How to find a reputable company to help sell a timeshare?
You are right to be skeptical of timeshare listing companies.  As you can imagine, it is very difficult to actually sell a timeshare.  You know firsthand how awful they are; it takes trickery to sell them. True story: In my office building years ago, the office across the hall was occupied by a timeshare listing service.  One day about a dozen FBI agents showed up and raided the office. As with any service company like this, you can sometimes find reviews on the Better Business Bureau. As an alternative, instead of trying to sell your timeshare, you may want to hire a lawyer to try to get out of it.  I have absolutely no experience with this, but I have heard advertisements on the radio for one such firm called Timeshare Exit Team.  There may be others that do the same thing. Good luck. The one thing I would like to add to Ben's answer is that you will be lucky to get out of this with no proceeds.   So that 30-40K paid for the timeshare maybe a total loss. If this purchase was financed with the timeshare used as collateral you may need to pay it off prior to being released. One tactic I heard used is to offer the sales team, that sold you the timeshare, a bonus for selling yours instead of one out of inventory.  Assuming their commission is typically 25% of the sales price, you might consider offering them 40% or some higher figure.  Doing it this way, you will have all the slick marketing on your side probably generating the highest amount of revenue possible. Timeshares are really bad deals.  If you know this you can score some cheap vacations by attending their seminars and continuing to say no.  The wife and I recently got back from a nice trip to Aruba mostly paid for with airline points, and a 2 hour timeshare tour. You own something with very little market value - even if you paid a large price for it initially. Your cost to sell may be more than the price you get. Like any other item that has limited resale value, your best option may be to donate it. A quick Google search will turn up some options. This will likely be less hassle than selling. Also, you have a potential tax write-off.
I used to work as a sale support for one of these companies. As a sale support I didn't get commission from the sale but a sale manager did and he made good money. However, I ended up doing a lot of the sales myself and never got any commission for it (even though the boss kept promising me that I would get them). It's relatively easy money, but I felt like you have to sell your soul a little. It's hard to justify for yourself that a 30% interest for a 6 month term is a great deal so you can get your guests to take the loan. Most of the clients you will likely get are the ones who 1) have little knowledge about finance and/or 2) cannot get a loan anywhere else. Nobody would get a loan with these companies if they have a better choice. I also found it was borderline harassment for my clients because I was forced to constantly call them few times a day to get them into taking our loan offers. I did end up leaving the company after three months because the boss was disrespectful, degrading and thought he could do it all himself.  Back to your question, it is not shady mostly because it's definitely legal but the sales tactics can be. That would depend on your management but I would say most companies probably employs similar tactics. Usually your best bet for this sort of thing is to look for referrals from people you trust. If you have a lawyer or other trusted advisor, ask them. Then you want to contact the chain's *franchise development* department -- they typically offer a deal in which you obtain the financing and run the hotel, but they provide you with the brand and various kinds of help.  For example:  http://development.ihg.com/contact-us  http://hiltonworldwide.com/development/develop-hotel/  https://hotel-development.marriott.com/ Timeshare and resort packages are a popular option for people who take frequent vacations. But are they a good deal? Many people sign up due to attractive sales pitches but are then disappointed by the actual package. It's a good idea to read reviews from experienced travelers. "I find the sun country airline a unique example, it is owned by Marty Davis, CEO of Cambria (a countertop / stone tile company).   They use the airline to promote their countertop business with in- flight magazines and even and Cambria logo on the door of the plane as you walk in.  I have been a fan of Sun Country for a long time, but recently a new CEO took over and there was a memo leaked that they are going to start operating like an allegiant or Spirit ""super-discount"" airline.  I hope not, I choose sun country for the people that operate their planes and for the simple, no-bullshit, I buy a ticket, I get bags and a checked Bag is $25.  So far it's the only airline that I am a fanatic for, and I hope that their culture isn't sold in a race for the bottom dollar.  I am pretty sure that Marty Davis bought Sun Country with a deep discount after the Petters Group Worldwide Fraud became known.   Full history with some financial information if you're interested. It obviously isn't a ""Big"" Airline, but I am still a big fan.  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Country_Airlines" Do we need salespeople anymore?  Do I need someone who may or may not know their shit when I can research online with various sources?  Paying all these salespeople who come off as forcing a deal isn't what 2017 retail should be about.  Go in your BB.  Look at potential TV buyers ask questions.  