It may seem bizarre to us FT'ers, but I truly believe that most "normal" people don't know you aren't supposed to buy/sell the award tickets. (We Mileage Geeks are not "normal". )

I think I traded about a dozen TWA free-flight certs with buddies/coworkers in the early- to mid-90's before I actually figured out that the airline kinda frowned upon that sort of thing. I've traded certs for Chiefs tickets, a stack of CDs, a flight coupon for another airline that went somewhere that TWA didn't, a few bottles of good wine, free hotel-nights, or simply a "favor to be named later."

I never thought of it as a seedy-dark-alley deal. I never said to my buddies "Don't tell TWA that we did this. They might cancel your flight." I thought I had just as much right to move the certs as I would to deal used CDs or wine.

Granted, I never did it on eBay and I never traded with a stranger, but that was more because I didn't know much about those processes (eBay was in its infancy) - not because I was scared of getting busted by the airline.

As for the "white envelope", that's just a sign that the seller is an amatuer. (I mean this as a compliment, kdinino. ) Any serious ticket scalper knows that using "white envelope" language provides no legal protection for the transaction.