eBay gift cards are arguably among the most versatile gift cards out there. Not only can they be used directly on eBay to buy physical goods, but knowing how to use them and how to get discounted eBay gift cards can also help you save money or even make money. Today, let’s take a detailed look at eBay gift cards.

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[Update 11/13] eBay gift cards now show up automatically at checkout, so you can use this to recover eBay gift cards with leftover balances or refunded amounts. If you’ve used eBay gift cards before, it’s worth testing so eBay doesn’t keep the value. Just add any physical item sold on eBay and go to checkout to see it. I dug up one with a remaining balance of $0.48, so it looks like the system still isn’t perfect.

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Introduction to eBay Gift Cards

As the name suggests, an eBay gift card is simply a payment method for use on eBay. Because eBay sells such a wide variety of items, eBay gift cards are often seen as a convenient gift between friends. For us, though, eBay gift cards can also be a great tool for saving money or even making money. Although eBay has gradually changed many of the profitable aspects of eBay gift cards over time to stop people from repeatedly churning profits, there are always new ways to work around the rules and find fresh strategies. For the history of eBay gift cards, see the “Memory Lane” section at the end of the article.

Advantages of eBay Gift Cards

eBay gift cards are arguably second only to Visa/Master gift cards in terms of usefulness. Their advantages can be summarized as follows:

  • Widely usable: About 99% of items on eBay can be paid for with eBay gift cards (exceptions include coins, vehicles, and eBay gift cards themselves). So the risk of holding eBay gift cards is relatively low, because there is almost always something you can buy. If nothing else, you can buy discounted gas gift cards. If you want to cash out, you can buy discounted gift cards on eBay and then resell them. For more details, see: Guide to Saving or Making Money on eBay
  • Equivalent to cash: When paying for items on eBay, eBay gift cards work just like cash. This is worth pointing out because purchases paid for with eBay gift cards are still eligible for shopping portal cash back on eBay. On top of that, using eBay gift cards still earns eBay Bucks (eBay’s own rewards program). So paying with eBay gift cards does not reduce your potential shopping portal or eBay Bucks earnings.
  • Widely available: You’ve probably noticed that CVS, Walmart, Target, some local grocery stores, and gas stations all sell eBay gift cards. That gives us a lot of room to play. We can use credit cards that earn strong rewards at grocery stores to buy eBay gift cards, then use those cards on eBay, which is effectively like getting elevated rewards on eBay purchases. If you use discounted eBay gift cards to buy other merchants’ gift cards, you may also be able to earn shopping portal cash back on eBay again, which means stacking discounts on top of discounts (rewards from buying the eBay gift card + portal cash back from using the eBay gift card to buy other gift cards). And besides cash-back credit cards, there’s also the powerful AMEX OFFER tool, which can make it very easy to buy eBay gift cards at 20% off.

In short, eBay gift cards are a bridge for deal hunting, letting you stack multiple discounts to maximize your return. For example:

  • Discounted eBay gift card + bonus eBay Bucks + 15% off Staples gift card + shopping portal bonus --> resell the Staples gift card at 15% off

If you use discounted eBay gift cards to pay instead of a credit card, you can often earn an extra 5%-20%.

How to Buy Discounted eBay Gift Cards

Here are several ways to buy discounted eBay gift cards, along with some comments on each method.

Credit Card Category Bonus

The easiest approach is to use built-in category bonuses on your credit card. All you need to do is buy eBay gift cards with a credit card in a bonus category or at a bonus merchant. For example:

  • 【5% off】Quarterly 5x cash back: Discover it, Chase Freedom, and Citi Dividend sometimes let you buy eBay gift cards at grocery stores, gas stations, and department stores (such as Sears) during certain quarters. See Quarterly 5x Bonus Summary for details.
  • 【6% off】High grocery-store rewards: AMEX Blue Cash Preferred earns 6% cash back, EveryDay Preferred earns 4.5x MR, and Barclays Sallie Mae earns 5% at grocery stores, all of which are good options for buying eBay gift cards at supermarkets.
  • 【5x UR】Office-supply category rewards: Chase Ink and Ink Cash earn 5x UR at office-supply stores, so you can buy eBay gift cards at Staples and Office Depot.
  • 【5% off】Drugstore bonus rewards: AMEX Old Blue Cash can earn 5% cash back at drugstores, and both CVS and Walgreen sell eBay gift cards.
  • 【3x TYP】Online shopping rewards: Citi AT&T earns 3x TYP on online purchases, so buying eBay gift cards through Staples online, Cardcash.com, or Raise can work as well.

Buying on Raise.com

On Raise, eBay gift cards usually sell at a 2%-5% discount. If you are an existing Raise user, you can also use the promo code raise1 for an extra 1% off. If you don’t have a Raise account yet, you can register and read more below:

  • Raise signup link (register through our referral link and get $5 rewards)
  • Use promo code: RAISE75AF for an additional $5 off

Also, if your total Raise purchases have not yet exceeded $1,000, you may still be able to go through a shopping portal to buy eBay gift cards on Raise, so you can earn cash back even while buying discounted gift cards. If you don’t already use one of the following shopping portals, you may want to sign up for one:

AMEX Offer, BofA Deal, Citi Smart Saving

In addition to the built-in bonus categories on credit cards, extra rewards programs offered by card issuers can also be very useful. AMEX, BofA, and Citi all offer their own targeted offers. Even though these offers may seem unrelated to eBay, buying eBay gift cards at eligible merchants can still trigger the extra rebate.

