When it comes to eBay, everyone is familiar with it. When I first came to the US, I also used it to hunt for a few things. Today I want to share some tips on how to save money and make money on eBay.

make-money-on-eBay

[2019.10 Update] From now through October 30, on eBay, excluding certain categories, you can earn 10% eBay Bucks when you spend $25 or more. You need to activate the offer through the link below before using it. At checkout you can see the eBay Bucks you will earn. The maximum is $100 back per order and $500 eBay Bucks per quarter. This is a targeted offer. If you never receive it, try re-enabling eBay Bucks using the method below.

Also, if you text EXTRA to 70799, you will receive a $3 off code. Minimum purchase is $3.01. Expires 2019.11.01. H/T: 101 readers 偷笔 & Tan

If you do not have anything to buy, you could consider picking up some stamps.

In addition, eBay also has a targeted offer: use code:welcome5 to get $5 off with no minimum purchase. You can check through this link to see whether you were targeted.

About eBay

Like Taobao, eBay’s advantage is its huge selection: you can buy almost anything there. If you already shop on eBay, then congratulations—after reading this article, you may be able to save around 10% by using eBay gift cards and cashback portals. That said, eBay’s biggest drawback is that most sellers are individuals, so product quality can be hard to guarantee. Because of that, many people have shifted to Amazon and other online department stores for better service and post-sale support, and have given up on eBay.

When I shop on eBay, I usually choose large sellers that have already sold many items, and I have not run into any problems.

How to Save Money

Saving money on eBay can come from several different angles: eBay Bucks (1%-10%), extra discounts (up to 20%), eBay gift card discounts (1%-5%), cashback portals (1%-2%), credit cards (1%-5%), and so on. If you can stack all of these, you can save quite a bit.

Extra Discounts

Every day eBay has Daily Deals, which collect items from major sellers that have relatively large discounts that day. However, Daily Deals do have some restrictions. You should not open multiple accounts to buy using the same address, or you may easily receive the infamous MC99 warning. If you keep buying after that, your account may be shut down and you could lose all your eBay Bucks.

In addition, eBay sometimes launches sitewide discounts or category-specific discounts from time to time. You may see related reminders on the eBay homepage or in your email. Usually each account can only use them once, so if you need them, do not miss them.

eBay Bucks Program

If you have an eBay account but have not enrolled in its eBay Bucks program, you are really missing out. Go sign up first:

The reason to sign up is not just for that 1%, but more importantly because eBay often sends promotions to selected users, most commonly 2x-10x eBay Bucks bonuses. In other words, when you shop on eBay during the promotional period, you can earn 2%-10% back in eBay Bucks. If you want to receive this type of promotion, make sure this box is checked in your account (Account Setting-Communication Preference-Promotions and Surveys):

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[Note] If you find that the box is already checked but you still do not receive targeted offers, try unchecking it, saving, then going back in, checking it again, and saving once more.

eBay Bucks has the following features:

  • No Bucks are earned on gift cards or items in the Motors category
  • The quarterly maximum is $500, issued at the beginning of January, April, July, and October, and must be used within one month after issuance
  • If you earn less than $5 in a quarter, it is automatically forfeited and cannot be rolled over to the next quarter
  • eBay gift cards sold by giftcardmall and PayPal_digital_gifts do not earn eBay Bucks (other excluded categories include vehicles, coins, etc.)
  • Each person can have only one eBay Bucks account
  • After eBay Bucks are issued, they can only be used in your own eBay account and cannot be transferred to others
  • Using eBay Bucks does not count toward PayPal’s $5,000 eBay gift card limit
  • After 2016.10, purchases in eBay’s gift card category no longer earn eBay Bucks

Right now, eBay Bucks can be used to buy third-party gift cards, though I am not sure whether this is a bug. That makes eBay Bucks much easier to use up.

Using Cashback Portals with eBay

For me, the best cashback portal to pair with eBay is TopCashback (TCB). This site generally offers 1%-1.5% cashback. One very important point is that if another cashback portal has a higher rate, it can match the difference. In general, purchases on eBay are tracked 1-2 days after the order ships.

Now, basically all cashback portals have added this exclusion: Purchases from the following categories and associated sub-categroies: - Coins and other Money items, Tablets and Networking, Consumer Electronics, Gift Cards & Coupons. So these categories do not qualify for cashback. Sometimes going through the eBay app from inside the Ibotta app can still earn cashback, so if you are interested, you can give it a try:

eBay Gift Cards

eBay gift cards, like gift cards from other merchants, can be used to pay for purchases on eBay. However, there are several important restrictions on using eBay gift cards:

  • You must pay with PayPal in order to use an eBay gift card
  • Once part of an eBay gift card is used, the card becomes tied to that eBay account. On your next purchase, you can enter the remaining code and keep using the unused balance, but it can no longer be used on another eBay account
  • You can use at most 8 eBay gift cards in a single purchase
  • eBay gift cards cannot be used to buy third-party gift cards

There are usually several ways to get discounted eBay gift cards:

  • Large sellers on eBay (giftcardmall, PayPal_digital_gifts) directly offer discounted eBay gift cards, usually with discounts under 5%
  • Buy discounted eBay gift cards at supermarkets, department stores, or office supply stores through “category swap” methods (discounts of 5%-20%)
  • Buy discounted eBay gift cards on secondary gift card marketplaces (Raise, Cardpool, etc., usually around 5% off)

The idea behind category swap is basically to use a credit card that earns 5% cash back or 5x points at supermarkets or office supply stores to buy eBay gift cards. Even better, if the store happens to have an AMEX offer, paying with an AMEX card may also trigger that AMEX offer, making it possible to get eBay gift cards at roughly 20% off.

