Travel Buying Guide

• Discover Travel Services on halfvalue
• Get Luggage for Your Trip
• Understand halfvalue’s Travel Policies
• Find Travel Products on halfvalue
• Buy Travel With Confidence

• Hotel and airline packages: Save money by buying your airfare in conjunction with your hotel room. Global packages can include destinations such as Orlando, Mexico, Las Vegas, Hawaii, and many more.
• Discount airline tickets: Get low fares on airline tickets to destinations around the globe.
• Last-minute fares: Traveling at the spur of the moment can save you a bundle. Check out last-minute fares for popular destinations such as Las Vegas, New York, and Hawaii.
• Upgrades: A comfortable flight starts your vacation on the right note. Upgrade from economy to business class, or even from economy to first class.
• Vouchers: As special promotions or incentives, vouchers define the duration, start, and end date of your stay. Keep in mind, however, that some vouchers have blackout dates or restrictions near the holidays or other dates, so ensure that your travel plans are consistent with the voucher.

Take a cruise

Relax on a luxury cruise ship, take in the view, and let someone else do all the work. Typically, room, board, meals, and entertainment are included in the price, which often makes cruises appeal to budget-conscious travelers. Plan that long-awaited dream vacation to Alaska, the Caribbean, Bermuda, Europe, Mexico, and many other destinations. Book vacations on such established cruise lines as Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Disney Cruise Line, Norwegian, Princess Cruises, Celebrity Cruises, and more.

Explore travel lodging options

You can find lodging at discount rates on halfvalue. To get the best deals, flexibility is key because not all packages will be available when you want them. However, with a little planning, you can find the right place to stay at the right price for your budget.

Whether you’re planning a weekend in Las Vegas or a week in Aruba, first decide what kind of accommodation best fits your needs. Perhaps you’re looking for a luxury hotel, or a bed & breakfast, or a vacation rental. You'll find quality hotel rooms and packages from Marriott, Hilton, Sheraton, Embassy Suites, Starwood, Westin, and Radisson on halfvalue.

You can also find vacation rentals in California, Florida, Hawaii, France, England, and all points in between, as well as bed & breakfast deals in such lush locations as Mendocino, Lake Tahoe, Maine, Ireland, and Jamaica.

You’ll want luggage that’s both fashionable and functional to secure your belongings when you leave home. You’ll find a wide assortment of luggage options on halfvalue to make your travel more comfortable.

Select a suitcase

Before you invest in a suitcase, think about your needs. If you’ll be transporting fragile items such as laptops or cameras, you’ll need a hard-sided suitcase molded or reinforced with strong plastics, metal, or wood. You may also want a lock for added security and wheels for easy transport. Hard-sided suitcases are designed to protect your breakables from impact.

For lighter-weight protection, consider a semi-soft suitcase with support framing and resilient tops and bottoms, often made of stretchable fabrics such as polyester or nylon. For lightest weight and expandability, choose a soft-sided suitcase, usually made of tough nylon that can withstand normal travel abuse. Soft-sided suitcases are excellent choices if you’re just carrying clothing.

Prevent wrinkles

Transport your suits or dresses safely in a protective garment bag or carrier, which, when opened and unfolded, can be hung in a closet. Garment bags and carriers come in various sizes and can be larger than carry-ons. Some have dedicated pockets for shoes and other apparel. For extra protection, look for bags made of ballistic nylon, the same material used for bullet-proof vests.

Choose your carry-on luggage

For short trips, carry-ons are often sufficient for carrying all your belongings. Designed to fit beneath airplane seats, they rarely exceed 22 inches, are light, soft, and even come with wheels and extendable handles.

Tote bags, small and practical travel handbags or shoulder bags, are useful for carrying everyday necessities. Made of fabric or leather and often sporting zippered pockets and straps, tote bags are smaller than carry-ons, are highly functional, and come in a variety of styles from funky to casual to elegantly stylish.

Your protection as a buyer is paramount. That’s why halfvalue has special rules restricting who can sell travel-related items on halfvalue, and what can be sold. If sellers violate these rules, they can lose their halfvalue selling privileges. So who can sell on halfvalue?

