ROFR Thread July to Sept 2018 *PLEASE SEE FIRST POST FOR INSTRUCTIONS & FORMATTING TOOL*

[ScubaCat]

What's a garbage fee? Just curious. LOL!

It's a pretty common term, actually, for a fee you pay so the other party can take more of your money for absolutely no reason and/or to artificially present the initial cost as lower than it really is. A perfect example is "resort fees" or "parking fees". For fun sometime, look up the initial price of a room at the hilton bonnet creek, and go through the booking process and see what the final actual price is (not to mention the $20+ a day for parking that will be tacked on after you get there.) It's an impressive scam.

Think of how Disney charges parking fees to everyone (other than DVC members or points bookings -- only since they're already paying for it, of course.) It was free for 47½ years and now suddenly it's $24 a day at deluxe resorts. Weird how that works, isn't it? I'm sure the cost of asphalt went up 100,000% overnight.

 

[ScubaCat]

What's a garbage fee? Just curious. LOL!

Here's an intro to my new course: "Garbage Fees 101"

Hilton Bonnet Creek tonight has a 1 king room for $149 as the advertised price. Good deal, right? Here's the actual price:




BUT WAIT... scroll all the way to the bottom, and ......




And that, is the end of the class. You have graduated and now know what a garbage fee is.

 

[justme0729]

I think this was a good deal, just my opinion though. Did it pass or are you waiting? Good luck and enjoy!

We passed I think it was a good or at least fair deal too.

 

[rex420]

It was only submitted yesterday. Hoping for a speedy decision!

Mine took about 2 weeks (6/28 and passed 7/13) and that looks like the norm right now, so good luck.

 

[motherof5]

We passed I think it was a good or at least fair deal too.

Congratulations

 

[Mumof4mice]

You just have to add $195 to the total cost of their contracts since they charge that unique garbage fee to buyers.

Agree. They seem to get by primarily on the competitively priced listings. I've made a few full priced offers on VGC contracts (so out of character for me lol!). Half the time they don't bother replying. And when they did the contract was always already gone anyway.

 

[ScubaCat]

Agree. They seem to get by primarily on the competitively priced listings. I've made a few full priced offers on VGC contracts (so out of character for me lol!). Half the time they don't bother replying. And when they did the contract was always already gone anyway.

Did you call? I bought from them once but I just called and didn't even bother submitting anything online. I thought they were perfectly fine to deal with and at least informed me of the $195 garbage fee right away vs slipping it in later.

 

[Gryhndmom]

Here's an intro to my new course: "Garbage Fees 101"

Hilton Bonnet Creek tonight has a 1 king room for $149 as the advertised price. Good deal, right? Here's the actual price:

View attachment 338483


BUT WAIT... scroll all the way to the bottom, and ......

View attachment 338484


And that, is the end of the class. You have graduated and now know what a garbage fee is.

Kinda reminds me of renting a car especially at the Orlando airport!

 

[Mumof4mice]

Did you call? I bought from them once but I just called and didn't even bother submitting anything online. I thought they were perfectly fine to deal with and at least informed me of the $195 garbage fee right away vs slipping it in later.

Submitted online offer when I saw the listing pop up overnight/over the weekend. The first time I didn't call, and never got a reply (I'm sure the listing was already pending, so they didn't reply to all 20 people who emailed them). After that I always placed an online offer and followed up with phone call as soon as they opened in the morning. Never any luck snagging a VGC at $155 though.

Yes they were professional and did inform me of the "admin fee" too. No complaints there. Just commenting that they really don't have to do much; the low asking price of the listings sell themselves instantly. So why the extra garbage fee?

 

[NHLFAN]

I have had 3 offers accepted through Fidelity, two closed and the third was taken during ROFR. All three never made it to their website as I had called them on a weekly basis looking for contracts fitting our needs. Even with the admin fee added we felt we received a great deal with additional banked points. Shawn Ray has always been a pleasure to deal with and wouldn't hesitate working with her in the future.

 

[justme0729]

Congratulations

Thank you!!

 

[Mumof4mice]

I have had 3 offers accepted through Fidelity, two closed and the third was taken during ROFR. All three never made it to their website as I had called them on a weekly basis looking for contracts fitting our needs. Even with the admin fee added we felt we received a great deal with additional banked points. Shawn Ray has always been a pleasure to deal with and wouldn't hesitate working with her in the future.

Thanks! If my contracts currently in ROFR get taken I'll start hounding Shawn

 

[Bing Showei]

Yes they were professional and did inform me of the "admin fee" too. No complaints there. Just commenting that they really don't have to do much; the low asking price of the listings sell themselves instantly. So why the extra garbage fee?

Volume. The more they move with less effort, the higher the ROTPITAHBAS (Return On Time Put In To Actually Help A Buyer And Seller). I"m pretty sure that's the technical name.

The more cheap contracts they sell (courtesy of shifting the "contract cost" to the buyer as an admin fee), the more money they make. I have never had a ROFR conversation with Chris, Bonnie, or anyone else at Fidelity because they don't care whether or not your contract is taken. They get their commission (and more quickly when it gets taken) and as a bonus, they get the buyer pitching in on their profits.

At 5% commission, the sale price on a contract would need to be $3,900 more to earn them $195 in additional commission from the seller. For a 200pt contract, that's $19.50 more per point.

So instead they focus on volume. Sell a ton of cheap contracts and shift the profit to the buyer instead. Pretty clever business model.

