Using Travel Auctions—Is It Worth It?Using travel auctions may prove very helpful and money-saving to you. Travel auctions basically fall into two groups: the typical auction and reverse auctions. At an auction site, the seller (either a company or an individual) puts an item up for sale to the highest bidder. At reverse auctions, individuals specify the price they will pay for a seat and the airlines either agree to the price or not. Both are equally popular auction systems. Reverse auction sites include www.priceline.com and www.expedia.com, a Microsoft-owned travel site that has a feature enabling customers to name their price. Needless to say these sites bring lots of traffic and daily thousands of customers bid on sites. The one who bids higher wins. These sites are fantastic and indeed a traveler’s delight. Here you can choose your own price, and you might get the ticket, if you are lucky as all can’t win. The process is simple. All you do is sign on after a quick registration, then you have to put some minor information like where you want to leave from and where you want to go, what dates you plan to travel on, and how much you're willing to pay. So it is cheap, convenient and faster service. But it does have some drawbacks, like you have to put in your credit card number and enter details before you know about the exact times of flight, so you're stuck with whatever you get, and as they are providing you the cheap alternatives so you often have to fly at odd hours. But, its okay if you're looking for cheap and you're flexible, this is a great way to go. A word of caution here: As we know internet is very useful and gives you flexibility and ease of use, but often times we heard about various scams and controversies, so you need to be little careful. An ingenious new online travel scam is luring innocent holidaymakers into fraudulent transactions, leaving them stranded abroad - or even under arrest. Always login and enter your credit card as well as personal details in the trusted sites and ensure the website’s payment system is having SSL encrypted system. According to a recent article “Online auction buyers stung” by Ed Grenby at Guardian Unlimited, the technique, known as triangulation, involves bargain flights advertised on internet auction sites such as eBay, and is arranged so that would-be travelers have their tickets in their hands and may even have completed the outbound sector of their journey before they realize anything is amiss. According to Alan Smith, business development director at ClearCommerce, a leading firm of e-commerce security specialists, the fraudster advertises an irresistibly good deal on an auction site, and reassures potential bidders by telling them that they do not need to pay until they have received their tickets. The winning bidder, and usually, all the other bidders, are contacted under the pretence that the winner has dropped out - gives their name to the fraudster, who then buys the tickets from the airline in that name, but using someone else's stolen credit card details. It has been observed that most airlines will give tickets to someone other than the cardholder, so the bidders receive their tickets, pay the fraudster and look forward to their holiday, sometimes even flying out and enjoying it. However, problem starts when the airline's bank tries to claim the money from the credit cardholder, the fraud is uncovered - and the airline will not let the ticket-holder travel. So, beware these kinds of frauds and take all possible precautionary measures to safeguard yourself. Some of the best useful resources for Travel Auctions are: eBay Travel Auctions: Vacation packages, flights, cruises, lodging, time shares and more travel opportunities in the form of auctions. For details, visit: http://pages.ebay.com/travel/index.html Priceline: Find out what the going rate is for your flight or hotel, then bid a lower price here and see if someone will accept it. If they do, your credit card will be charged. At their Airlines Drop Prices! Section you can shop and compare all the latest price drops from the major airlines. For details, visit: http://www.priceline.com Overstock: Internet's premier site for travel auctions and vacation also includes airline, cruises, lodging, luggage, and other travel and vacation packages. For details, visit: http://auctions.overstock.com Generous Adventures Travel Auctions: Adventure travel auctions from a Canadian company that donates its profits to selected organizations. Generous Adventures is an on-line auction of award-winning accommodations, unusual trips and eco tours from around the world. All offers are donated. The profits from Generous Adventures Travel Auctions benefit a variety of non-profit organizations worldwide. Choose from these organizations when placing your bid: Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation and Global Volunteers. For details, visit: http://www.generousadventures.com SkyAuction Travel Auctions: Travel auctions for airline tickets, room nights, tours, cruises and all-inclusive vacations. Bids start at $1. For details, visit: http://www.skyauction.com Ubid Travel Auctions: Good selection of cruise auctions, with some opportunities to upgrade from inside cabins to better ones. http://www.ubid.com Yahoo! Travel Auctions: Most of us are familiar with the name Yahoo! So if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. http://auctions.yahoo.com/51133-category.html
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