Contracts drying up??

[tx911]

I generally don't like people and dealing with them.

Cheers from a fellow misanthrope

 

[Tatebeck]

It really just boils down to the IRS trying to stop people from using barters as a way to get tax advantages.

Example
Painting company trades painting services they would charge $1000 for in exchange for mechanical work worth $1000

The painting company could:

1. Report that 1k income and offset it with a 1k "cost" for that service - total earnings 0
2. Not report anything - total earnings still 0 and the same outcome as example 1
3. Not report the 1k as income but still offset it with either the same 1k cost for the service or at least the cost of the supplies - Net loss and lowers the painting company's taxes.

Option 3 is what the IRS is trying to avoid. We basically would either have to do option 1 or 2 for the swaps. IRS usually wants option 1 because they want to keep all the businesses honest. This is a pain in the butt for an average person and literally changes NOTHING. It's an even swap with no net gain/loss and nothing being deducted. If they want to come double check and make me file an extra form to tell them I owe them nothing then they can come get the "nothing" if they choose. They want to say oh you paid us zero when you should have filed this form and paid us zero? Go ahead

 

[Genie+]

I keep reading this title as: Contacts drying up??

Anyway… I’m wondering if in the case of Disney letting you exchange points for a cruise and then they sell the room cash, taxes are then paid by whoever paid cash. Doesn’t the exchange programs have $95 fee as well… any of that go toward tax?

 

[Tatebeck]

I keep reading this title as: Contacts drying up??

Anyway… I’m wondering if in the case of Disney letting you exchange points for a cruise and then they sell the room cash, taxes are then paid by whoever paid cash. Doesn’t the exchange programs have $95 fee as well… any of that go toward tax?

https://www.disboards.com/threads/95-fee-and-ms-comments.1571278/

From this old thread it appears it goes towards member services for converting/making the bookings

 

[Sandisw]

I think we should get back on track with contracts and the market not being as robust?

 

[VGCgroupie]

If anyone needs/wants to continue this points swap convo, drop your comments here. https://www.disboards.com/threads/cruise-swap-via-3rd-party-brokers.3947775/

 

[JulieBeeRN]

I would love to learn more about that as we love to cruise too. If you are using the swap program through DVC Rental Store, has it been worth it? I would want to have enough points to cruise once a year for 5-7 nights, but maybe it's not a great use of points? I'd love more info. Maybe this isn't the right thread for this, so let me know if there is a good thread on it

Well, hello from another Julie Bee!

 

[Mikey15]

I think we should get back on track with contracts and the market not being as robust?

Agreed.

I know I’ve observed it but is there anyone out there quantifying the seasonality of listings? It usually seems like there’s fewer listings & fewer “deals” in Q3 with the peak DVC use period on the horizon, and a ton of listings + depressed prices in Q1 as people rethink their annual dues obligations…

 

[Sandisw]

Agreed.

I know I’ve observed it but is there anyone out there quantifying the seasonality of listings? It usually seems like there’s fewer listings & fewer “deals” in Q3 with the peak DVC use period on the horizon, and a ton of listings + depressed prices in Q1 as people rethink their annual dues obligations…

I am sure someone tracks it...but its not me because honestly, the only resale we will consider is RIV. And, even for that, we have decided that we are going to hold steady with our 900 points for a bit!

 

[juliebee]

Well, hello from another Julie Bee!

Hello! I saw your name too and thought, wow two Disney fans with the same name here? I don't think we've bumped into each other because I'm new to DVC but not new to these boards

 

[JulieBeeRN]

Hello! I saw your name too and thought, wow two Disney fans with the same name here? I don't think we've bumped into each other because I'm new to DVC but not new to these boards

I saw your post and thought to myself, "I don't remember posting that".

 

[rferrar1]

If I remember correctly, subsidized as a Status filter only shows up on dvcforless.com when dvcresalemarket.com has a subsidized contract and uses its "Subsidized" status. And dvcforless.com will only acknowledge the "Subsidized" status of dvcresalemarket.com listings, not from other resale brokers.

Unfortunately there's also no way to have alerts for prices above a certain threshold as a secondary way of detecting. I found the best way was to just have an alert for your UY + points range and manually investigate all the listings that pop up.

Thank you for bringing this up!

Soon, we'll be normalizing statuses across all brokers, making it easier for you to identify rare listings, including those with subsidized dues, regardless of the broker. We also have several other exciting features in the pipeline that will enhance your overall experience on our site. Stay tuned—there's a lot to look forward to.

Thanks again for using our site and for your valuable feedback!

- Bob from dvcforless.com

 

[Chili327]

Thank you for bringing this up!

