Would it makes sense to buy just 10 points?
 

I'm a renter of DVC points for at least 6 out of the next 12 years. I think renting last minute points deals will be a fun way for me to "plan" vacations. So...is it worth buying an extremely minimal amount of points just to facilitate transfers? Would some DVC owners feel more comfortable transferring pints to another owner vs making a reservation for a non-owner? I've seen such low amounts of points posted for resale in the past.

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You may be confusing renting with buying.

The smallest contract ever sold by Disney (and thus the smallest you could ever find on the resale market) is 25 points.

Some members do look for others to transfer points into their contracts. Your plan could work, but their are potential pitfalls to plan on doing it on a regular basis:

Members are allowed one transfer per use year per membership, either into their account or out of it, but not both in the same use year. It can be difficult to find someone who is willing to transfer their points if you only want a small amount or are not willing to take all of what they want to transfer.

The POS specifically states that members cannot accept money for transferring points. Members do ignore this and Disney mostly looks the other way. (Some have run into trouble with MS if they mention money changing hands for a transfer). Some of us think that Disney just doesn't want to get into the middle of any dispute between members re transfers and this is the provision that allows them to do so. Transfers are final and cannot be reversed. If something happens not to your liking/expectations, you are on your own to resolve it.

Rules & transfer provisions have changed since DVC began and could change again. There is no guarantee that they will be allowed to continue.

At this point in time, even those who own a small contract receive DVC perks and benefits. The discount on annul passes is especially attractive and at least a few members own (or kept) a small contract just for that reason. :)

Thanks for the question. It's one we haven't discussed for a while. I'm sure others will have opinions to share with you, too.

Good luck with your research.

If you are an owner and need just 10 points, have you considered the one time use points for members from DVC?

This is a really good point that I think gets overlooked a lot. We always say not to buy DVC for the perks that can and probably will change at any time. But in the case of a family of four, a 25 point contract can pay for itself in the first year just by the annual pass discount alone. Add in TiW and you are looking at a great deal for a "free" DVC contract. Not too shabby. :)

Last minute and DVC don't always go together. Owners may have points that will expire, but there might not be anything available to use the points on. For example, from early Oct thru the marathon, it can be difficult to get anything at the last minute. In fact, many times you need to book at 11 months out.

While you might want to plan a last minute vacation, DVC won't always work that way.

We are a family that will aim for Sept vacations at lower-demand DVC resorts, so I think I have a better-than-normal shot at making "last minute" work, but please tell me if I'm wrong! The real question is this: if it came down to either a straight rental of 185 pts or being a dvc owner (of only 10 pts) and picking up transfers from other owners. Is there an advantage to being an owner?

Last minute rentals could prove difficult to attain as these are risky for the renter. So if you are dertermined to follow this course buying a small contract and attempting to routinely transfer points might be your best option. DVC works best for those who can plan further out.

In concept what you describe could work.

As a DVC owner, I would prefer to transfer rather than rent as there are less hassles involved in a transfer. That said, I believe you can only transfer once per year, so you are limited in that respect.

I don't think you saw it mentioned above, but the smallest contract you can buy is 25 points, so owning 10 points is not an option. I have to say I don't see an advantage to doing this. Getting transfers is going to be a hassle, and you can only transfer in once a year so you'd better make sure you get the right amount. Transferred points don't show up on your online account, so you'll have to call MS for each reservation you want to make. Finally, the benefit of ownership is a lower price per point after the initial buy in. But you will have paid the initial buy in (albeit less) but you will still be paying full market value for the points.

I say that if you are really going to do this, maybe skip a year or two and put that money towards getting a decent sized contract that you can control. Or, if you are resigned to paying a large fee per point every year, then buy a VB contract. The buy in is very little and the fees are close to $8 a year per point, which is less than the $10-12 you will pay for transfers. Good luck with whatever you decide.

The advantages are that you would control the reservation and be able to make changes as needed. And as an owner you would be eligible for any benefits that are available to DVC members including the discounted AP.

Your input is helpful. Especially on the hassle of transfers. The piece I want to challenge is minimum 25 points. That only applies if I buy from Disney, not a reseller of DVC points. Right?

Whether buying direct or resale, the minimum contract is 25. A direct buyer would have bought 25 points resale, turned around and sold the 25 point contract resale. The contract remains the same. It would not be broken up.

24 points or less may be purchased direct through Disney as one-time use points to fulfill reservation needs. You can obtain a maximum of 24 one-time-use vacation points once per use year per membership with a maximum of 24 points processed in a single transaction, not multiple transactions.

No it applies everywhere. The minimum point package DVC will sell is 25 points as an add on to existing members. This can not be broken up into smaller pieces. So there is no way to obtain a 10 point package to purchase.

The smallest contract available for ownership in any form is 25 points - resale or direct. DVC, at this time, will not sell anyone a 25 point contract for their initial purchase, but you might be able to acquire one on the resale market.

Transfers are limited to one per Use Year but are only available between members. There is no limitation on the number of points involved in a transfer so a small transfer of 10 points is certainly possible in addition to the possibility to get a "transfer" of up to 24 one-time-use points directly from DVC too.

Again, the smallest contract you can possibly purchase via resale or DVC is 25 points. There has never been a smaller contract sold since inception of the program. Ownership of only 10 points is not possible.

Here's another problem with your plan: Those last minute points deals that you're talking about are usually people who have points that they have banked and still can't use, so they are about to expire. But banked points can't be transferred. So the only way you get a last-minute deal on transferable points is if someone cancelled a reservation after their banking deadline or forgot to bank. Those situations are far fewer, and you'd have to find the right number of points since you can only do one transfer per use year.

So it would probably be much more difficult than it seems.