Last year when Paige Pierson lost her job in the San Francisco Bay Area's dot-com contraction, she resolved not to abandon her travel passions.

The auctions on eBay had been a constant source of entertainment and the occasional bargain in recent years, and being a dot-commer, Pierson knew of other Web sites that sold travel through auctions. So in February, while musing about how to introduce her newborn son, Logan, to her extended family in Munich, she ventured online, looking to match the click of her mouse with the clack of a virtual auctioneer's gavel.

Her first move was not to eBay, but to SkyAuction.com, a New York-based auction site for airline tickets, vacation packages, cruises and accommodations. There, she found one-way vouchers for flights on Lufthansa, up for bidding at $1, with no reserve. Pierson entered the bidding, and shortly thereafter walked away with the equivalent of a round-trip flight from San Francisco to Munich for about $300.

As one of a small but ardent group of online travel-auction fans, Pierson found that the well-publicized risk of online auctions can, with some care and flexibility, be far outweighed by the rewards. ‘‘It was pretty sweet, considering I was unemployed,'' said Pierson, who now works for Williams-Sonoma.

Flexibility is a watchword for travel auction fans. Most services up for bid may be used only during specific times, typically off-season dates that travel suppliers have had difficulty selling through traditional means. And because fraudulent travel auctions marred the early years of the Internet, individuals cannot sell airline tickets on most auction sites — a generally positive development, but one that has also led to somewhat limited inventory at times.

For people who have no particular destination or date in mind, and for those who want to try to get lucky with cheap accommodations for a planned trip, auction sites are a logical detour in the usual click path.

According to Michael N. Hering, SkyAuction's chief executive, the company operates like many other discount travel sites online, in that it obtains travel inventory from a variety of suppliers. The only twist is that SkyAuction offers each item starting at a bid of $1, with no reserve. If the winning bid is $2, the site must accept that, and eat its loss.

In fact, Hering says the company, which is privately held, loses money on 15 percent of the roughly 1,200 auctions it conducts each week. ‘‘But that's OK,'' he said, speaking by phone from the Trump Sonesta in Sunny Isles Beach, Fla., where he was negotiating for rooms for his site. ‘‘They'll come back because they know we're real, and they'll tell their friends about it.''

SkyAuction's offerings have evolved over the past five years, from a heavy emphasis on airline deals to an evenly balanced mix of air, hotel, cruises and packages.

While SkyAuction offers no guarantee, it has a Better Business Bureau track record of resolving a majority of customer complaints to the customer's satisfaction. (Fewer than 90 complaints have been registered with the bureau in the past three years.) And since it is a growing business with much of that growth staked on its reputation, chances are good that consumers will find SkyAuction a reputable place.

Indeed, one reason Pierson strayed from eBay for her travel auctions was her fear that she might be cheated. But eBay has gone to great lengths to reduce travel auction fraud in the past two years.

Responding to customer concerns about travel fraud, eBay last year introduced a rule requiring all sellers of air, lodging, cruises and vacation packages to register with SquareTrade, a seller-verification and dispute-resolution company, which is privately owned. Before being permitted to list travel items, sellers must verify their company's name, contact information and location with SquareTrade (on the Web at www.squaretrade.com).

Furthermore, if the sellers are listing airline tickets, they must submit proof to SquareTrade that they are members of the Airlines Reporting Corp., an industry trade group, or a similar travel association. Individuals are not qualified for ARC membership; only airlines, corporate travel departments, industry suppliers and travel agents. And if sellers are listing lodging, they must prove they own the property or have a time-share membership.

Meena Ravella, senior manager for eBay's travel category, said that the site's travel sales have increased steadily since the SquareTrade relationship was formed. Roughly 5,000 travel offerings are on the site on a given day.

That said, even the SquareTrade seal does not completely eliminate risk. Last summer, for instance, an eBay seller who displayed the SquareTrade logo bilked thousands of computer buyers before he was caught by Salt Lake City police. And SquareTrade's chief executive, Steve Abernethy, admits that the screening process is not perfect. ‘‘We've created as many barriers as we could,'' he said. ‘‘On eBay, you've got to use a combination of common sense and new tools to avoid things.''

Sarah Mastrianni, a Cordova, Tenn., ticket agent for Northwest Airlines, has been both a buyer and seller of travel on eBay — as well as a near-victim of fraud. Last year, she ventured into eBay's travel listings while planning a trip to New York with her daughter. After weeks of casual searching, she found a potentially great deal on vouchers for a hotel suite at the Excelsior, on West 81st St. She bought five vouchers at $99 a night, including tax, but not before contacting the seller, she said, ‘‘to establish a little trust.''

Not long after Mastrianni returned home, she began looking into tickets for Walt Disney World on eBay, and bid on some. Her bids failed, and shortly thereafter she received several e-mail messages from people offering to sell Disney tickets for half the regular price. (The user names of eBay bidders are displayed on the Web site; eBay members can send e-mail messages to each other directly from the site.)

To complicate matters, the sellers had forged or misappropriated the user name of a seller with an excellent reputation. ‘‘The e-mails were from people from out of the country, which didn't fit with the user feedback,'' Mastrianni said. ‘‘I e-mailed a few of them looking for more information, and they never responded.''

For those who have absolutely no stomach for even the diminished risk of eBay auctions, and who want an alternative to SkyAuction.com, LuxuryLink.com is a good choice.

The site, which sells high-end cruises, packages, hotels and first- and business-class airline tickets, lists about 500 auctions weekly. Unlike SkyAuction, LuxuryLink sets a minimum bid, still low enough to save customers about 40 percent over retail rates, said Diane McDavitt, LuxuryLink's president.

Among recent listings was a ‘‘spa week'' for two at an ocean-front room in St. Lucia, with all meals, alcohol and activities for $2,725. The retail price was $5,000.