Important changes to Rent/Trade Posting Rules

[macleary]

All we have ever asked is for people to follow the rules as posted, and obviously MANY posters felt the rules do not apply to them.

Well to be honest, some of your policies for a simple post are more confusing than some legal contracts I've seen. Since you're a mod, you know them like the back of your hand, but the general public doesn't.

The one rule in particular I don't understand is threads getting locked after 7 days? What's the point? And penalizing us? What's the harm in letting a thread sit there for a few months? Disk space?? Just seems like someone has way too much time on their hands wrapping complicated policies around a simple bulletin board.

That said; I do appreciate you trying to curb spec-renting. That's a good thing. I hope it raises rental prices as well, I've been a DVC owner for 7 yrs and back then $10 was the common price and it's still $10 today, even with US dollar inflation since then. So in my opinion renters are getting a huge bargain at $10/pt. Should be closer to $13 at least especially compared to WDW direct prices.

And for those that say things like: "Oh I never rent my points.." and seem to have a condescending attitude towards DVC owners who rent; I think you need to understand some of us are not in a financial position to be able to afford to fly our family of 6, 2000 miles each year to Disney World, so we have to unload our points to save up for a big trip every 4-5 yrs. And suggesting that asking for a high price is somehow bad; is naive. We simply want fair market value. I am not a spec-renter and never have been. Thank you mods for volunteering your time.

 

[Chuck S]

The one rule in particular I don't understand is threads getting locked after 7 days? What's the point? And penalizing us? What's the harm in letting a thread sit there for a few months?

How many pages of active posts do you think there would be if inactive threads remained open for months? We mods check threads manually periodically for posts within the thread that violate other posting rules. There is currently 4 active pages WITH a 7 day limit. It has been as high as 8 active pages. A month could mean 30+ active pages, with several hundred posts per thread. The R/T Board is a very active board.

 

[LisaS]

The one rule in particular I don't understand is threads getting locked after 7 days? What's the point? And penalizing us? What's the harm in letting a thread sit there for a few months? Disk space?? Just seems like someone has way too much time on their hands wrapping complicated policies around a simple bulletin board.

One of the problems we had in the past (before putting thread maintenance rules in place about bumping and closing threads) was that users looking to rent from a DVC member would do a search on the R/T board and bump up posts that were weeks if not months old. Once an old post was bumped back to page 1, other users who didn't notice how old the thread was would post to it as well. The thread owner had long since rented out all of their points and would then contact us to ask us to close the thread to stop people replying to it. Reading and responding to PMs and manually closing the threads was extra work for the Mods and with an R/T board that is this active, this happened a lot.

We also have problems with people submitting a "Points for Rent" thread and never responding to any of the users who post to their thread. Users will post replies asking "Is the user still here?" "Why doesn't the user respond?" each time bumping the thread back to page 1. Having a thread "time out" if the OP hasn't posted to it in over 7 days causes those threads to be closed and fall off the front page.

There is no penalty for failing to maintain your thread but it certainly helps everybody else if you do.

 

[RobDoc]

Well to be honest, some of your policies for a simple post are more confusing than some legal contracts I've seen. Since you're a mod, you know them like the back of your hand, but the general public doesn't.

The one rule in particular I don't understand is threads getting locked after 7 days? What's the point? And penalizing us? What's the harm in letting a thread sit there for a few months? Disk space?? Just seems like someone has way too much time on their hands wrapping complicated policies around a simple bulletin board.

That said; I do appreciate you trying to curb spec-renting. That's a good thing. I hope it raises rental prices as well, I've been a DVC owner for 7 yrs and back then $10 was the common price and it's still $10 today, even with US dollar inflation since then. So in my opinion renters are getting a huge bargain at $10/pt. Should be closer to $13 at least especially compared to WDW direct prices.

And for those that say things like: "Oh I never rent my points.." and seem to have a condescending attitude towards DVC owners who rent; I think you need to understand some of us are not in a financial position to be able to afford to fly our family of 6, 2000 miles each year to Disney World, so we have to unload our points to save up for a big trip every 4-5 yrs. And suggesting that asking for a high price is somehow bad; is naive. We simply want fair market value. I am not a spec-renter and never have been. Thank you mods for volunteering your time.

The 7 day policy was in response to hundreds of complaints from those who regularly use the DVC Rent/Trade Board. We had no policy regarding that for years, but after so many complaints, it was obvious that it was important to those actually using the site - so we just made a change requiring those posting new threads to maintain them by simply posting to their thread every 7 days. If it's important enough to make the offer/request, it should be important enough to at least check the thread within a week and make some response.

The requirement to maintain your thread has been in place for several years now - it is not a recent change.

