The only way to sell timeshares is luring the buyer with a gift, wear them down with high-pressure sales tactics; all within the confines of a hotel conference room. Once the buyer has taken the bait, they will be led to a big hotel conference room with a large number of other people for a presentation.
During this time, salespeople analyse the customer’s body language and facial expressions, which they match up with past successful sales. This makes sure that the customers get assigned the best salespeople with the best likelihood of buying.
After about 30 minutes, the speaker ends the speech, and the new salesperson either joins the customer at the table or suggests a different room for the remaining presentation. For the next hour, they dig for as much personal information as possible so as to use it later to close the sale. Without seeming rude, open up a bit and talk freely, especially since the customer has already been treated to a fun show, to mention the free gift they might receive just for showing up.
Then the salesperson drops the asking price, a price so ridiculously high, that they couldn’t possibly spend that much money on a timeshare. The customer will obviously decline the offer, but unbeknownst to them, this is precisely what the customer is supposed to say because no one actually buys on the first outrageously high offer.
The customer then stays at the seat without getting up and leaving, which is their second mistake. Like most people in the situation, they feel obligated to stay because of the free gift. However, by not leaving, the customer establishes an unspoken agreement between them and the salesperson, which is entirely psychological, but powerful nevertheless. This tacit agreement is that the only objection to the customer is the price and that they would buy if the price were right.
Thirty minutes later, or as in many cases several hours later, the price is reduced to just a fraction of the original offer, which is where the customer finally gives in. Up until that point, they were subjected to a lot of psychological manipulation, which is in itself not unlawful.
However, once they sign the contract, the timeshare, in most cases, might have violated consumer protection law. There will be no point in the presentation where the salesperson informs the person of vital information that any reasonable person might want to know while buying a timeshare. They wouldn’t most certainly not be informed of the existence of the secondary market where timeshares just like theirs are listed on Craigslist, eBay, etc. at next to nothing.
The customer would also not be informed that the IRS values of the timeshares as worthless, regardless of the final price you paid. There might also be a pointlessly high-interest rate attached to it. The salesperson might also tell the customer that they themselves own a timeshare, which they would not.
