DVC Response About Ebay Commercial Sellers

[Jay Foster]

I mostly lurk here and I have read with interest the situation involving the commercial renters who buy up a bunch of points to make a profit and routinely do this. I am not against renting but not at the sake of causing problems for people who use DVC as it was intended.

I just emailed Disney one auction that I found was particularly in violation of the rules. I am waiting to see if they intend to investigate the matter. I did advise them that these auctions were all over Ebay (although I am sure they may already know that).

I just thought I would pass it along.

 

[DISNEYFOS]

I'm interested to see what their response will be.

I wonder if they have a way to determine who made these reservations for auction and whether they will indeed cancel them like they claim in the August email.

"To maximize the availability of reservations for these permitted purposes, Disney Vacation Club closely monitors reservations and may cancel reserved accommodations if a pattern of rental activity for profit is discovered."

I believe a few negative reviews for an ebay seller who sold a reservation that was cancelled out from under the buyer should quash that practice pretty quickly. (insert evil laugh here)

 

[Chuck S]

I doubt you'll get much response other than a standard "thank you for bringing it to our attention, we are looking into it." Any other sort of reply would probably have to be cleared by Disney legal dept. But I do hope they can do something about the situation, whether they do it publically or not.

 

[littlestar]

There was somebody on E-bay about a month ago that was selling about 14 DVC Interval International exchanges (that's definitely against Interval International's rules to rent exchanges). I noticed it on the DVC's because they were priced too cheap on the bigger units and they were asking for the buyer to pay that $95.00 fee that you have to pay when you trade through Interval into an onsite Disney resort. I saw the auction one day and the next day it looked like E-bay had shut the auction down. So I figure II must have seen it and stopped it. That same seller on E-bay had a bunch of Marriott Hawaii weeks for sale, too. On the Marriotts they were asking the renter to pay a fee to change the name on the reservation - I've heard if you own the actual Marriott week there's no charge to change the name, so probably another clue that the Marriott weeks were Interval exchanges also.

It's really amazing sometimes what you see on E-bay. I figure if it's priced too good to be true, probably better stay away from it.

 

[JimMIA]

"To maximize the availability of reservations for these permitted purposes, Disney Vacation Club closely monitors reservations and may cancel reserved accommodations if a pattern of rental activity for profit is discovered."

I believe a few negative reviews for an ebay seller who sold a reservation that was cancelled out from under the buyer should quash that practice pretty quickly. (insert evil laugh here)

Disney's not going to cancel a ressie out from under anyone. They'll deal with the renters directly if they have to, but they're not going to mess up some family's dream vacation.

 

[JimMIA]

I doubt you'll get much response other than a standard "thank you for bringing it to our attention, we are looking into it." Any other sort of reply would probably have to be cleared by Disney legal dept. But I do hope they can do something about the situation, whether they do it publically or not.

Yep! What he said.

 

[DebbieB]

Wouldn't it be hard to track down a member on e-bay since you don't list your real name? You could list under several e-bay names.

I agree with Chuck, DVC will not respond with details on what they did about it (if anything).

 

[rinkwide]

...I just emailed Disney one auction that I found was particularly in violation of the rules...

It wasn't the VWL "Sold Out Christmas" reservation, was it?

 

[tmt martins]

There's people right here on the DIS that admit they bought enough point to rent out to pay for thier small trip they take themselves. They even admit that they book the prime weeks because they know when it gets close it will be sold out and they will get their money.This money pays for thier dues as well as payments if financed because they even stated how many total points they bought.So thats renting for profit as well.

You didn't have to go to E-bay to find this it's right on the Rent/trade board.

DVC is going to find it very hard to make it stick if they don't put out definent rules and not just a generalization.

 

[DISNEYFOS]

Disney's not going to cancel a ressie out from under anyone. They'll deal with the renters directly if they have to, but they're not going to mess up some family's dream vacation.

I don't know First, I think anyone that's planning their family's "dream vacation" off of ebay needs some help. More likely, its a person trying to get a trip to disney cheap and is willing to accept some risks.

I think Disney wouldn't hesitate to cancel a reservation if it violated a policy, family vacation or not...they are a business after all and they need to protect their interests.

I do agree however with other posters that Disney will not respond with specifics as to how they are going to deal with this particular occurance.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Wouldn't it be hard to track down a member on e-bay since you don't list your real name? You could list under several e-bay names.

I agree with Chuck, DVC will not respond with details on what they did about it (if anything).

All they have to do is look for multiple reservations under different names for 5 nights (Sun-Thur) for the same member number.

