Hi Becky, no tips here I'm afraid. My renter was a guy from Louisana who responded to a post of mine on the rent/trade board and I don't think he is a DVC member. He set up a PayPal account which was not completely set up before he left for his vacation and so he paid after his vacation was completed, which is probably not the best method of doing business! However, he is a really nice, genuine guy and I trusted him implicitly. There obviously has to be an element of trust for both sides of the bargain.
Good luck.