After reading a recent post about people getting suckered on Ebay I started checking out Hawaiin items for sale there. The most interesting thing seemed to be someone selling gift certificates for restautants and activities for about half their face value. The guy has a very favorable ebay rating. So as not to advertise I won't mention him by name. I scored a $50 certificate to Cafe Portofino for $24.99 as well as 2 x $25 certificates to The Blossoming Lotus for the same price. The coupon for A Pacific Cafe seems to be in demand and usually fetches around $30. He has stuff for all islands listed. Does anyone know how he makes money doing this? I assume the restaurants sell them for promotional value but at what original cost (40% of face value)? Has anyone dined at any of the aforementioned restaurants? He even offers your money back if the certificates go unused. Sounds interesting!! Input anyone?

Perhaps he used this promotion?

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...staurant+40%25

aloha

I purchased $100 worth of certificates for A Pacific Cafe and a $50 certificate for Portofino from him off Ebay. From what I can ascertain, he publishes one of the Hawaii Guide publications & receives these certificates from companies who advertise with them.

We had no problems using the certificates & I promptly bought another $100 worth of certificates more for A Pacific Caf for a trip there in a few months. Looks like he's also greatly expanded his list of things available, including Oahu now.

Pacific Cafe was quite good, especially with certs. Without them, I'm not sure I'd revisit it at regular prices because I still tend to desire the local kine food of my childhood. Portofino was a disappointment, though it could have been what we ordered & that we were the last seating of the evening......

'hawaiisavers' is a legit business man (AFAIK) on Maui who publishes a magazine. Instead of cash, he will sometimes accept coupons/gift certs. from his advertisers. He then sells these on ebay to recoup expenses. Very ingenious I think. I've bought coupons from him and he is legit.

Phil

All is well with the certificates. Thanks for the advice. They arrived in Georgia in only 5 days (that's over 1400 miles per day) ^ . From my brief experience if the certificate you're interested in has other bids it might be best to wait til the next round since he always seems to be selling them. Also one may contact him directly and inquire. The only downside I see is the ones he has for Kauai are mainly on the east shore and I don't think it would be time well spent driving from Haena to Kappa to save a few bucks on dinner.

It would be worth it if you ate at A Pacific Cafe. It is wonderful. Get there before 7PM though because they tend to run out of certain things early. Make reservations if they will let you.