Then listen to the salespeople.  We have Magnolia in BB around here and they actually know what they are talking about but most BB without them do not. Sales are useless. Profit determines value.  Others made good suggestions, but make sure you don't personally guarantee anthing.  Understand your requirements to continue having the investor involved. Understand who has approval authority and decision making authority, ie are you a hired gun or the managing owner?  Finally, probability of success is low, so do your homework, bust your ass, and understand when you will wall away (ie if you aren't profitable in 3 years, or below $500k in rev, etc) When you take the tourist to buy tickets, show them where and which one to buy. I didn't like how my tuk Tuk driver just sat there and pointed to where I had to go.  Explain to tourist what the price ranges are for a tour guide. I wouldn't recommend a specific tour guide because we all hate being coerced into paying people services, we will think you are all one big business.l and we don't like that!   Tripadvisor and business cards is a great idea. Thanks everyone. Just how would you suggest I incentivize a customer base that is 90% vacationers. Not really repeat every year visitors. Those would be easy. A discount on the next dive. But for the people who are just on honeymoon. They stop in and want to dive one day or rent snorkel gear and they never come back. We need something that we can give them after the fact since they pay up front. "The recommendation is not to make the investment. In general, a company does not have to sell their shares to you or allow you to become an investor, because, as you have stated, it is a private company not quoted on the stock market.   If everyone were trustworthy, you could buy the tools for $11000 -- so that you own the tools -- and sign a lease of the tools to the company whereby they pay you $X/month.  The lease should be reviewed by a lawyer before it is signed, and perhaps give the buyer the right to demand back the tools at any time.  However, even this arrangement is very risky, because the ""company"" could simply steal or damage the tools and disappear.   It is not an investment that I would make, because it sounds too good to be true.  $2800/mo steady cash flow for $11,000 invested.  No, I don't think so.   The following information may also be useful, either to you, or future readers: If you still want to make this investment, then you should know that: The offering for sale of shares by companies located in the USA is subject to a wild array of complex laws.  This is true in many other countries as well.  These laws,  called securities laws or regulations,  can require certain disclosures, require that investors have a high net worth so that they can afford to lose the money or conduct their own investigations and legal actions, or require that the investors know the company founders personally, and can prohibit or limit resale by the buyer/investor.  Promoters who say you can still invest and are ignoring or disobeying the securities laws are being at least negligent, but more likely are dishonest and probably criminal.  Even if you trust in the investment, can you trust negligent managers to do a good job executing that investment? What about dishonest managers?  What about criminals and thieves?" THANK YOU so much! That is exactly what I was looking for.  Unfortunately I'm goign to be really busy for 7 days but I'd love to tear through some of this material and ask you some questions if you don't mind.  What do you do for a living now? Still in real estate? Did you go toward the brokerage side or are you still consulting?  What's the atmosphere/day-to-day like? I ended up getting a letter in the mail a while later from Florida Treasure Hunt, and I did end up getting something from it. This brings up a very interesting find: Florida Treasure Hunt must first sell the listings to third-party companies to see if they can get your business. That's the only explanation I have for what happened. "Given that such activities are criminal and the people committing them have to hide them from the law, it's very unlikely that an investor could detect them, let alone one from a different country. The only things that can realistically help is to keep in mind the adage ""If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is"", and to stick to relatively large companies, since they have more auditing requirements and fraud is much harder to hide at scale (but not impossible, see Enron). Edit: and, of course, diversify. This kind of thing is rare, and not systematic, so diversification is a very good protection." I've looked into Thinkorswim; my father uses it. Although better than eTrade, it wasn't quite what I was looking for. Interactive Brokers is a name I had heard a long time ago but forgotten. Thank you for that, it seems to be just what I need. Why should I give you a single minute of my time?  Until you can answer that question, it doesn't matter *how* you go about reaching them.    You have to look at it like  sales situation.  Unless you can demonstrate value to them within the first couple of sentences, you won't be given the time of day.  These guys get pitched all day long -whether it's their employees, investors, people looking for investments or people looking for a mentor.  I'd suggest looking locally first.  Go to a couple business association meetings in your area (a lot of them are free or cost under $50).  These meetings almost always have time for networking, but you'll only get out of it what you put into it.