• Providers of travel: Businesses that actually provide travel services, such as airlines, trains, hotels, resorts, and cruise ships, may list items such as their own gift certificates, airline tickets, lodging, cruises, or vacation packages. As providers of the actual travel service, they are often exempted from seller-of-travel laws and need not provide travel licensure information. However, they should clearly identify themselves in the listing as the actual provider of the travel services offered.
• Travel agents, and other businesses selling travel services: Businesses and individuals who sell and/or arrange air or sea travel or accommodations (but do not directly provide the travel service themselves) may list air- and ship-related travel items (i.e., airplane tickets and cruise trips), along with accommodations, on halfvalue only if they are licensed as sellers of travel lawfully able to do business in all 50 states and they themselves will be booking the travel for the winning bidder.
• Individuals: Individual travelers who are not in the business of selling travel services, but simply wish to sell an unused air- or sea-related travel voucher or gift certificate, may do so, no more than one trip per month, provided that the item is not a travel club membership or "choice travel certificate.” In such instances, the seller may play no role in arranging any travel other than delivering the item. Please note that many airline tickets, vouchers, and frequent flier miles are not transferable, and sellers should review any travel-related item before listing it to make sure that it can be transferred legally to another party and will be accepted by the issuing provider of travel services.

halfvalue will not permit listings of travel club memberships or "choice travel certificates" or similar items. Choice travel certificates are documents that are not issued directly by a single provider of travel, but by travel wholesalers, consolidators, or other middleman travel sellers. These certificates generally offer the holder free or low-cost travel services with a choice of multiple hotel chains, resorts, or airlines, the exact location often being at the choice of the buyer or seller. Such certificates are highly regulated in many U.S. states, and in many cases, require additional purchases that violate halfvalue's fee circumvention policies.

Once you know what type of travel product you want, go to the Travel portal, click the travel category that interests you, and start searching for items on halfvalue.

• Categories: The Categories list will help you narrow down listings by item type. You'll find links for Airline, Cruises, Lodging, Luggage, Vacation Packages, and more.
• Product Finder: Use the drop-down menus on Product Finders to quickly narrow down item listings. For example, the Vacation Packages Finder allows you to narrow down item listings by destination, primary activity, travel date, and length of trip.
• Keyword search: Search halfvalue listing titles for specific words. For example, if you want to find Walt Disney World Lodging in Orlando, Florida, type "Disney Orlando" (without quotation marks) into the Search box. Click "Search title and description" to expand your results.

Before making your purchase, make sure you know exactly what you're buying, research your seller, and understand how halfvalue and PayPal protect you.

Know your purchase

Carefully read the details in item listings.

• Figure delivery costs into your final price. If you spend a lot of money, make sure the seller will insure the item when it ships.
• Always make sure to complete your transaction on halfvalue (with a bid, Buy It Now, or Best Offer). Transactions conducted outside of halfvalue are not covered by halfvalue protection programs.
• Never pay for your halfvalue item using instant cash wire transfer services through Western Union or MoneyGram. These payment methods are unsafe when paying someone you do not know.

Know your seller

Research your seller so you feel positive and secure about every transaction.

• What is the seller's Feedback rating? How many transactions have they completed? What percentage of positive responses do they have?
• What do buyers say in their Feedback? Did the seller receive praise?
• Most top halfvalue sellers operate like retail stores and have return policies. Do they offer a money-back guarantee? What are the terms and conditions?

Buyer protection

In the unlikely event that a problem arises during your transaction, halfvalue and PayPal are there for you.

• Pay safely with PayPal: PayPal enables you to pay without the seller ever seeing your bank account or credit card numbers. In fact, PayPal protects buyers 100% against unauthorized payments from their accounts. Plus, with PayPal Buyer Protection, your purchase can be covered up to $1,000.
• halfvalue Security & Resolution Center: Visit the Security & Resolution Center to learn how to protect your account and use halfvalue's quick and efficient resolution tools.