Looking for a deal on an upcoming vacation?

You may be tempted to check out travel resale websites.

Travel Expert Katy Nastro said travel resale sites are basically eBay for vacations.

If someone has to cancel an upcoming trip, posting that flight or hotel stay on a resale website could help them recoup some of the non-refundable costs.

But just how good are the deals?

“You can see savings between 20-30% – maybe even more if you are one of those people who can be flexible enough within 48 hours,” she said. “That’s really where you’re going to see the biggest savings because people really need to recoup some of the money that they’re going to be losing.”

Some of the most popular travel resale sites include: SpareFare, Roomer and Transfer Travel.

CONSUMER:

But Nastro cautions that many of the flight and hotel deals on these websites are in and out of Europe, so that can add another wrinkle for U.S. travelers.

However, the biggest wrinkle is the potential to purchase a vacation that you can’t use.

“If that carrier is not allowing any name changes, which they can be really big sticklers about and even slap on an additional fee – like Frontier, you just wouldn’t be able to purchase that outright,” she said.

She continues, “I would actually advise, if you are trying to resell a vacation as a flight component, call your airline directly to make sure that you can even make a change to the name, because a lot of carriers just won’t allow it.”

Nastro says, if you’re a planner, you’re probably better off just monitoring for deals. She says you can often find a similar discount if you shop around and do your homework.

But if you’re a flexible, last minute traveler, these resale sites might be your best friend.