 

[DVC Fanatic]

Volume. The more they move with less effort, the higher the ROTPITAHBAS (Return On Time Put In To Actually Help A Buyer And Seller). I"m pretty sure that's the technical name.

The more cheap contracts they sell (courtesy of shifting the "contract cost" to the buyer as an admin fee), the more money they make. I have never had a ROFR conversation with Chris, Bonnie, or anyone else at Fidelity because they don't care whether or not your contract is taken. They get their commission (and more quickly when it gets taken) and as a bonus, they get the buyer pitching in on their profits.

At 5% commission, the sale price on a contract would need to be $3,900 more to earn them $195 in additional commission from the seller. For a 200pt contract, that's $19.50 more per point.

So instead they focus on volume. Sell a ton of cheap contracts and shift the profit to the buyer instead. Pretty clever business model.

I must be missing something here. There commission seems a lot less than some of the other sites that have higher prices. I know other sites charge 8.5-10% commission on the seller. I would gladly pay the $195 fee as the buyer instead of paying $20-25 more a point for similar contracts on other sites. For a 200 point contract, that is $4000-5000 in savings. Like I said, unless I am missing something.

 

[eaglesrest]

Justme0729---$115-$14037-110-AUL-Feb-0/17, 95/18, 110/19, 110/20-SUBSIDIZED- sent 7/2, passed

Was listed for $120/ point and an international seller. Happy to have found a subsidized contract in the amount of points I needed. Do you guys think this is a fair price for a subsidized Aulani? Not that it matters anymore! Lol

We have practically the same deal - I worked yours at about $104 per point factoring the extra points. We don't need the AUL points until 2022 so was happy with a stripped contract - Eaglesrest---$105-$10500-100-AUL-Feb-0/17, 0/18, 0/19, 100/20-Subsidised- sent 7/5

Based on your success I guess we should pass

Same UY, similar points, both subsidized .... could be the same seller

 

[Mumof4mice]

I must be missing something here. There commission seems a lot less than some of the other sites that have higher prices. I know other sites charge 8.5-10% commission on the seller. I would gladly pay the $195 fee as the buyer instead of paying $20-25 more a point for similar contracts on other sites. For a 200 point contract, that is $4000-5000 in

In the scenario of a 200 point contract sold at $100 instead of $120:
Purchase price = $20,000 vs $24,000
The buyer saves $4000
The seller gets $4000 less
Fidelity gets paid $1000 plus $195 admin fee from the buyer = $1195. The same commission they would have earned, if they achieved $23,900 for the seller at 5% commission.

Just my guess, I think they can sell at least 5 contracts at $100pp with less work than it would take to sell one at $119.5pp.

 

[DVC Fanatic]

In the scenario of a 200 point contract sold at $100 instead of $120:
Purchase price = $20,000 vs $24,000
The buyer saves $4000
The seller gets $4000 less
Fidelity gets paid $1000 plus $195 admin fee from the buyer = $1195. The same commission they would have earned, if they achieved $23,900 for the seller at 5% commission.

Just my guess, I think they can sell at least 5 contracts at $100pp with less work than it would take to sell one at $119.5pp.

Still missing something. Doesn’t the seller set the price, not the agency. If the seller wants to sell for more, then they should list higher. I still argue their commission is much less to half of other resale companies. If I am a seller I would list the price I wanted with the agency I thought would sell my property and give me a fair commission percentage.

With your scenario, if a seller sold the $120 contract with a different company, they would lose $2,400 in just commission. Understand they will make more if they sell at that price. That agency is making double what the other agency is making for a 20% increase in price per point. I think other sites commissions being higher has driven up the price per point to a certain degree.

I look at this discussion from the buyers point of view. $195 admin fee is not a lot if I can save a lot more on price per point. $195 only adds around $1 per point on a 200 point contract. Again, just my thoughts.

 

[Mumof4mice]

Still missing something. Doesn’t the seller set the price, not the agency. If the seller wants to sell for more, then they should list higher. I still argue their commission is much less to half of other resale companies. If I am a seller I would list the price I wanted with the agency I thought would sell my property and give me a fair commission percentage.

With your scenario, if a buyer sold the $120 contract with a different company, they would lose $2,400 in just commission. Understand they will make more if they sell at that price. That agency is making double what the other agency is making for a 20% increase in price per point. I think other sites commissions being higher have driven up the price per point to a certain degree.

I look at this discussion from the buyers point of view. $195 admin fee is not a lot if I can save a lot more on price per point. $195 only adds around $1 per point on a 200 point contract. Again, just my thoughts.

Oh, I would have loved to purchase a number of those loaded, cheap Fidelity listings! Agree the $195 is trivial for the buyer.
As the seller, listing high in an environment where other sellers are motivated and asking $20 lower probably wouldn't work too well. But if one were willing and able to wait it out, they could potentially achieve the asking price and save on some commission.

 

[DVC Fanatic]

If I was not attempting to buy add on points direct on one of the wait listed properties, I would be stalking their site daily and calling them. But trying to match use year, the amount of points I want and the smaller price difference between direct and resale for small contracts, would probably take forever. But then again the waitlist with Disney might take forever as well.

 

[gkrykewy]

gkrykewy---$111-$14300-120-AKV-Aug-0/17, 92/18, 120/19, 120/20- sent 7/4, passed 7/18