Rental Activity on R/T Board After Feb. 1 Changes

[BWV Dreamin]

I just recently utilized the R/T board . I really noticed a dramatic drop in activity. Has anyone else noticed this? Usually, my thread would need to be bumped up two or three times in a day. Now, even with a closed thread, it has not moved off of the first page in two days. I wonder if these changes will be good or bad for renters? Opinions?

 

[sweetdana]

Prices 6 month + to be closer to 7$ -8$ for distressed points. Use them by End of March or April or something. It seems most prices are 10 - 12$ now even distressed points.

The rental service if you are on his email has 7$ sales alot, and he is garenteed.. Also new points (on disboards) are not much more than his 11 month out window.. the 10 - 12$ they are listed for sale, and he will garentee the trip for you. So if it was less than the cost for Dave's it is 1 thing, but to pay more for a more riskier transaction doesn't make sense to me.
I rent alot before from disfamiles maybe 8 times over the past 3 yrs, 2 transfers and prob 5-6 rentals. Rentals are last min 5 days out, 2 months our, but for 7$ on Dave's sales I would 100% use him 1st. .. If the prices went back down on Dis to be cheaper.. then I would rent for a disfamily.

2nd compensating factor is airfare is way up. So booking a last min trip is more $$ too.

To me .. this is why I havent rented since 05/2010
This has nothing to due with the Feb date change..

 

[Chuck S]

Personally, I think it may become more of a seller's market if less owners are renting here.

But regardless of impact, here is another way to look at it. Our Rent/Trade board was never intended to be a profit center for those that are not part of our community. This demonstrates to a degreee how many people were coming here for their own profit, with absolutely no desire to regularly contribute to, or be a part of, the DIS as a whole. For those interested solely in profit, there are sites available, but many of those sites charge fees. like ebay...or a membership fee to post, like TUG2.

 

[cheezNE1]

Every action has an equal and opposite reaction...

 

[jcf]

I think it hurts everyone...and annoys some into not posting anymore...

People's schedules differ some have time to post "regularly" others like me seem to do it in bunches due to time, upcoming trip or DVC rule change...

But, like I sometimes tell my son and his friends (10 years old) it's "good to be king" as far as rulemaking goes...

For myself I'll stick around here and contribute when I have time but I did find a website where there is no charge/fees regarding renting at http://www.****************/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=58...

 

[bicker]

Every action has an equal and opposite reaction...

But not necessarily any ol' reaction that someone chooses to try to ascribe into that formula.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

But not necessarily any ol' reaction that someone chooses to try to ascribe into that formula.

Your loosing me fellas.....no geek speek please....

 

[bicker]

Which word didn't you understand?

 

[marx]

[

But regardless of impact, here is another way to look at it. Our Rent/Trade board was never intended to be a profit center for those that are not part of our community. This demonstrates to a degreee how many people were coming here for their own profit, with absolutely no desire to regularly contribute to, or be a part of, the DIS as a whole.

I have been a member here for a few years and have contributed occasionally. Up until fairly recently I never posted to the rent/trade board and don't see myself doing so again for quite a while. Yet, with the current rules if I want to post to rent/trade I won't be able to since I don't submit enough posts to qualify. When I did use rent/trade it was to obtain a transfer of points, so there was no desire of seeking profit.

 

[dzorn]

Personally, I think it may become more of a seller's market if less owners are renting here.

But regardless of impact, here is another way to look at it. Our Rent/Trade board was never intended to be a profit center for those that are not part of our community. This demonstrates to a degreee how many people were coming here for their own profit, with absolutely no desire to regularly contribute to, or be a part of, the DIS as a whole. For those interested solely in profit, there are sites available, but many of those sites charge fees. like ebay...or a membership fee to post, like TUG2.

I would have to agree.

Denise in MI

 

[jcf]

Just b/c some people contribute less doesn't mean their contribution should be discounted...or they should be penalized...most people who think it's a "great" idea probably never rented...

 

[vicki_c]

I believe the original question was - will this be good or bad for renters? (assuming BWVDreamin that you meant renters, not owners)

NOT another rehashing of why some people don't like the new rules.

My opinion on the original question - I just think there will be less to pick from for renters HERE on the DIS, but just like the flip side, there are other places to look for renting points, so I don't think it's a big impact. I would guess the majority of the owners who rent a lot that used to post here just moved over to those other sites. So as long as someone knows there are multiple places to look, I don't think it's going to have an impact on finding a rental or the price you pay.

 

[dcamdad]

Just b/c some people contribute less doesn't mean their contribution should be discounted...or they should be penalized...most people who think it's a "great" idea probably never rented...

I believe the policy was set up as it is for one obvious reason. It does however effectivly halt the contributers whose only contributions are on the rent/trade board such as "commercial renters".

 

[fers31]

I tried to post a Transfer request a few weeks ago but I didn't have enough posts in the past 6 months so my thread was rejected. It's dropped by 70% since they put in the new rules.

 

[Chuck S]

[

I have been a member here for a few years and have contributed occasionally. Up until fairly recently I never posted to the rent/trade board and don't see myself doing so again for quite a while. Yet, with the current rules if I want to post to rent/trade I won't be able to since I don't submit enough posts to qualify. When I did use rent/trade it was to obtain a transfer of points, so there was no desire of seeking profit.

You are not forbidden from using the R/T board, only from posting a new thread. If you are seeking a transfer of points and don't meet the posting criteria, you may reply into a "Points for Rent" or "Points for Transfer" thread offered by another DVC owner.

