Where do postcard companies get mailing lists?

[dioxide45 Member Find all posts View Profile Close dioxide45]

If you subscribe to any magazines to do with timeshares, they may be selling your name?

[bluka Member Find all posts View Profile Close bluka]

I must be doing something right, because they haven't found me.

Are you a member of RCI? I only belong to II and have never received anything as of yet.

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

I belong to RCI and II and DAE and I subscribe to Timesharing Today magazine.

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

They found me and they are just wasting paper and postage

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

Rogue employees selling the information from the big exchange companies is certainly as plausible as the company itself selling it. The highly paid top aide of one of NC's US Senators was fired some years ago for selling his boss' campaign contributor list to a mail house. He apparently didn't realize that such lists are routinely salted with a fake name or two that tell if someone is using the list.

The key is what database their list originates from, and it has to be a big one, of which there aren't but a few. Stitching this thing together from lists from rogue employees of hundreds of individual resorts doesn't make sense.

Also there aren't enough of those surveys to compile a list like they seem to have. Personally, I haven't participated in such surveys but still get the postcards.

Yes I have, the owners themselves. They are providing their information to various sources and it gets collected and compiled, sold and resold until the database list companies deliver you leads. I have bought leads from these companies. There are literally thousands of ways they get information on you. Any time you give it out is a possible source.

Here's another that I have described twice, employees of timeshare companies doing it illegally. I know for absolute FACT that it happens and it probably happens in huge scale.

Just because I can't provide specifics, doesn't mean there aren't direct sources. Just because you can only think of one, doesn't mean that is it. I'm not in the database lead list business. If I were, I could describe it in detail. I'm not and neither are most on this board.

You, on the other hand, are trying by insinuation to suggest that because you and others can't describe large sources that the exchange companies must be it. Admit it, that is what you are suggesting.

I have worked in telemarketing. They have surveys that they call out on. They give you a gift to complete an online survey. I've done them many times. So, until you have specific evidence of exchange companies giving out data, you are wrong for implying it.

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

If you subscribe to any magazines to do with timeshares, they may be selling your name?

The total subsctrber base of TST would not seem to come close to the lists they seem to be mailing. The only other one, Hiatus, is even smaller.

[mishugana Member Find all posts View Profile Close mishugana]

id like to get on the list

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

id like to get on the list

Why?

[mishugana Member Find all posts View Profile Close mishugana]

Why?

Because id make a fuss asking questions about their lies

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

Because id make a fuss asking questions about their lies

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

The problerm, still, is that this is all too fragmented. The postcard companies seem to have extensive lists for people living in a close geographical area but owning very diverse timeshares. I know happy owners who have never listed a timeshare for sale and are offended by the message on the postcards about timeshare who still get the mailings. I just don't believe that it is likely that someone is taking the trouble to put together such diverse sources. The cost of doing so would not pay off for the rather limited universe of businesses renting such lists. It just about has to be someone who already has a huge database.

So, the question here seems to be, "Is it worthwhile for direct marketing companies to cobble together mailing lists of timeshare owners, given the likely market for such mailing lists?" I'd say the answer is yes. I just googled "timeshare owners" "mailing lists" and found a bunch of companies selling such lists. The thing is, these lists of owners aren't just being sold to the postcard companies. The lists are also being marketed to companies who want to locate people who spend a lot on travel, for example, or who just want people with lots of disposable income (since a typical timeshare costs $15k from the developer.) I get tons of mailings about various non-timeshare travel deals -- maybe some of those mailings come from companies who got my name off a list of timeshare owners.

The total subsctrber base of TST would not seem to come close to the lists they seem to be mailing. The only other one, Hiatus, is even smaller.

Does Hiatus still exist? Its website, www.gohiatus.com, seems to be defunct.

[Jya-Ning Silver Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close Jya-Ning]

I start to get some of these post card and phone call when I bought a week from an eBay seller. Don't know if their inventory is from one of the post card company. My 1st week is retail, and my 2nd week is from a real estate agent and get DAE contact. I did not receive any from those companies although I did attend some TS tours in between. So I don't believe any developers/exchange company are in bed with these companies.

Jya-Ning

[GrayFal Silver Contributor and supermoderator Find all posts View Profile Close GrayFal]

I start to get some of these post card and phone call when I bought a week from an eBay seller. Don't know if their inventory is from one of the post card company. My 1st week is retail, and my 2nd week is from a real estate agent and get DAE contact. I did not receive any from those companies although I did attend some TS tours in between. So I don't believe any developers/exchange company are in bed with these companies.

Jya-Ning

I recently purchased 3 weeks on ebay - 2 from Holiday and one from a postcard company that has been mentioned here......and in the past month, I have received 4 postcards.....