Soon, we'll be normalizing statuses across all brokers, making it easier for you to identify rare listings, including those with subsidized dues, regardless of the broker. We also have several other exciting features in the pipeline that will enhance your overall experience on our site. Stay tuned—there's a lot to look forward to.

Thanks again for using our site and for your valuable feedback!

- Bob from dvcforless.com

LOVE the deal score and similar listings!!

Is it possibly an easy adjustment to be able to edit saved searches instead of delete and make new?
Also, really need to make use of the single star ratings.

 

[rferrar1]

LOVE the deal score and similar listings!!

Is it possibly an easy adjustment to be able to edit saved searches instead of delete and make new?
Also, really need to make use of the single star ratings.

Thank you, Chili! When we initially launched the saved-search feature, it included the ability to edit searches. Unfortunately, we encountered some unexpected issues that forced us to temporarily remove this functionality. We haven’t had the chance to reintroduce it yet, but we’ll prioritize getting it back up and running.

As for the single-star ratings, you’re absolutely right—we need to make better use of them. There are definitely some deals out there that deserve a one-star rating. The reason you never see a one-star listing is due to the penalty system we integrated into our algorithm. Currently, it’s purposefully never triggered, but it's designed to account for non-monetary defects in a contract beyond just a poor price-per-point.

For example:

1. A broker might add significant hidden fees that aren't reflected in the advertised price-per-point.
2. Large contracts of 1,000+ points (I personally believe super-jumbo contracts should rarely achieve a five-star rating).
3. New rules imposed by DVC that could severely impact the value or utility of certain contracts (e.g., a more harsh version of resale restrictions).

We built some "headroom" into the DealScore range to accommodate assessing these penalties, but we've been cautious about applying them for many reasons, including fear that it could introduce a perception that our ratings include personal bias. For now, we might consider distributing that headroom more evenly across the full five-star range while still leaving the option for penalties to be assessed in the future.

I’d love to hear the community’s thoughts on how dvcforless.com should approach DealScore penalties. Should we continue NOT assessing penalties? What contract features or scenarios do you think should trigger a penalty?

 

[OlieRow]

Just checked out dvcforless.com for the first time after submitting an offer last week. Great site! If my contract gets taken, I know where I'll turn to continue my search.

 

[Chili327]

When we initially launched the saved-search feature, it included the ability to edit searches. Unfortunately, we encountered some unexpected issues that forced us to temporarily remove this functionality. We haven’t had the chance to reintroduce it yet, but we’ll prioritize getting it back up and running.

Ah gotcha, yea don’t sweat it then. Functionality is priority, I can delete and make new whenever I need to.

Also the 1-star does make sense to be specifically for things other than just ridiculous asking price.

Keep up the good work, I visit the site as much as I check my email. lol

 

[juliebee]

I found my Boulder Ridge contract because of DVC for less! So thank you for that!!
I am curious why there are some contracts that say they are there for 300+ days but also say "new". How does that happen?

 

[HyperspaceMountainPilot]

Thank you, Chili! When we initially launched the saved-search feature, it included the ability to edit searches. Unfortunately, we encountered some unexpected issues that forced us to temporarily remove this functionality. We haven’t had the chance to reintroduce it yet, but we’ll prioritize getting it back up and running.

As for the single-star ratings, you’re absolutely right—we need to make better use of them. There are definitely some deals out there that deserve a one-star rating. The reason you never see a one-star listing is due to the penalty system we integrated into our algorithm. Currently, it’s purposefully never triggered, but it's designed to account for non-monetary defects in a contract beyond just a poor price-per-point.

For example:

1. A broker might add significant hidden fees that aren't reflected in the advertised price-per-point.
2. Large contracts of 1,000+ points (I personally believe super-jumbo contracts should rarely achieve a five-star rating).
3. New rules imposed by DVC that could severely impact the value or utility of certain contracts (e.g., a more harsh version of resale restrictions).

We built some "headroom" into the DealScore range to accommodate assessing these penalties, but we've been cautious about applying them for many reasons, including fear that it could introduce a perception that our ratings include personal bias. For now, we might consider distributing that headroom more evenly across the full five-star range while still leaving the option for penalties to be assessed in the future.

I’d love to hear the community’s thoughts on how dvcforless.com should approach DealScore penalties. Should we continue NOT assessing penalties? What contract features or scenarios do you think should trigger a penalty?

Since you asked… in my opinion it’s much cleaner to have the stars be purely based on value and then having maybe a red x or red flag or some separate indicator that alerts the buyer to look for traps. (who knew there was an emoji for trap, maybe use that one instead, lol)

 

[SL6827]

Why are there sooooo many Poly contracts for resale now?

 

[RanDIZ]

Why are there sooooo many Poly contracts for resale now?

My guess would be people taking advantage of the higher price and trying to make a quick profit. It wasn’t long ago these contracts were in the 140’s.