Timeshare Scam & Fraud Warning

Are you looking to sell your timeshare and have come across an offer that seems too good to be true? It probably is. Timeshare scams are on the rise.

Fraudsters are getting more creative and have come up with new ways to trick owners looking to sell their timeshare. Don’t let yourself fall victim to timeshare resale fraud. Here are some tips for how to spot timeshare scams and what to do about it if you think you may have encountered one.

How to avoid timeshare scams

Most timeshare scams target those looking to sell their timeshare and include an outlandish appraisal, guarantee or unsolicited cold call. This is why we’ve prepared this article outlining some of the most common timeshare resale frauds with tips on how to protect yourself.

Our goal is to provide you with the information you need to make an informed decision about who to engage to help sell your timeshare.

By the end of this article you’ll learn how to avoid falling prey to fake timeshare schemes and understand why BuyaTimeshare.com is the best and safest option to buy, sell or rent a timeshare on the resale market.

Timeshare scam warning signs to watch for

• Timeshare Scam Artists Claiming to Be BuyaTimeshare.com –We’ve received reports that an unaffiliated timeshare fraud company is posing as BuyaTimeshare.com and contacting our current customers and other timeshare owners claiming to be us. Because we are one of the most visible resale companies in the industry, fraudsters try to use our name to scam owners out of their hard-earned money.
  
  To verify that you’re speaking with the real BuyaTimeshare.com, make sure you are calling the 1-800-640-6886 phone number listed on our website and sending and receiving emails from associates with a “@buyatimeshare.com” email addresses.

• Buying for a National Company – This new timeshare scam involves an individual or phony company contacting you out of the blue and telling you they are purchasing timeshare for their large, corporate company. They will say the timeshare is going to be rented out to the company’s employees for the purpose of team building activities each year or something along those lines.
  
  The fraudster will offer an incredibly high amount for your timeshare and tell you that time is running out before they purchase someone else’s timeshare instead. You’ll be asked to pay a “small” fee in good faith to secure the sale.

• Buying Timeshare for Tax Breaks – This is similar to the timeshare scam above. The phony company contacts you and says they are buying timeshare to obtain a tax break for the resort. Again, you’ll be asked to pay a small fee in good faith to secure the purchase.

• Guaranteed Sale – This timeshare scam has been around for a long time and is still being used today. No company can guarantee that your timeshare will sell within a certain timeframe. Any company that says otherwise is a scam and is violating the law in some states such as Florida.

• Buyer Is Waiting – Anyone that calls you and says they have a buyer waiting is more than likely a timeshare scam, especially if you have not yet agreed to promote your timeshare for sale.

Qualities of Legitimate & Reputable Timeshare Resale Companies

Finding a reputable timeshare resale company is much easier when you know exactly what to look for. The points identified below will go a long way toward guiding you away from timeshare scams and potential timeshare fraud.

• Written Contracts – Written contracts are a legal mandate in states such as Florida. We have a written agreement in place, electronically signed by every new advertiser, which specifically outlines the timeshare resale services we provide.

• Marketing Exposure – A legitimate timeshare resale company will be willing to outline how they go about finding buyers and renters, especially if they are an online company. Try doing your own Google search on them for a general buyer-specific search term. If you can’t find them, neither can a buyer. We appear on page one Google searches for numerous search terms such as “buy timeshares”, “I want to buy a timeshare”, “timeshares for sale” and several more.

• Offers and Sales – Reputable timeshare resale companies will be able to prove offers and sales they’ve produced in the past. If the company can’t support their claims with proof, it’s not worth your time, let alone your money. We show the latest sold timeshares right on our homepage and with a Timeshares Sold page on our website.

• Contact Information – Legitimate timeshare resale companies have physical addresses and a phone number beyond a toll-free number. We recommend calling the company’s phone number to see if anyone answers the phone and observing how they answer. If someone picks up when you call, does this person greet you with a mention of the company’s name?
  
  Also, keep in mind that a P.O. Box for an address is not an address. Our Contact Us page mentions our office locations in Florida and New Hampshire and phone numbers for both.

• Credit Card Details – How are credit card details collected and processed? Once you tell someone your credit card details over the phone, you don’t know where that information goes. Our representatives do not take credit card details but send advertisers an email link so they can enter their own details into our secure electronic system, similar to an e-commerce site such as Expedia. It is all processed automatically.

• Data Security – Legitimate timeshare companies have security in place to protect your confidential information. In this day of data breaches, securing information is paramount. A link to our Privacy Policy is located at the bottom of the page, but through innovations such as captcha security, we protect not only our customer’s information but the information of potential buyers and renters using our platform as well.

• Registered Business –Make sure the company is registered to do business in the state in which they reside. We are a registered business in Florida and New Hampshire.

• Longevity – The length of time a business has been in operation has to count for something, since bad businesses don’t last very long. We have been in business since 2000, or about as long as Google.

Avoiding Timeshare Fraud – What Fees are Valid?

If you’ve been researching timeshare resale companies to help you sell your timeshare, you may have come across some articles or discussion boards advising against paying up-front fees to sell your timeshare. At BuyaTimeshare.com we ask for an advertising fee to advertise your timeshare on our website, similar to the way a newspaper would ask for an advertising fee prior to advertising a product in print.

The money is necessary for search marketing strategies designed to attract buyers to your ad. Our platform of websites receive more than one million visitors per year from users searching for timeshare related information.

We bring buyers to our website through marketing tactics targeting search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo – targeting buyer-related keywords that generate inquiries and offers for our clients.

More Information & Resources About Timeshare Fraud

For more information and tips to guard yourself against timeshare scams and ripoff schemes, click onto the following articles:

• BuyATimeshare Rip Off Report
• BuyATimeshare Scam Report
• BuyATimeshare BBB
• BuyATimeshare Consumer Affairs
• BuyATimeshare Reviews
• BuyATimeshare Complaints
• 1-800-640-6886 Phone Support

We hope this information has been helpful and provides you with the type of details that will assist you in avoiding a timeshare scam and choosing a legitimate timeshare resale company. We believe that we are the best, so give us a call on 800-640-6886 and let us prove it to you.