so I have never used a contract....pretty hard to enforce with most buyers in the USA, and small claims court not worth it IMHO. Now lots do and feel safe about it,,,just not for me,,so I dont want to sway you .
I do payment with paypal, friends not service then there is no fees collected by paypal. Also paypal does not do anything that is related to timeshares, so again no reason to pay fee.
Depending on the buyer, most I have pay upfront and then as soon as the fee is there, the points are exchanged. Or if doing a reservation, I book in and give them a few days to transfer the money. This is ok since I control the reservation and cancel it if no money. I have been letting reservations do 50-50 with the last half being due 45 days out, and still within my banking window. This lets me cancel if they dont pay, never had and issue, lets them not put all up front, and if they need to cancel my points do not go into holding.
hope this helps, ask all the questions you want