DVC point rental/transfer market changes

[bookwormde]

I have been watching the rent/trade board and wondered if my observations are accurate from those who have been on both sides of renting for many years.

• There appears to be a lot less reservation wanted requests by % of total requests.
• Of the point rental/transfer offers there appears to be far less marked as closed.
• There appears to be a lot more bumping to try to get the offers completed
• There appears to be a lot more “long out” points for the $10 range even at the more in demand resorts (BCV, BWV, VWL, AKL).
• Number of post per thread appear higher

Are these observations valid or is it just my perspective. I made my comparisons to the same period last year.

bookwormde

 

[colonialtinker]

I've noticed it too. There seem to be quite a few post that have had very little replies, other then the OP bumping the post. I hate to say the E word but that might be why. If I didn't have my DVC I would certainly be looking at all cost factors. When Disney offers free dining even a luxuary resort at a value rate can't compete. People will spend their money where they feel they are getting the most value.

 

[LIFERBABE]

Much of it has to do with the rules of the board.

People can post Reservation Want Ads, but you cannot respond if your confirmed ressie is more than 30 days out. Not even PM, they have some way of seeing those too.

You have to bump daily with the word "bump" or your thread will be closed

Most people will PM or email once you post an ad.

Alot of rules went into play in the last year.

 

[Caskbill]

Much of it has to do with the rules of the board.

People can post Reservation Want Ads, but you cannot respond if your confirmed ressie is more than 30 days out. Not even PM, they have some way of seeing those too.

We do not monitor PM's. However, often people looking for reservations will PM a moderator asking about a specific person who responded to them and will forward a copy of that PM to the moderator. This is how we can find out if people are using PM's to offer existing reservations more than 30 days ahead, which is a violation of our board usage rules. We even had a case once where a user sent us a copy of an email they received where the person offering the reservation stated that board rules prohibited them from contacting the person so they were using email instead. The recipient wondered if someone would deliberately break board rules like that, how trustworthy would they be to rent from?

You have to bump daily with the word "bump" or your thread will be closed

Rules require you to bump at least once every 7-days, not daily. Threads not bumped are automatically closed by software as an abandoned thread.

Simply posting to the thread by the OP satisfies the 7-day 'bump' requirement. You do not have to post with the word "bump".

Alot of rules went into play in the last year.

Most of the current rules were adopted in 2006 with some modifications in March, 2007. The last modifications were 2/1/2008.

 

[Chuck S]

I've just started on the Rent/Trade board, so I really don't know the historical data of closed posts, etc. But a lot may also have to do with this time of year. I've noticed a lot of the "Reservation Wanted" posts are for November and December right now, a time frame that is normally quite difficult to book. That could explain why there are few, if any, replies to those particular threads.

 

[Caskbill]

There appears to be a lot less reservation wanted requests by % of total requests.

So far for 2008, 64.8% of all threads are "Reservation Wanted" threads.
In 2007, 64.3% of all threads were "Reservation Wanted" threads.

In September 2008, 59.8% of all threads were "Reservation Wanted" threads.
For September 2007, 59.7% of all threads were "Reservation Wanted" threads.
For September 2006, 51.6% of all threads were "Reservation Wanted" threads.

We do not have statistics for the full year 2006

 

[LIFERBABE]

We do not monitor PM's. However, often people looking for reservations will PM a moderator asking about a specific person who responded to them and will forward a copy of that PM to the moderator. This is how we can find out if people are using PM's to offer existing reservations more than 30 days ahead, which is a violation of our board usage rules. We even had a case once where a user sent us a copy of an email they received where the person offering the reservation stated that board rules prohibited them from contacting the person so they were using email instead. The recipient wondered if someone would deliberately break board rules like that, how trustworthy would they be to rent from?

Rules require you to bump at least once every 7-days, not daily. Threads not bumped are automatically closed by software as an abandoned thread.

Simply posting to the thread by the OP satisfies the 7-day 'bump' requirement. You do not have to post with the word "bump".


Most of the current rules were adopted in 2006 with some modifications in March, 2007. The last modifications were 2/1/2008.

Thank you Bill for correcting my post.

Some things have definitely changed on the RTB. I had a thread closed because I didnt say Bump in my post last year.

 

[Caskbill]

Thank you Bill for correcting my post.

Some things have definitely changed on the RTB. I had a thread closed because I didnt say Bump in my post last year.

Yes, it was changed to allow any reply post by the OP to count toward the 7-day 'bump' requirement. The original software looked for the actual word 'bump' in the post, but now, any reply post works. It can be an answer to another poster, a 'bump' only post, or even just posting a smiley. As long as it's a dated reply post, by the OP, within the OP's thread.

That change was effective Feb 2008. Since the purpose of the 7-day bump is to ensure the OP is maintaining their thread, it was decided that any reply by the OP to the thread was evidence that it was still active.

Prior to the 7-day bump requirement we would have people start a thread, get their answer, but never 'close' the thread with any comments and thus others would continue to respond to it, in some cases, for several more months.