Interesting way to make eBay money

[Gina D.]

Sell your campground reservations in popular spots.

I saw a couple more for other "popular" places.. some give you the whole thing, some make you pay the enterance fee ta boot!

Brings a whole new meaning to scalping, eh?

[Bobbie Mayer]

Is transferring a spot to someone else legal with the parks? If it is, then selling it may be legal, too, but if it isn't, Ebay will stop allowing it if there are complaints. When you register for a site what does it say about transferring or selling the space?

I definitely don't like it. It's hard enough to find a campsite without people profiting off of the problem.

[Donna D.]

I'm thinking if you try to do this with an Oregon State Park, you'll get free meals and accomodations for your effort. Unfortunately, you won't be with your family, friends or get to go camping. Plus you'll be bunking with people with names like Bubba and eating entrees called "Mystery Meat."

[Roger H]

I emailed the Yosemite reservations folks to see if this is appropriate. I'll post their response if and when I get one.

Rog

[Greg A]

According to the listing Gina found the seller is going to modify the reservation with your personal information, so it would seem if the system allows that, then it will work. I'm not familiar enough with CA online reservation system to know if you can change the info on a reservation.

I don't necessarily like what this could mean in the long run if the parks don't shut this practice down, but not sure how they can if they allow the reservation to be modified once you have it. I only know that I tried to book San Elijo playing right by their rules and called the very first hour that it became available for July. They told me that everything was gone, so I don't really get the CA system anyway. We're going somewhere else this summer where we don't seem to encounter those issues making reservations.

[Bruce H]

I'm thinking if you try to do this with an Oregon State Park, you'll get free meals and accomodations for your effort. Unfortunately, you won't be with your family, friends or get to go camping. Plus you'll be bunking with people with names like Bubba and eating entrees called "Mystery Meat."

Donna,

It depends on who you are. You might find family and friends there.

[Paul Bostick]

I tried to find a campsite at one of the state parks at Destin Florida, they are already booked through October!. Hope these are not investors trying to turn around and sell the sites..SIGH!

[Donna D.]

Donna,

It depends on who you are. You might find family and friends there.

true, just not in my case... I THINK!

[Bruce H]

I remember reading an article in the Wall Street Journal about 20 - 25 years ago about a guy who would order private jets. Because of very high demand there was a three year waiting period to get an order filled. He did have to make a deposit when he made the order. He kept several orders going all of the time. When the delivery date got close he would sell his "place in line" for several hundred thousand dollars profit. As far as I know he was never forced to take delivery of one himself although he was capable of paying for it if he had to.

[Gina D.]

Greg, this is in Yosemite, it's a National Park. Not a California State park.

The seller also lists that he has "Overbooked and just want to get rid of the site".

Now, if it were me and that were the case, I would simply cancel my ressies. If he is not able to, he could do a buy it now to recoup his costs.

I see this as scalping. As mentioned, when I ran across this one listing, I snooped for others. They are out there.. all for holiday weekends.

slimey, but I bet there is no law against it... yet.

[Sharon Herman]

Geez! They got $510.00 for that AND have a second site now up for bid!

[Gina D.]

We simply overbooked and have an extra site available just for you!

yeah, in every campground there on that weekend! They like to spread family fun out, I guess.

I am thinking a quick call to national parks to bring this to their attention would be interesting...

[Darwin Maring]

Do you think there would be a possibility that when you show up there would be no reservation?

If the park is a national or state park then the government should keep the deposits for all reservations for that person and reassign the slots to the next person on the list.

What they are doing is just wrong.

[Gina D.]

Do you think there would be a possibility that when you show up there would be no reservation?

According to Recreation.gov.. that is exactly what will happen. I just called them. You can't change a name on a ressie, it has to be canceled and a new one made. They transfered me to "the supervisors" who were very interested in this info. They also asked me to cal Yosemite rangers.

They claim you have to show up with ID for national parks. (I have never been asked for ID at any campground, but I have never stayed at a NP)

[Gina D.]

and.. to the opposite.. Yosemite (I called directly there) just told me that they have heard of this before, and there is no way to enforce it. They ask for ID at the park entrance but not in the campground. Anyone can take your slip and get in.

According to them, once you book it, it's yours. I would think that there are liability issues there. If a forest fire starts in YOUR campsite.. they come after you to pay the costs.

Apathy makes me.. all mad ..... and stuff.

[Sharon Herman]

there is no way to enforce it.

Well, that is just.......*#@%......really BAD!

[Pete Dumbleton]

We'll see. I sent an EMail to the Director of the National Park Service at Department of the Interior, with cites to the EBay postings, so we'll see what happens. I made reference to it as scalping.

I also mentioned it on another group, so the word might start getting around.

Problem was, I couldn't get a direct email address for her, so I sent it to the DOI web guys to forward to her.

[ronsmith100]

Am I the only one that is not upset about this?





Probably

[Sharon Herman]

Am I the only one that is not upset about this?





Probably

I would imagine like every topic in life there will be differing opinions. For me, what really irks me is the possibility that this person is intentionally trying to profit from it. I have had senarios where I had to bail on a site, concert, event, etc...., but I never attempted to "make as much of a profit as I could". It's just not my thing. For all the people who go camping because that's what they can "afford", people like this make things that much more unattainable. Once would bother me, multiple times takes me to a new level.

[Lisa H.]

I think this practice is despicable! Did anyone complain to Ebay? I don't know how far this would go since the practice is not illegal... yet! I'm going to send a few emails to various agencies and complain. I hope others will follow suit. We need to make this wheel good and squeeky so it gets noticed and the agencies in charge of the parks and the reservation system will address this issue.