Just b/c some people contribute less doesn't mean their contribution should be discounted...or they should be penalized...most people who think it's a "great" idea probably never rented...

No one is being penalized, you are free to use all the other assets of the DISBoards. But the original purpose of the Rent/Trade board was for active members of our community to have a way to rent their unneeded points and reservations, not to be a huge clearing house for all DVC Rentals on the internet.

Again, there are other sites available, many of them charge for the privilege of renting out your points. The DIS only requires a pattern of active participation over the previous 6 months.

 

[rhettreaux]

Hello Everyone,

As any economist will tell you, any attempt to influence a free market will result in unintended consequences. Up to this point, the Rent/Trade board has been a relatively free market, with sellers offering rents or trades from 10 points to 500 points to a large amount of buyers.

As of February 1, though, the Rent/Trade board has created a barrier to entry in this formerly free market. There is now a toll to pay if you want to post. One must have an evenly-spread 6-month history of posts on DISboards if one wants to post to the Rent/Trade board.

First, I’ll comment on the changes that you can already see. One, the volume of posts on the site has dropped precipitously. Before Feburary 1 you could find twenty-five people offering points for any given resort, now you will find five. Two, the number of individuals making posts on the site has dropped as members lacking the requisite posting history have been weeded out of the eligible posting pool. Three, the prices of points has gone up because the number of sellers has decreased as the numbers of buyers has stayed the same. Supply has shrunk while demand has stayed constant, creating a seller’s market.

These are the effects that are immediately observed. In addition to those changes, you will see the two following changes in the near future:

Consequence # 1: Post increases: More Quantity, Less Quality

As a result of creating a “50 posts in 6 months” tariff for the privilege of posting on the Rent/Trade board, the number of inane, useless, repetitive, and inaccurate posts sitewide will rise exponentially. So as not to be insulting, I will use myself as an example. In the past, I have not done a lot of posting. Socially, I am the type of person who does not speak unless I have something beneficial, helpful, or unique to say. As I have perused the HUGE volume of information on DISboards, I have almost always found information to answer my Disney-related questions, and thus have not posted questions that I could answer through a simple search.

My posting habits changed once I realized the Rent/Trade board’s mandate to post over 50 times within six months. I want to sell points for the first time since I joined DISboards in 2009, and I need to have 50 posts to do so! The change to the posting rules increased my posting activity on DISboards, and I stopped searching for information before posting. Now, my posts might repeat another person’s question or information, reducing the value of both duplicate posts to the membership and creating a glut of information to choke up DISboard’s already taxed search engine.

Consquence # 2: Restricted Marketplace: The fat cats take over

As low-point-number sellers are thinned out of the Rent/Trade board, it will become increasingly dominated by members who trade large volumes of points on a regular basis. These members are profiting from their relationship with DISboards, and thus will do what they need to do in order to keep their posting privileges live. (Is it possible that some members got advance notice of these changes?) This takes away a benefit from members who are infrequent point traders and drives down competition.

This change benefits two groups of people, though. The members who are still able to post are benefitted as prices rise and competition drops. Also, the sponsors and advertisers on DISboards benefit as frustrated buyers turn to other markets in their search for points. This is the most insidious part of this rules change, as the benefits to the advertisers suggest a deliberate collaboration between the advertisers and the moderators of the Rent/Trade board.

This means that the board is not truly serving the needs of the members.

Please reply to this post and share your thoughts with the community. Personally, I LOVE all of the user-generated information on DISboards, and I valued the option of trading DVC points as a side benefit. Hopefully we can restore the fair and equitable market that the Rent/Trade board used to be.

Rhett

 

[ccgirl]

I just rented points for the first time. I did pay more than $10 but the poster had a lot of posts and had been a member for quite a while. I would have never rented from someone that had just joined or didn't have posts. They also had a good contract and other things that made me feel comfortable. Not sure of the new changes you are talking about?? BTW, I did check with David's first and his are $13 and I'm already at the 7 mth window so I didn't want to wait.

 

[CarolAnnC]

This topic is currently being discussed on our Mousellaneous Board, so I am merging the thread over there. thank you.

 

[rhettreaux]

Vicki, I would totally agree with you if members were allowed to post links to other sites where trades are possible, but if you look above, such links are being censored out of posts.

It seems like the only other sites allowed to be mentioned as alternatives are the ones that have PAID to be here. (Hey, what's that banner at the top of the page say?)

I believe the original question was - will this be good or bad for renters? (assuming BWVDreamin that you meant renters, not owners)

NOT another rehashing of why some people don't like the new rules.

My opinion on the original question - I just think there will be less to pick from for renters HERE on the DIS, but just like the flip side, there are other places to look for renting points, so I don't think it's a big impact. I would guess the majority of the owners who rent a lot that used to post here just moved over to those other sites. So as long as someone knows there are multiple places to look, I don't think it's going to have an impact on finding a rental or the price you pay.

 

[CarolAnnC]

Vicki, I would totally agree with you if members were allowed to post links to other sites where trades are possible, but if you look above, such links are being censored out of posts.

It seems like the only other sites allowed to be mentioned as alternatives are the ones that have PAID to be here. (Hey, what's that banner at the top of the page say?)

You can post links to sites where trades are possible. If they are not allowed on the DIS then you will see ******. "Ebay" and "TUG" are not censored out of posts, so I am not sure what you are talking about.

Most internet saavy folks would just use "Google" to find a comprehensive list of rental sites, though.

Honestly, if you examine your own history, it has taken you almost 2 1/2 years to reach 52 posts. That is not an active DIS poster, hence the new "rules".