2-1 gift cert (buy 1 ticket get 1 free) Is there such a thing?

[FL_Cruiser64]

Way to go Janet!!!

 

Here's another 2 for 1 auction 290206895643. The seller has 25+ auctions for 2 for Cruises, Airfare, Resort Clubs, etc.

What a scam!!!

 

In the listing description they mention the agent as My Free Travel. When I went to the My Free Travel website and looked under terms and conditions http://www.2-4-1cruise.com/terms__conditions.htm guess what it says in #5.

 

This vacation package is for promotional purposes, has no cash value, cannot be exchanged for cash or promoted to consumers as a retail package, auctioned or bartered, cannot be reproduced, and is void if altered in any way and for residents of states where prohibited by law.

 

Ebay is an auction site and My Free Travel says the certificates can't be auctioned. Looks like another violation.

 

That auction starts out with

This auction is for 2 for 1 Cruise certificate voucher that I won various of these certificates, but their allow only one time per household in the period of 12 month to redeem it, so I'm selling it for some one that will enjoy before the expiration date which is 12/31/2008.

 

That person just sold one in auction http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290203959190

 

Guess how the description started? Yep ...

 

This auction is for 2 for 1 Cruise certificate voucher that I won various of these certificates, but their allow only one time per household in the period of 12 month to redeem it, so I'm selling it for some one that will enjoy before the expiration date which is 12/31/2008.

 

Somebody put a stop to this scam.

 

EDIT: This person (luisaovil) has 33 of those auctions running - airlines, clubs, cruises....:eek:

 

and they all start

 

This is a companion air fare voucher that I won various of these certificates, but their allow only one time per household in the period of 12 month to redeem it, so I'm selling it for some one that will enjoy before the expiration date which is 12/31/2008.

:mad:

[suzyluvs2cruise]

That auction starts out with

 

 

That person just sold one in auction http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290203959190

 

Guess how the description started? Yep ...

 

 

 

Somebody put a stop to this scam.

 

The only way we can hope to stop them is to report, report and report some more.

[Rancher Dave]

LOVE IT!!! I told you you should be a consumer reporter. Great job!!

 

It would probably pay better for her as well. Not sure though if she has a lot of TV stations to work for in Kingman, AZ...:D

 

Time to go check out the auction. I need to look on ebay for a new color printer (can't figure out what happened to the one up in my office, all of the sudden it is not working right, and a whole new newer model printer is less expensive than a set of ink:eek: for the current one.)

 

Like someone else said Ebay is not policing itself very well these days...and one really has to watch refurbished stuff being passed off as new...

[jandjfun]

omg! MY AUCTION HAS BIDS! You guys are such a hoot! I love the fact that it will draw attention to the auction! I just revised the description to include the following:

AND HEY I CAN EVEN TELL YOU WHERE TO BUY CERTIFICATES THAT cannot be exchanged for cash or promoted to consumers as a retail package, auctioned or bartered, cannot be reproduced, and is void if altered in any way and for residents of states where prohibited by law.

Hmmmm, something to think about huh?

 

I hope people read the auction before they bid on something else. I intend to keep this running until ebay pulls it.

[cruisinfanatic]

It would probably pay better for her as well. Not sure though if she has a lot of TV stations to work for in Kingman, AZ...:D

 

Time to go check out the auction. I need to look on ebay for a new color printer (can't figure out what happened to the one up in my office, all of the sudden it is not working right, and a whole new newer model printer is less expensive than a set of ink:eek: for the current one.)

 

Like someone else said Ebay is not policing itself very well these days...and one really has to watch refurbished stuff being passed off as new...

Hi Dave,

I got sick and tired of buying ink for my inkjet and went to an inexpensive color laser printer. Ends up being a lot cheaper in the long run as long as you don't over do it with the color printing. I almost never print photos anymore. You can get 5X7's for so cheap on line with super quality that it just make sense to get them that way instead of printing yourself.

[Rancher Dave]

Hi Dave,

I got sick and tired of buying ink for my inkjet and went to an inexpensive color laser printer. Ends up being a lot cheaper in the long run as long as you don't over do it with the color printing. I almost never print photos anymore. You can get 5X7's for so cheap on line with super quality that it just make sense to get them that way instead of printing yourself.

