Does anybody sell their points?

[SOPOOR]

Obviously wont apply to 99% of the population but other then trading in their airline or creditcard points for cash or gift cards at terrible rates is there a way you can get awesome conversion rates and does anybody do it

I was thinking (long shot i know plus i dont have anyone in this situation)

If say for work they fly you or a manager busienss or first class. Do any of you say book the flight for them using your points and get them to pay you cash for them

So say business class rtw was 280k points and the flights cost 8k. Then thats a not bad conversion rate

Obviously the above might be seen as a tad dodgy

 

[kelvedon]

Obviously wont apply to 99% of the population but other then trading in their airline or creditcard points for cash or gift cards at terrible rates is there a way you can get awesome conversion rates and does anybody do it

I was thinking (long shot i know plus i dont have anyone in this situation)

If say for work they fly you or a manager busienss or first class. Do any of you say book the flight for them using your points and get them to pay you cash for them

So say business class rtw was 280k points and the flights cost 8k. Then thats a not bad conversion rate

Obviously the above might be seen as a tad dodgy

The first problem with this is that your company would need a receipt to claim the 8k as a work expense, and would that 8k that you got from them be taxable income to you?

 

[Colin 2905]

Over on OzBargain there's a recent thread about people buying and selling points via family transfers and being caught out.

https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/237052

 

[Moindardt]

The problem is if you sell them to someone else. OP is ok if he is using it for himself and company reimburses him. Whether or not is taxable is more a question of whether it is a hobby or a business. Given most things on this forum, I would suggest lot of grounds for hobby eg you build a doghouse for your dog. You then sell it. That's a hobby. If you build a doghouse with the intention of selling it in the first place. That's a business. YMMV

 

[Moindardt]

Also, if it assessed as a taxable income, then you could claim cost related to generating that income, ie your flights.

 

[medhead]

Also, if it assessed as a taxable income, then you could claim cost related to generating that income, ie your flights.

An allowance of $8000 towards travel cost is, indeed, supposed to be included in taxable income. The airfare would've mostly cost points. points have no value, hence ATO doesn't tax them. that leaves the taxes as the only claimable cost related to generating the allowance.

 

[SOPOOR]

taxes aside, it seems that there is no real way of selling your points at great rates except for business class or first class travel from your company or if you own your own business and were going to travel anyway

 

[Moindardt]

It breaches all terms and conditions explicitly. Not specific to Australia FF programs, but on Flyertalk there is many threads about what airlines all over the world have done to people (some incredibly severe). There is also similar about people getting caught out with hotel schemes and turning up to find out the points bookings they have made for someone are cancelled. Many times the timings appear to be done to inflict the most inconvenience.

I was looking into selling points so did some digging first thankfully. From memory, they never transfer points just book flights/rooms using your account. Most of the brokerage sites have disclaimers warning of potential penalties and that they don't take responsibility if it happens.

As far as I can tell, the standard seems to be; delete all points both parties have, delete their accounts and cancel all bookings.