  • 【20% off】AMEX Offer: The most common merchants related to eBay include Staples.com (previously spend $100, get $20 back), Best Buy (currently spend $250, get $25 back), and ToyRUs (previously spend $25, get $5 back). These stores all sell eBay gift cards. If you buy eBay gift cards directly with an AMEX card and trigger the AMEX Offer, that is effectively buying eBay gift cards at 20% off. For more on AMEX Offer, see AMEX Offer Explained and Best AMEX Offer Summary.
  • 【10% off】BofA Deals and Citi Savings: There have been Sears offers with 10% cashback, and Sears also sells eBay gift cards. See BofA Deals Introduction and Citi Smart Savings Introduction for details.

Other Miscellaneous Methods

Besides the two main methods above, there are also some other ways to buy eBay gift cards at a discount:

  • 【2xUA,3xTYP】MileagePlus X App: Buy eBay gift cards in the app to earn 2 miles per dollar. If you pay with a Citi AT&T credit card, you can also earn 3x TYP. See MPX App Introduction for details.
  • 【5% off】Direct discounts on eBay: PayPal Digital and GiftcardMall used to frequently sell eBay gift cards directly on eBay at a discount, usually 2%-5% off. However, these purchases do not earn eBay Bucks or shopping portal cashback.
  • 【5% off】Gas stations combined with Earn By Microsoft: If you use a credit card linked to Earn By MS to buy eBay gift cards at a Shell or a convenience store attached to 7-11, you can also get 3-5% credit from Earn By MS. See Earn By MS Introduction for details.
  • 【4% off】Buy at BestBuy.com: Go through a cashback portal to Bestbuy.com and buy eBay gift cards directly to get 2% from the portal + 2% Best Buy Credit.
  • 【2% off】 Buy at Newegg.com: Go through a cashback portal to Newegg.com and buy eBay gift cards directly; the portal may track and pay out cashback.

Restrictions on eBay Gift Cards

Although eBay gift cards look great, they come with the following restrictions:

  • eBay gift cards can no longer be used to buy any gift cards or items in the Coin category!
  • An eBay account can use only $5,000 in eBay gift cards within 60 days: This is a very strict limit. You can track your own usage in your ebay/paypal account.
  • You must log in to PayPal: You have to switch the payment method to PayPal in order to use ebayGC. PayPal accounts often act up and may require multiple SMS verifications before payment goes through. A new PayPal account must be linked to a Checking Account before it can use eBay gift cards.
  • A partially used eBay gift card becomes tied to your eBay account: The next time you shop, you can enter the same code again if there is still balance left, but it can no longer be used on another eBay account.
  • Refunds go back to the original gift card: If you buy something with an eBay gift card, it is best to save the code and note the date it was used. When a refund is issued, it goes directly back to the original gift card, and eBay will not tell you the gift card number.
  • Number-of-cards limit: You can use at most 8 eBay gift cards in a single purchase.

Best Uses for eBay Gift Cards

Light users: If you just want to buy discounted gift cards on eBay and maximize your discount by paying with discounted eBay gift cards, then all you need to do is buy discounted eBay gift cards using the methods above whenever it is convenient, and use them when needed. After all, if your volume is not large, convenience and safety matter most. So MPX or Raise are recommended ways to buy eBay gift cards: you receive them instantly after purchase, and you can do everything from home.

Memories of the Old Days

Back in the day, eBay gift cards were a gold mine. The restrictions were minimal and it was easy to make money fast. Here are a few deals that are now dead:

  • eBay gift cards could be used to buy third-party gift cards: There were often deals on other gift cards on eBay, so it was easy to use discounted ebayGC to buy gift cards and then resell them to cash out.
  • Rolling eBay gift cards into more eBay gift cards: eBay gift cards used to be usable to pay for eBay gift cards. So when eBayGC was sold at a discount on eBay, you could simply pay with eBay gift cards and wait for the next discount. In theory, you could keep rolling $100 into $1,000.
  • Rolling eBay gift cards and Target gift cards back and forth: In the past, eBay sold Target gift cards, and Target.com sold eBay gift cards. So you could keep cycling the gift cards back and forth, repeatedly max out the quarterly $500 Ebay Bucks, and also use the 5% off from Target DEBIT online. One round could earn 20%—absolutely amazing.
  • eBay gift card and PayPal limit of $5,000/180 days: It looked like a restriction, but not really. Your eBay account could check out using someone else’s PayPal, so the limit effectively disappeared. If that still did not work, you could close a PayPal account after maxing out the $5,000 limit, open a new one, and continue another $5,000 journey. Combined with cycling between Target and eBay, the money came fast.
  • Unlimited eBay gift card usage: When eBayGC was first separated from PayPal restrictions, usage was unlimited. So as long as you bought eBay gift cards at a discount, you could quickly buy discounted gift cards on eBay and cash out, without even thinking about return on investment. Hitting $500 ebay Bucks was easy.