 

Actually I am going to replace a HP Color Laser 3500 with a new HP Color Laser 3600n $350 from an online retailer new with laser ink included...and to get 4 HP laser cartg for my 3500 is roughly $500... Save about $150 and get a whole new printer with the laser ink cartg, pretty wild the way the pricing goes these days. Tempted to order 2 or maybe 3 just for the spare ink...and then resell the spare printers on ebay specificlally as without ink and make a few dollars and save from creating trash.

 

Probably will ultimately get rid of my HP Photosmart as well...

[5 time cruiser]

its a scam. i researched it on the internet. You pay whatever the high bid is on ebay, thenyou pay another company $15 dollars to connect you with a travel agent. Finally you pay the published price which is twice as much as a normal crise would sell for. The $500 gift cert. on ebay is real. I bought it and saved about $70 on my oct 19 Mariner cruise.

[jandjfun]

its a scam. i researched it on the internet. You pay whatever the high bid is on ebay, thenyou pay another company $15 dollars to connect you with a travel agent. Finally you pay the published price which is twice as much as a normal crise would sell for. The $500 gift cert. on ebay is real. I bought it and saved about $70 on my oct 19 Mariner cruise.

What gift certificate? I'LL look into it. We might need to start a new thread! Ha Ha

You only have 4 posts. Welcome to CC.

[Rancher Dave]

What gift certificate? I'LL look into it. We might need to start a new thread! Ha Ha

You only have 4 posts. Welcome to CC.

 

$500 cert was legit best I could tell. Nice savings for 5 time cruiser, I forgot to go back and look right before that auction ended. Oh well.

 

Welcome to CC there 5 time.

[jandjfun]

Well, I see someone else has bid on my auction. I hope it was one of you guys.

[FL_Cruiser64]

Well, I see someone else has bid on my auction. I hope it was one of you guys.

 

I just got notified by e-bay that I was outbid. I am debating of bidding again.

 

If it is a CCer I will bid again. :D

If it is some poor soul who would love to have this info he should have it.

 

Maybe you can find out. ;)

[suzyluvs2cruise]

All auctions I've reported are still active. :mad:

 

The newest seller secretobsession_2008 (who we think was originally cruisesavings) has 6 auctions with 33 people bidding for a total of $314.34 :eek: 2 auctions end today and the other 4 end in 2 days.

 

All we can do is keep looking and reporting and, hopefully, these scams will be stopped.

[Sue L]

All auctions I've reported are still active. :mad:

 

The newest seller secretobsession_2008 has 6 auctions with 33 people bidding for a total of $314.34 :eek: 2 auctions end today and the other 4 end in 2 days. They also purchased something and now have 1 positive feedback.

 

All we can do is keep looking and reporting and, hopefully, these scams will be stopped.

 

 

Unfortunately with Ebay getting so huge they can't stay ahead of these scams when it is so easy to register with a new name and such, for every 1 that MIGHT get pulled there are 5 more being put up. :mad:

[wrp96]

I'm also going to guess that these fradulent sellers aren't going to honor the e-bay sellers boycott this week.

[suzyluvs2cruise]

Unfortunately with Ebay getting so huge they can't stay ahead of these scams when it is so easy to register with a new name and such, for every 1 that MIGHT get pulled there are 5 more being put up. :mad:

 

I agree that many are registering with new names but others are allowed to continue. Check out this sellers auctions. They currently have 33 that are in violation of ebay's rules on selling travel...........have been reported and reported and are still there.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=290206895881&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=019

 

 

I'm also going to guess that these fradulent sellers aren't going to honor the e-bay sellers boycott this week.

 

Tell me more about the ebay sellers boycott? What's happening?

[wrp96]

Tell me more about the ebay sellers boycott? What's happening?

 

 

http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/15/smbusiness/ebay_strike_update.fsb/index.htm?postversion=2008021612

[suzyluvs2cruise]

http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/15/smbusiness/ebay_strike_update.fsb/index.htm?postversion=2008021612

 

 

Thanks for the link. Wow!!!!! I wasn't aware of all the changes. Should be interesting to see what happens.

[FL_Cruiser64]

http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/15/smbusiness/ebay;_strike_update.fsb/index.htm?postversion=2008021612

 

 

I was aware of the changes but not aware of the boycott.

 

The new feed back plan truly sucks.

[suzyluvs2cruise]

I was aware of the changes but not aware of the boycott.