 

[LisaS]

Wouldn't it be hard to track down a member on e-bay since you don't list your real name? You could list under several e-bay names.

All Disney needs to do is look at several of a seller's auctions and then search their reservations database to see which member(s) have exactly those dates and resorts booked. I would be surprised if more than one member's name turns up for the same combination of reservations.

I would be surprised if these people are using several ebay names. It's important for ebay sellers to have lots of positive feedback in order for buyers to trust them. Each time they create a new ebay name, the seller would have to start over with zero feedback and that isn't good for business.

 

[Chuck S]

I'm thinking that with the enforcement of the one transfer per year policy, Disney thinks most of the problems with several of the "for profit" renters will die down next year, after all the currently transferred points are used up. Like I said, I think the response the OP will get from Disney will be generic (not that that is a bad thing), and they will "wait and see" if the transfer limit has had the desired effect before taking further actions.

 

[Boston5602]

I have the solution.......





When Disney finds any DVC points on Ebay or anywhere else in violation of anything then Disney confiscates those points and sends them over here to all the DVC owners that post here on The Dis we could share in the splitting of these points for our own Disney Trip enjoyment.


What do you think?

It will stop the commercial profiteers and help us out here on the Dis !!

 

[JimMIA]

I don't know First, I think anyone that's planning their family's "dream vacation" off of ebay needs some help. More likely, its a person trying to get a trip to disney cheap and is willing to accept some risks.

...or completely clueless to the risks...and that's the danger zone for Disney. They don't want to hurt someone just because they bought something on eBay.

I think Disney wouldn't hesitate to cancel a reservation if it violated a policy, family vacation or not...they are a business after all and they need to protect their interests.

Making Mickey look like The Grinch on Crack does not protect Disney's interests. They are much too sophisticated to do something like that.

Identifying renters is a two-hour, first-year accounting school problem -- not nearly as difficult as the guesses here assume. And once they identify the culprits they choose to go after first, there are a number of steps they can take well short of canceling some family's vacation.

 

[JimMIA]

When Disney finds any DVC points on Ebay or anywhere else in violation of anything then Disney confiscates those points and sends them over here to all the DVC owners that post here on The Dis we could share in the splitting of these points for our own Disney Trip enjoyment.

What do you think?

I LIKE IT!

...which probably means it is both unconstitutional and fattening!

 

[keys2kingdom]

I have the solution.......





When Disney finds any DVC points on Ebay or anywhere else in violation of anything then Disney confiscates those points and sends them over here to all the DVC owners that post here on The Dis we could share in the splitting of these points for our own Disney Trip enjoyment.


What do you think?

It will stop the commercial profiteers and help us out here on the Dis !!

An excellent proposal!!!

 

[drakethib]

I think Disney wouldn't hesitate to cancel a reservation if it violated a policy, family vacation or not...they are a business after all and they need to protect their interests.
.

Just playing devils advocate here, if Disney were to cancel the ressie, wouldn't it be the responsibility of the renter to make good with the rentee?

 

[JandD Mom]

Just playing devils advocate here, if Disney were to cancel the ressie, wouldn't it be the responsibility of the renter to make good with the rentee?

Drake,

Honesty and ethics would demand a refund of money. I don't know how you would be able to give the person a room if DVC refuses to allow it. But practically, the remedy should be spelled out in the rental agreement. Yet another good reason to have one!

I am sort of a new DVC owner, but I have a question to add. Doesn't DVC already have the right to cancel reservations made, whether in the name of the owner or the renter, if the member's account is not up to date? Wouldn't DVC just do the same thing to someone it determines is "abusing" the renting of points?

 

[JimMIA]

Just playing devils advocate here, if Disney were to cancel the ressie, wouldn't it be the responsibility of the renter to make good with the rentee?

Absolutely.

But put yourself in the mocassins of that family. You fly all day to get to Disney, you get to the resort, and Disney tells you they have canceled your reservation because you rented from a commercial renter on eBay.

What was your crime? You didn't know the DVC POS prohibits that?

Now...if you were in that predicament, who would you be mad at -- the person you rented from, or the company who told you your vacation had been tossed into the toilet because THEY decided to do so?

That's a public relations nightmare. Geraldo (where IS he, BTW?), Greta, and Nancy Grace would be all over that. Larry King would interview some guy who used to be your ex-wife's cousin for two hours live from WDW! Wolf's lips would quiver and Bill Riley would be apoplectic.

Naw. Ain't gonna happen.