The first two methods either require waiting for the right opportunity, such as a good deal or an AMEX offer, or going out to a store, so they cannot be done immediately. Also, and this is important, newly purchased eBay gift cards usually need at least 2-3 hours before they are activated. That is not fast enough for some especially hot gift card deals on eBay. So if I do not already have an eBay gift card on hand and need to jump on a good deal right away, my first choice is to buy an eBay gift card on Raise.

On Raise, eBay gift cards are usually discounted by 2%-5%. If you are an existing Raise user, you can also use promo code: raise1 for an extra 1% off. If you do not yet have a Raise account, you can sign up and read the introduction below:

  • Raise signup link (register with our refer link and get $5 rewards)
  • Use promo code: RAISE75AF to get another $5 off

Also, if your total purchases on Raise have not yet exceeded $20,000, you can go through Ebates when buying eBay gift cards, so you can earn cashback while already buying discounted gift cards.

Related Credit Cards

Both eBay and PayPal have co-branded credit cards that offer 2x rewards (about 2% back) on eBay or PayPal purchases. If you spend a lot on eBay (more than $100,000) and exceed the gift card limits, then using a credit card can still be a way to save money.

Besides these long-term options, sometimes quarterly 5x category cards also include PayPal as a bonus category. For example, in Q2 2018, Chase Freedom's 5X categories included PayPal.

Third-Party Gift Cards on eBay

Even if you do not shop on eBay, this article can still help you save money. One key point is that eBay sells many gift cards for other merchants. So instead of buying what you need directly on eBay, you can use eBay as a bridge to buy discounted gift cards for the merchants you actually want. Here is a simple example: eBay does not directly sell the gasoline you need, but it does sell many gas gift cards that can be used at the stations you want. Here are some of the ways you can save:

  • eBay sometimes offers extra discounts on these gas cards (5%-10%)
  • You may also be able to earn some cashback through eBay and cashback portals (1%)
  • At some gas stations, paying with a gas gift card counts as cash and can get you an additional discount (1%)

So when you add it all up, using eBay can save you 7%-12% on gas. That is much better than those heavily promoted gas credit cards that only offer 3%-5% cash back. And eBay sells much more than just gas gift cards, including:

  • Supermarkets: Target
  • Office supply: Staples
  • Toys / baby: Toy R Us/Baby R Us
  • Department stores: Kohl's, JCpenny
  • Electronics: Best Buy
  • Drugstores: CVS/Wallgreen
  • Restaurants: Subway,Dominos
  • View eBay gift card listings

Many of these gift cards also come in electronic versions, so there is no shipping cost and they are delivered the same day, often within 1 hour. So if you need to shop online, it is worth first checking whether eBay sells the gift card you need, and then using the methods in this article to save money.

Third-party gift cards also frequently go on sale. You can check the summary link below:

Gift Card Safety

Some people may ask: if you are going to use gift cards, why go through eBay? Aren't there many websites that sell used gift cards? Of course, those secondary gift card websites can also be good, and Raise does offer some buyer protection. However, eBay has several special sellers that are verified by eBay and sell first-hand gift cards. So naturally, you do not have the same problems of getting scammed with used gift cards or having them easily compromised. Some of the main sellers are:

  • giftcardmall (the largest gift card seller itself, mainly selling physical gift cards)
  • PayPal_digital_gifts (closely affiliated with PayPal, mainly selling electronic gift cards)
  • svmgiftcards (an eBay-certified high-volume seller that mainly sells physical gift cards)

Also, these sellers generally have solid customer service. If there is a problem with a gift card you purchased, you can usually resolve it by sending a message through eBay or by calling them directly.

How to Make Money

Above, we discussed many ways to use eBay as a bridge to save money at other merchants. Some readers may ask: what if I do not actually need anything from those merchants? In fact, you can also sell those merchants’ gift cards through secondhand gift card exchange sites and make your money back. The key is whether you can use the methods above to buy merchant gift cards at a deep enough discount. If your purchase price is lower than the price offered by a secondary gift card buyer, then you can lock in a profit.

There is another benefit to reselling gift cards bought on eBay: the big three gift card sellers all sell first-hand gift cards. So as long as you do not use the card yourself, it generally will not have been compromised, which makes it safer to sell to someone else. I especially do not recommend buying secondhand gift cards and then reselling them to other secondhand gift card buying sites, because that carries much higher risk.

For selling physical cards, I usually use cardpool. That is because cardpool provides free USPS mailing, while most other sites require you to pay for shipping yourself. If you do not have a cardpool account, you can sign up below:

For electronic gift cards, I usually choose saveya.com because it pays the same price for physical and electronic gift cards. Other gift card sites often discount the payout for electronic gift cards.

Specific Examples

Here are a few examples of how to save money or make money with eBay gift cards. The promotions in these examples may already be expired, but the basic steps are the same. Review them to understand the process so you can move quickly the next time a deal appears.

Conclusion

At this point, making money by flipping gift cards on eBay is largely a thing of the past. The profit margin is simply too small, and once you add in the various risks, I do not recommend trying it. However, if you already shop on eBay, the methods mentioned in this article can still help you save a good amount of money.