 

The new feed back plan truly sucks.

 

Looks like I'm not going to be selling again on ebay..............so much for my 4400 positive feedbacks that don't mean anything anymore since I haven't sold since 2007 and don't have any of the new DSR's. :mad:

[Rancher Dave]

I was aware of the changes but not aware of the boycott.

 

The new feed back plan truly sucks.

 

 

Basically there is no longer going to be a valid feedback system since no legit critism will be allowed. As a seller (every once in a while) I want to know if a buyer is a pain... Ebay is trying to make money as fast as they can even if it changes the spirit of why they were set up a particular way. If the boycott works perhaps they will go back.

 

The bean counters at Ebay needed to realize they would not continue tons of year after year growth, there is a limit to how much their service would be used and if they recognized that and quit trying to over forecast growth they would have been fine leaving it as it was...

[jandjfun]

We were also aware of the changes, but not the boycott. I just relisted my auction for the certificate information for 3 days and 7 days. Oh well.

My husband is a fairly serious ebay seller, he will just stop leaving feedback. He said if he doesn't have the right to say what he feels is right, he just won't say anything at all. As a buyer and seller, I rely on the feedback to make decisions. I think this could hurt Ebay in the long run if the "old buyers" stop using the site.

Anyway, keep reporting the certificates. And send emails asking why they are allowed to sell banned items.

[Sanlj]

I actually won one of these 2 for 1 certificates a few days ago and am waiting for it to arrive. I only paid $5.00 (plus $5.00 shipping), so it was worth the gamble - my certificate is supposedly good on HAL. The RCI and Celebrity certificates sold for considerably more money.

 

I will certainly post my findings when I receive the certificate (although we will be cruising from Feb. 21 - March 3).

 

Interesting to note is that I had hoped and expected to receive the certificate by Valentine's Day. I emailed the seller when it didn't arrive and he/she stated that he had had the flu, so he gave me a link and password to a site to download the certificate. In order to do so, I was required to provide a fair amount of personal information...which I opted not to do. I asked the seller to simply mail it to me, even if it arrived later. I expect it to arrive any day.

 

Wish me luck! I'm a believer that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is...but the optimist in me thought it was worth a $10 bid!

[jandjfun]

I just posted on the

Carnival, Princess and Celebrity boards, asking them to read this thread. We need help reporting these people. If everyone reported just once to ebay, that would be over 1000 reports so far.

 

Just to recap how to report:

Go onto the auction page for any and all of the 2 for 1 certificates, scroll to the very bottom of the page. Click on report this item. Click on "banned or prohibited items", then "travel", then "requires additional fee or purchase". Click "submit". Click "email us". Click "submit email".

Thanks for all your help!

[jandjfun]

I actually won one of these 2 for 1 certificates a few days ago and am waiting for it to arrive. I only paid $5.00 (plus $5.00 shipping), so it was worth the gamble - my certificate is supposedly good on HAL. The RCI and Celebrity certificates sold for considerably more money.

 

I will certainly post my findings when I receive the certificate (although we will be cruising from Feb. 21 - March 3).

 

Interesting to note is that I had hoped and expected to receive the certificate by Valentine's Day. I emailed the seller when it didn't arrive and he/she stated that he had had the flu, so he gave me a link and password to a site to download the certificate. In order to do so, I was required to provide a fair amount of personal information...which I opted not to do. I asked the seller to simply mail it to me, even if it arrived later. I expect it to arrive any day.

 

Wish me luck! I'm a believer that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is...but the optimist in me thought it was worth a $10 bid!

You can get your money back by going to the exact page you bid on. It should be in your "my ebay" page. Follow the instructions I listed above.

Trust me, you are not going to be happy. And remember, brochure price is usually twice as much as on any other site. You bought yours from the same person I bought mine from. I got the same email saying they had the flu. I just emailed them that since ebay pulled the auction, I just wanted a refund. I got my money back the same day.

 

If sanlj and I bought the certificate from the same person, and the person I bought it from got pulled, then I say we are right in thinking that the "new seller" is the same person.

[B40 Tha Cruisa]

People will do anything to make a quick buck, scams like this are not confined to cruises. It happens on all forms of travel, and it is really too bad. Unseasoned travelers fall for these things all too often, its a shame that theres not much we can do about it other than inform people on this here board.