Sorry you find the policies so difficult to understand and follow, but you are in the minority.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

Would paying such a small fee insure people would follow our board rules? Unlikely. And it would require additional time and resources.

All we have ever asked is for people to follow the rules as posted, and obviously MANY posters felt the rules do not apply to them. Charging a fee would not improve that situation, and we will not allow the Rent/Trade board to become a "speculative renter free for all." It is simply a place for members of the DIS Community to rent their unused points or try to recoup something from an existing reservation if a situation has arisen during the holding penalty period.

Those seeking a reservation may reply to an approved Reservation for Rent or Points for Rent thread.

I think once a "fee" gets instituted, that would open a door of obligation that DIS would not want, nor should.

 

[Chuck S]

I think once a "fee" gets instituted, that would open a door of obligation that DIS would not want, nor should.

I think a fee would also create a sense of "entitlement" in some posters, even more of a feeling that the rule "should not apply to me because I gave you $."

A token fee would create more problems than it would solve, IMO.

 

[Deb & Bill]

I think a fee would also create a sense of "entitlement" in some posters, even more of a feeling that the rule "should not apply to me because I gave you $."

A token fee would create more problems than it would solve, IMO.

Hah, Chuck, that sounds like some DVC members we have all heard about. "I paid a lot of money for my DVC membership and I'm entitled to...."

 

[RobDoc]

At one time, the DIS proposed an eBay-type system for the Rent/Trade. The opposition for such an idea was so strong that the concept was dropped. It was clearly evident that those using the R/T Board were opposed to any situation where the DIS would realize any profit from the R/T Board and that opinion was accepted by the DIS. To this day, all moderation has been on a volunteer basis as well as all posts on the forum. All that is requested/required is that the board rules be followed.

Those not willing to accept the current rules will be faced with a challenge.

 

[Massillon Dad]

Love the Dis boards & So appreciate the moderator's good deed of volunteering their time! I guess I have another angle to your rental policy. I volunteer in my school's stadium concession stand, and don't mind it because my "good deed" goes to the non-profit benefit of the school, however if my volunteer effort went to the profit of a private enterprise I would be offended. So maybe the Moderators are offended when point renters seem to exploit the "free board advertising/marketing for profit" resulting from their good-deed volunteering on the board. I get it - Not fair. although I occasionally rent points, I will still continue to be a fan of the DIS boards....love em! Could you guys PLEASE do us a HUGE FAVOR and suggest what other board venue we might use to rent out a reservation over 30-days out? I know this is a huge FAVOR suggesting competition, but I know you have ideas, and I know you're honest. You also know that occasionally scheduling problems do arrise where a set Disney reservation trip can't be made. Example: I have a reservation in the fall that now I can't make (and I can't reschedule, give to friends/relatives or bank points) so I must rent it. People schedule their Disney flights/ plans more than 30 days in advance: what ideas whould you have for a person in my situation regarding renting the reservation? Keep up the great work! (PS-I still think you Moderators should at least be open to accepting $ "tips" from us for your services!)

 

[Chuck S]

Well, you could cancel and bank the points to the next use year, if your reservatoin isn't until the fall. You could also cancel the reservation and post a Points for Rent thread here on our Rent/Trade board, making a reservation as available for interested renters.

Or, you can use ebay or craigslist.

 

[Brian Noble]

suggest what other board venue we might use to rent out a reservation over 30-days out?

There are other DVC and/or timeshare discussion boards, which may or may not allow posting of available reservations, and may or may not allow them prior to 30 days. It may or may not be free to post ads.

Some boards that I have read that relate to DVC and/or timeshare in some way:

dvcnews.com
tugbbs.com/tug2.net
timeshareforums.com

There are also some advertising sites that would allow this sort of thing:

redweek.com
myresortnetwork.com

I know TUG and TS4M allow posting of weeks available for rent, and obviously so do redweek and myresortnetwork. I don't know about the dvc-specific sites. You'll have to do a little digging. Google may turn up other sites of interest to you.

 

[LisaS]

Could you guys PLEASE do us a HUGE FAVOR and suggest what other board venue we might use to rent out a reservation over 30-days out? I know this is a huge FAVOR suggesting competition, but I know you have ideas, and I know you're honest. You also know that occasionally scheduling problems do arrise where a set Disney reservation trip can't be made. Example: I have a reservation in the fall that now I can't make (and I can't reschedule, give to friends/relatives or bank points) so I must rent it. People schedule their Disney flights/ plans more than 30 days in advance: what ideas whould you have for a person in my situation regarding renting the reservation?

