Funny, but I could have sworn I saw a tax on my FF miles when renting a car in SAN back in the summer. While I wouldn't be inclined to sell miles or tickets in any form, this tax must muddy the waters of the argument that the miles are "free", yes?

I don't think this is actually a tax. That's the car rental company trying to stick it to you to recoup the cost of them buying those miles from the airline.

Nevermind.

[This message has been edited by Dudemon (edited 10-17-2003).]

That's an excise tax, not an income tax.

The legality of the buying or selling has been debated numerous times before. What they are doing that is clearly illegal is using the airlines trademarks and logos without permission, which opens them up to a huge amount of liablity, especially since they are directly profiting from their unauthorized us.

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).]

Has anyone asked for a quote?

"Other companies will buy your miles at only 1.3 to 1.4 cents a mile. We give you more."

Sounds generous.

Or maybe they are using the trademarks WITH permission because they are the ones running the site in the first place!

I can't imagine that there is an issue with selling miles earned on tikets that you paid for, but it certainly would be different if you sold miles on tickets paid for by your company.

In any case, unless you are willing to risk all of the rest of your miles and really need the cash, I would stay away from it. THe airlines are far too clever these days to risk this.

This advice is wrong. Selling something you got for free (even if you got the free thing together with a paid thing) always creates taxable income.

Not. Very different getting something that somebody else paid for as part of your employment and something else that you get in conjunction with a purchased item. But no need to belabor it. I would be much more concerned about the airlines vs the IRS.

This site has the actual amounts paid for miles bought ny them:

http://pages.sbcglobal.net/gpirkle/index.htm


Mileage
Sellers
earn
Brokerage Fees
per ticket*
Buyers
pay

25,000
$450
$170
$620

30,000
$540
$180
$720

35,000
$630
$190
$820

40,000
$720
$275
$995

45,000
$810
$285
$1095

50,000
$900
$300
$1200

55,000
$990
$310
$1300

60,000
$1080
$335
$1415

65,000
$1170
$345
$1515

70,000
$1260
$400
$1660

75,000
$1350
$450
$1800

80,000
$1440
$595
$2035

85,000
$1530
$610
$2140

90,000
$1620
$695
$2315

95,000
$1710
$710
$2420

100,000
$1800
$795
$2595

105,000
$1890
$795
$2695

110,000
$1980
$795
$2775

Brokers Fee of $895 per ticket over 110,000 miles

IF you think outside the box you should be able to get slightly more than 2 cents per mile. And I'm NOT talking about those BS "you are bidding on a plain white envelope, the lucky winner will receive a free..." auctions.



[This message has been edited by yanxfann (edited 10-19-2003).]

Help me think outside the box.

I'm not. Any takers?