Can I buy a timeshare off ebay for $1 then deed it back to the timeshare company and go on a vacation for $1

So you understand that timeshares are a bad deal, and for that reason they are tough to sell. Basically you are giving a company a lot of money upfront so you can be obligated to spend another amount, each year, to use their product.

I would assume that the "deed back" properties are ones that are in high demand and therefore not difficult to sell. Disney timeshares are sort of like this, they reserve the right to purchase back your timeshare if you attempt to sell it at too low of a price. Disney timeshares are actually pretty good values and most owners are very happy with their purchase.

The ones that are being sold for a low price are probably the rot gut timeshares. Those places that have not been maintained and are very, very difficult for the sales staff to unload.

Keep in mind that this is considered a real estate transaction, so even with a sales price of a $1, you will end up paying a lot more in closing costs depending on the locale.

To me it is too risky of a deal to undergo. There are better ways to get a nearly free vacation. One would be going on a time share tour. Please follow common advice on getting out of a tour early without purchasing.

Your examples were 10-day auctions which had just posted at the time you had asked. Questions such as "how does eBay bidding work?" and "What is sniping" would further your understanding.

A $1 timeshare is like a $1 cell phone.

The $1 is a distraction from the real issue: You are signing a contract which obliges you much to much more than $1!

Think of it more like $1 down on a used car.

You are buying a condo, albeit a fraction of it. With its own maintenance requirements and a significant HOA fee.

Why is the person bothering to sell it for $1?

Now you may be used to the idea of being able to "walk away" from a house that you owe more on than it's worth. You don't need to list it for $1 on a trading site, you just walk away and take a bit of a credit hit.

Why doesn't the seller just do that? They CAN'T. Their timeshare contract doesn't work that way. There is no walk-away clause. Their only other way out is personal bankruptcy, and that means losing a lot more of their assets.

So here they are trying to unload their contractual commitments onto a sucker. They're not giving away a bargain, they are trying to stop their own losses.

NO !!

Else there would not be so many companies that you can choose to pay to get you OUT of your timeshare contract.

You might buy a timeshare for $1 but you will be stuck for all the fees and other charges forever, which motivated somebody to try to sucker you to buy it for only $1.

I cannot recommend against this strongly enough. Do not do this!

Most Timeshares have expensive yearly dues which must be paid. There's often no easy way to get out of these. Because timeshares are real estate, they pass to your estate when you die.

As a practical example: when my mother died, I inherited two timeshares from her estate. I was unable to reject these. In one case, the timeshare company was "nice enough" to take the timeshare back for free, so I avoided having to pay any maintenance fees on it. The other timeshare had a $2,500 in annual dues which I could not avoid and was forced to pay out of pocket, even though I did not utilize the property. The Timeshare company (Mariott) would not buy back the property from me, not even take it back for free. They wanted me to keep paying those sweet, sweet annual dues.

In my case I was lucky enough to find another sucker — achem, person — to sell that timeshare to. I managed to not lose too much money, but this timeshare that I never wanted did end up netting me a loss. My brother was not as lucky and, as far as I last heard, is still paying $2500 annually for a timeshare he does not use.

Timeshares for $1 are not a free vacation. They are being sold at $1 because someone wants to get out of their annual dues, and you and your children may be stuck with them.