rates in Hawaii. Wyndham is also complaining that fees are LOW at the resort and need to increase to cover higher management costs and major updates. We will see at least a $200 increase for 2008, which is what we are expecting. Our fees for Bali Hai started out at $674 the first year we owned, then they went up to $727, then to $822, then to $898 this last year. Shearwater is oceanfront and gets more damage from being in that location.

Taxes are actually not billed separately and, believe it or not, are not that high for Kauai. Maui is the island that decided timeshare owners would have to pay more than anyone else, with our one bedroom week at Gardens at West Maui costing about $139 in taxes for this past year!

[Keitht Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Keitht]

Cindy,

I understand where you are coming from, but the fact remains that nothing in the advert, or their reply to the m/f question, was factually incorrect. Assuming the resort can't tell them the 08 fees, they have answered the question entirely truthfully.
The vendor is under no obligation to provide information that isn't requested. I would be inclined to accept a charge of the vendor lacking in openness, but there is no lack of honest in the reply.
I suppose really it comes down to the truth or the whole truth

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

You don't really expect postcard companies to be honest, do you ? This does point out the need for buyers to do due diligence. I've seen auctions where a deed was promised with a title search on an RTU. Sometimes I correct sellers when I see something totally wrong, sometimes I don't. I also think that some sellers get kickbacks for using some closing companies and charge a higher fee to the buyer than they should. I have complained about that several times as well and adjust my high bid downward to compensate.

[shopgirl Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close shopgirl]

Some ebayers are saying closing will be done by Timeshare Transfer for $395. They only charge $300! Perhaps that includes extras, but the postcard companies already performed the estoppel, so why would you need that?

I am going to watch those ebay sales in the fall and buy up a bunch of weeks, when those maintenance fees are coming due.

[SOS8260456 Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close SOS8260456]

I do know that Timeshare Transfer has different rates that they charge different customers.

Lisa