Anyone who uses a middle-man like this is playing with fire. I know of a person who has sold literally MILLIONS of miles worth of awards in the past dozen years (the smallest being 15K mile awards and the very largest being only 90K), they always deal with their clients personally and have never had any problems in their 100+ transactions. They have 2 Cardinal Rules:

1. ALWAYS counsel potential clients BEFORE making a sale, i.e. tell them that the FF award that they are considering buying is totally transferable but the airlines say they should't be bought or sold (or bartered - see Coupon Connection) and if they say at check-in "I bought this ticket from some dude on the internet" that it will be confiscated. If the potential customer isn't comfortable with this or if it causes them a moral dilemma this person then wishes the potential client well and recommends that they instead buy their tickets from a travel agent, orbitz or travelocity, or directly from the airline. However, if after being counseled the potential customer still wants the award ticket the two parties then "get their story straight" just in case if they are asked any questions at check-in (a VERY unlikely event but better safe than sorry).

2. Finally, NEVER EVER involve a 3rd party (like sellyourpoints.com), they can only mess things up - not to mention that you'll end up with more money in your pocket with no middle-man taking their cut.

[This message has been edited by yanxfann (edited 10-18-2003).]