Well, Ozstamps is very widely known on these boards as simply OZ, so a clarification would have been in order.

Otherwise, a respected member of this board seems to be accused of something unethical and disrespectful.

This is just my humble opinion-- but I sincerely doubt anyone else read it that way! Again, just my opinion.

Talking about "rights" is meaningless here. You have a contract with the airline, in which they can change some of the terms of the relationship, or seize your miles if you sell them. No one has the "right" to do anything, other than perhaps sue each other. It may make you feel better to talk about "rights," but it's nonsensical.

Folks, I have discussed this at length with my attorneys. (Pretty impressive at 5.30am Easter Monday I know.)

They suggest that a wise solution is that Spider, JonYC and gleff all owe me a beer paid forward, and then we will not sue. Sounds perfectly reasonable to me. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

------------------
~ Glen ~

Come visit HERE the most ** FRIENDLY FORUM ** on FlyerTalk. No flame wars, no personal abuse, no substance abuse. Not much of anything really!

If I were you, I'd have an attorney on 24hr/365 day retainer too. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

I surely do. Thankfully he charges me in OZ dollars and not $US. So that makes it basically FREE legal advice. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

------------------
~ Glen ~

Come visit HERE the most ** FRIENDLY FORUM ** on FlyerTalk. No flame wars, no personal abuse, no substance abuse. Not much of anything really!

Screw the airlines - they have screwed us for years and continue to do so whenever they devalue their mileage awards.

I say if you can do this and not be caught - more power to you!

My attorney advises me to be quite clear that I did in fact mean the place rather than the person!

Perhaps I should have said F awards to SYD!

And I can further say that to the best of my knowledge, the FTer who told me (aboard a UA 777 in C) that he had gotten caught selling F awards has never spoken with Oz the person.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Edited to add that on Glen's planned trip to DC I will be more than happy to buy him a beer! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by gleff (edited 04-21-2003).]

Spider,

I read it the same as Jon... I assumed "Oz" meant Australia... not Glen.... did not infer any reference to him at all.

WIlliam

You should have sold the miles while keeping bidders'
identity secret. E-bay offers this feature. Only AA has
this problem. It seems their security department has
nothing else to do. I was buyer in one of those
transactions (for over 200k miles)and the seller was
caught. Then, later I bought miles from another seller and
he kept all bidders' e-mail secret. There is no way AA can
find out who was the buyer. The seller will probably get
e-mail from AA warning about the transaction. But you can
ignore them since they do not know you name or AA Advantage
#. Of course, you need to be smart enough to have
different Ebay e-mail address than what you gave to AA.
Wait a few weeks before completing the transaction. Also
use commom awards like 25k, 30k, 40k, 70k, etc. If you
transact 500k or 1M k miles all at once, you may get
noticed quick. Never respond to AA's e-mail, since
computer geeks can trace out which geographical area the
e-mail originated, unless you use a head stripper or
anonymous remailer e-mail program. Of course, if the buyer
is AA decoy, you may have the problem with miles
forfeiture. But they like to nail without spending the
money because it is easy. Make sure you clean out your
balance, so they can not forfeit.

I have a problem with AA's attitude, since these miles are
earned by the traveler, sometimes at the cost of great
discomfort and expenses. The seller must be able to barter
with whatever he can get. But being a small guy, I can not
fight them. Surely, I can outsmart them.

So, guys, Buyers and Sellers--You can sell it, but be smart
and vigilant. Learn from others. I have done it. So can
you. Good luck.

Great advice http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif
Welcome (?) to FT.


[This message has been edited by JonNYC (edited 04-22-2003).]

Jon,

I was PREVIOUSLY like you. I've been on Ebay since day 1. I had nothing but great experiences. Then one day last December I bought a "brand new Dell X200 laptop computer" for $1500 that included everything new in the box. It arrived and sure enough it was perfect. Then 2 days later something happened and it wouldn't work. I called Dell and turns out the laptop was "stolen in transit" to the original owner. Dell had me give them the name of the purchaser and Ebay ID.

I called the seller, whom by the way had a high # of positive feedbacks. (I'm no Ebay rookie). Anyway, he sounded worried but told me to return the item and he would credit my paypal.com account. 2 Days after returning it he did in fact issue a credit. The San Francisco Police department called me a day later and had me give all this information. I'm not sure if the seller even was the guilty party but it was clear the units were stolen. Moral of the story. Be careful on Ebay no matter how long you've been conducting transactions.

SO MUCH fraud on eBay currently it's unbelievable. I place bids then get contacted by the seller offering to "cut a deal" to end the auction earlier if I will send him money via Western Union! As if.

Considering AA (and, I assume, others) are now franticly pursuing AA-related stuff of ebay-- combine that with the fact that selling miles/certs is a business that lends itself to rip-offs, and, I'd say, anyone who buys or sells AA miles or certs on eBay at this point is an abject idiot. YMMV. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

p.s. If you want to see an example, put the word "capresso" into eBay search and watch some of those auctions for the machines that are $600- $2000. Many will get shut down before completion-- and repeat fraudulent sellers, selling the same nonexistent item, again and again and again. eBay can't keep up! It's scary.

[This message has been edited by JonNYC (edited 04-23-2003).]

Back from vacation and did get miles. Just in case there's anyone out there who still doesn't believe my story, check out this link to an ebay auction: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...&category=1310 It contains negative feedback left on April 20 from two purchasers of American tickets (not my auction.) One purchaser noted that American called him and informed him that the ticket was no good. Interestingly, the most recent purhaser had sent me a note when my auction was up saying my price was too high and that he had purchased 7 35,000 mile certificates for $430 each in the past. In retrospect, I wish my price had been too high.

Thanks for the link-- wow! What kind of idiot would buy from this guy with that feedback!!! Some people really, really deserve to get ripped off. (Definitely not addressing this to you, 4102003-- or whomever you are http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif )