eBay and Dynetech Corp. Forming Secondary Timeshare Market

The properties would be sold on eBay's 12-year-old online site. Dynetech would provide the listing expertise. And RCI will provide branding and authorization tools. The prepared statement didn't disclose a fee or commission structure to be paid by the sellers.

"Timeshare developers have been asking for years for a resales solution, with pricing integrity that supports their value proposition, and which protects consumers," Mark Nuzzo, president, RCI new market development/consulting, says in the statement.

RCI plans to meet with regional resort affiliate developers in Orlando and across the country to learn what they need to have incorporated into the final timeshare sales program. Dynetech developed its SuperLister concept for eBay's timeshare marketplace and plans to create a similar co-branded platform for RCI.

David A. Siegel, Orlando's largest independent timeshare developer, couldn't be reached at GlobeSt.com's publication deadline to learn his thoughts on the resale plan. Officials at eBay, Dynetech and RCI also couldn't be reached.

But Robin L. Webb,a longtime Orlando area hospitality industry consultant, tells GlobeSt.com "creating a secondary market for timeshare units should ultimately add value and some stability to vacation ownership pricing."

Webb says he wasn't familiar with the ebay-Dynetech-RCI proposal but says, "retaining value after the original purchase has been a problem in timeshares since the inception of the industry."

An Orlando agent who focuses on the sale of new timeshare units tells GlobeSt.com on condition of anonymity, "A true resales market is something that has always eluded the timeshare industry and is responsible for some of the bad press the industry has received over the years."

Unlike a used-car market, timeshare owners don't have a central resale center to market their properties in most regions, industry critics have long complained. Owners either try to sell their units back to the original developer or try to advertise the property themselves.

Of the new concept, Dynetech says in the statement, "this platform will allow for quick and easy placement and management of inventory from RCI-affiliated resorts, associations and timeshare owners on eBay real estate, both for RCI and its affiliates."