I'm curious if anyone here has any experience with the airline tickets sold on ebay. My parents are interested in an auction for 2 round trip tickets to Las Vegas, with 2 nights hotel, and you also get 2 round trip tickets to somewhere else, such as Hawaii, Paris, Athens, etc. The "buy it now" price is around $40 or $50!

I think there must be a "catch" to this b/c it sounds too good to be true. I looked at the auction myself and checked the person's feedback--all positives except for one neutral. I have also sent questions to the person who is selling these tickets and to the last person who won a trip from this same person, but I haven't heard back from them yet.

I would love to know if anyone on here has ANY information about these e-bay trip/ticket auctions. My sceptical side says there's no way this is legitimate but then there's all that positive feedback. At first I assumed it must be some time-share thing in Vegas, but I can't tell by reading the auction informaton.

I'm also curious as to how all this shakes down once you try to check in at the airport--showing ID, showing credit card you purchased tickets with, etc. Also, how long are the BIG (Hawaii, Paris, etc.) tickets good for?

Thanks for any help!

Things that sound too good to be true, usually are.

Sometimes, really cheap prices for things on eBay turn out to be auctions for INFORMATION about how to get those things or deals. I think eBay has outlawed those, but of course htey still turn up.

Have you also posted your question on the appropriate community discussion board on eBay? Those folks know a lot. Experienced eBayers will want to know the auction number in order to help interpret your situation.

Be careful -- ambitious frauds have been known to set up multiple IDs that provide nice feedback for each other, then do a one-month batch of fraudulent auctions and run off with the money before the first victim has a chance to neg them. I would want a significant, long-term feedback profile before I'd even consider bidding on something like this.

Thanks for the tip about the ebay dicussion board. I will check into that! I appreciate your response.

It's me again. I just checked out the community boards on ebay and there are LOTS of comments about these travel deals being scames. Thanks SO much, Anonymous, for directing me to those boards. I had never noticed them before!

In today's age of security I can't see how anyone can sell an already purchased airline ticket. What I can see this being is a time share sales operation...which are often free or minimal (you pay taxes or whatever). My skeptical self would run the other way as fast as my 8 1/2s would take me!

This example sounds like a rip-off.

Soutwest Airlines Rapid Reward vouchers are transferred on Ebay. The vouchers are fully transferrrable and the "buyer" would fly in their own name.

For one thing, airline tickets are not transferable. A photo ID is required at check-in these days, for heavens sake.

I, personally, wonder all the time whether the "feedback" is genuine, posted by true purchasers. In fact, I've often wondered on E-Bay whether the seller, with alternate log-ins, is bidding on their own items so as to up the bids. It's just too curious when the very same seller offers the exact same item minutes after an auction has ended. Over and over again.

I cannot imagine even considering buying airline tickets on E-bay.

You may very well receive airline tickets, but will positively be unable to use them.

djk..airline tickets are NOT transferrable...but Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards vouchers are FULLY TRANSFERRABLE.

Since the Southwest vouchers may not be sold( according to Southwest rules)..what people are doing is giving away the voucher. They sell drink coupons or even a blank envelope and give away the voucher.

THese are sold daily for around $300 or so for each RT voucher. The seats are not capacity controlled and can be used as long as there is a seat available. The person flies under their own name.

Since short notice fares can be $600 or more..these can offer good value.

IT is very important to check the feedback.

Thanks to everyone who replied. I just wanted to update this post a bit. I went back to ebay and read many posts on their community discussion boards, regarding the travel auctions. Several discussions gave information indicating that people had experienced scams with these types of offers (buy 2 tickets to Vegas for $50 and get 2 roundtrip vouchers to Hawaii, Paris, etc.). It was also suggested that many of the sellers of these types of trips change their screen names every so often in order to keep the "business" running. It was also suggested that some of these people operate in groups so that the positive feedback is really not genuine b/c the person who "bought" the auctioned tickets was a part of the scam too.

I did get an e-mail from the seller yesterday, and he sent along a list of frequently asked questions. Without going into great detail, his e-mail suggested that there are registration fees to pay, certain hotels you must stay at, certain lengths of stay that are required, depending on which option you go with (Hawaii was 14 days, for example), etc. He also indicated that you have to use certain travel agencies when you make your reservations. (These agencies were discussed on the discussion boards b/c many of these are not legitimate.)

I shared all of this with my parents and I'm so glad they asked me to check it out before they tried to bid. Of course, common sense sent up an alert for all of us, knowing there's no way to go to Hawaii for ONLY $50.00. Hopefully, posts like this might keep someone else from falling for this particular scam. It would be great if ebay itself put a stop to this. It was suggested by other posters that this type of thing is against ebay rules but the scammers find ways around the rules.