When you rent an existing reservation, you need to find someone who wants to stay in that size room, at that resort, on those exact dates and that can be difficult. If you rent the points instead, you cast a wider net -- you can use the points to make a reservation for anyone whose preferred dates/resort/room type happens to be available. I would suggest you post a "Points for Rent" thread and see if you get a request that uses up roughly the number of points you have tied up in your current reservation. If you get a match, cancel your reservation and use the points to book something for your renter. In the meantime you could also list your reservation on one or more of the other venues that do not prohibit spec rentals.

If you get to 31 days of check in and still haven't managed to rent the points and you're willing to risk those points going into Holding if you never manage to rent the existing reservation you've been hanging on to all this time, submit a "Reservation for Rent" thread and try to rent the existing reservation.

 

[RobDoc]

.... So maybe the Moderators are offended when point renters seem to exploit the "free board advertising/marketing for profit" resulting from their good-deed volunteering on the board. I get it - Not fair. ...

The 30-day policy has nothing to do with how the Rent/Trade moderators feel about those making a profit. The policy simply expresses the original purpose and mission of the DIS DVC Rent/Trade Board which was to provide a venue for members of our DIS commmunity to rent points they will be unable to use and to allow members who find they are unable to use a reservation an opportunity to rent it when it would otherwise place them in a penalty situation due to the Holding Account.

If members find themselves with a reservation they can't use more than 30 days ahead they are still welcome to offer to use those same points to make a reservation for someone else - and by cancelling the existing reservation, another member (possibly on the waitlist) may find availability.

The issue really came to a head a few years ago when the day AKV first began accepting reservations for Jambo villas we had 6 reservations posted on the Rent/Trade Board for early December reservations - clearly those reservations were made only as speculative rentals and were not situations where members found at the last minute they would be unable to use their reservation.

We realize that there are certainly situations where members discover they will be unable to use a reservation. We have even found some offering existing reservations more than 30 days from arrival on other sites who even state they will cancel the reservation if it has not been reserved 31 days before. Our policy hopes to provide a venue for those members truly unable to use their reservation once it enters the Holding Account period. We also limit such rentals to two per year - and you would be surprised how many posters offer two existing reservations a year - year after year. Many members have never had to cancel 2 reservations in 15 years - let alone 2 reservations each year for 10 years.

 

[mikron]

At one time, the DIS proposed an eBay-type system for the Rent/Trade. The opposition for such an idea was so strong that the concept was dropped. It was clearly evident that those using the R/T Board were opposed to any situation where the DIS would realize any profit from the R/T Board and that opinion was accepted by the DIS. To this day, all moderation has been on a volunteer basis as well as all posts on the forum. All that is requested/required is that the board rules be followed.

Those not willing to accept the current rules will be faced with a challenge.

I can't believe anyone can complain about sonething that is free to use and supervised for free. Thats 2 frees.

 

[CarolMN]

I can't believe anyone can complain about sonething that is free to use and supervised for free. Thats 2 frees.

Me, either. I was sincerely shocked to see how many people out there either can't read or think rules only apply to other people. I now know first hand why DVC members have such a rotten reputation with Disney employees.

Thanks goodness the majority of posters here are some of the nicest people to be found anywhere.

 

[smjj]

I have never used this feature the DIS offers and when I first read and continued to read for several days, I thought it was extremly restrictive and unfair. However, I have continued to read and now see why this change was necessary and maybe overdue. It just boils down to a few greedy people ruining it for all...smjj

 

[SugarMomma]

I am a DVC member and have planned a wonderful vacation for [Date of Reservation reference] since last year and we just found out that my husband cant get out of work and because of the way we have banked or not banked our points that we will lose them if we cancel. Would we be breaking your policy to try and rent this reservation on the DVC rent trade board.

Edit: This post has been edited to remove date references to the reservation - Chuck S

 

[Sandisw]

I am a DVC member and have planned a wonderful vacation for [Date of Reservation reference] since last year and we just found out that my husband cant get out of work and because of the way we have banked or not banked our points that we will lose them if we cancel. Would we be breaking your policy to try and rent this reservation on the DVC rent trade board.

So sorry you have to cancel. You can advertise it for rent, I believe, once you are within 30 days from check in date, the time when points would go into holding if you did cancel.

 

[Chuck S]

So sorry you have to cancel. You can advertise it for rent, I believe, once you are within 30 days from check in date, the time when points would go into holding if you did cancel.

That is correct. You may not offer an existing reservation on the DIS boards, whether it be by posting on the Rent/Trade board, replying to a post, PM or email until you are 30 days or less from check-in date.

 

[SugarMomma]

Thank-you. I keep hoping we will be able to work things out and go. But maybe if not we will be able to rent it out. Live to vacation another day.