eBay Gift Cards and their Limitations

Updated 3/21/16

Gift Card Limits

eBay has a number of limitations on the use of eBay gift cards. Note that there were many changes to the rules starting March 10, 2016. The details below are based on the up-to-date terms, found here.

  • You need a Paypal account to use an eBay gift card. Although it’s possible to purchase most things on eBay without a Paypal account, you can’t use an eBay gift card when doing so. You’ll need to login to your Paypal account first in order to use an eBay gift card or any other eBay coupon/voucher.
  • Only $1000 worth of gift cards can be used in one transaction. This limit is enforced.
  • There’s a limit of eight gift card and promo codes which can be used in one purchase. All eBay vouchers and coupons are input in the same field at checkout and all count toward this limit of eight.
  • You can’t use an eBay gift card to buy an eBay gift card. It’s long been in the terms that you can’t use an eBay gift card to buy an eBay gift card, but this is now being enforced. No more ‘rolling’ eBay gift cards as was done in the past.

Things to Bear in Mind

Two other important things to note about using eBay gift cards:

  • When you pay with an eBay gift card, the card gets tied to the eBay account used for the purchase. If you have two eBay accounts, and you use part of the gift card balance with one account, you won’t be able to use the remaining balance of the gift card with the other one.
  • When you pay with multiple gift cards for one purchase, eBay will not use the gift cards based on the order you input them. Keep this in the front of your head when paying for purchases with eBay gift cards, because it’s hugely important.
    Via Slickdeals, the method that eBay uses is to drain the balance of the lower card number first. For example, if you enter card number: 3456777 and card number: 3456778, it will use the former first and the later second, regardless of which you entered first or which has a higher denomination.
    I’d venture to guess that there huge amounts of unused eBay gift cards due to this factor alone as it creates confusion over which card is used up and which isn’t. On the checkout screen, it will show which card is being used.

Check Gift Card Balance

In the past, there were other ways to see the gift card balance, including over the phone (866-914-8078) and a special Paypal link. You can see all old gift card usage at the Paypal link, but new gift cards do not show there.

Old Rules

There were some old rules on eBay gift cards which are no longer in effect since March 10, 2016.

  • There used to be a limit of $500 or $5,000 in eBay gift cards that can be used per Paypal account per rolling 6-months. Now there is no limit at all.
  • The gift card was tied to the Paypal account, and not tied to the eBay account. Now it’s the reverse: it’s tied to the eBay account, and not tied to the Paypal account.
  • There used to be an unenforced limit of $500 in eBay gift cards per transaction. Now there is an enforced limit of $1,000.
  • There used to sometimes be a 4-hour delay in the activation of eBay gift cards. This, apparently, isn’t around any longer.

We wrote more about these changes here, here, and here.

Purchasing Gift Cards on eBay

All we have discussed until here was for limitations on the use of eBay gift cards, i.e. you are buying stuff on eBay and you want to pay with an eBay gift card. Now we’ll talk about limitations on purchasing gift cards that are being sold on eBay, e.g. you want to buy an Exxon gift card on eBay, irrespective of whether you pay for the gift cards with your credit card, Paypal, or with an eBay gift card.

There are a few authorized gift card sellers on eBay, including Giftcardmall, Paypal Digital Gifts (PPDG), SVM, and Cardency. There are also regular people, like me and you, selling second-hand gift cards on eBay (more details on how to sell gift cards on eBay here).

Aside from buying eBay gift cards on eBay, you can also purchase many gift cards on eBay, including those of popular merchants like Target, Exxon, Home Depot, Staples, and many others; see List of Best Options for Full-Price Gift Cards on eBay. And you can choose to pay for these gift cards with a credit/debit card or with an eBay gift card.

You don’t need a Paypal account to buy gift cards on eBay – you can pay with a credit card in the eBay system directly, except for the following three scenarios:

  • When buying gift cards from PPDG, you need to login and pay with Paypal.
  • When using an eBay gift card (regardless of where the gift card was purchased), you need to login to Paypal first.
  • When using an eBay coupon or voucher, you need to login to Paypal first.

Limits to Purchasing Gift Cards on eBay

There are no clear limits, currently, to the amount of gift cards you can buy on eBay. However, there are a few constraints to keep in mind.

  • Paypal Digital Gifts Due to the increased fraud risk on digital gift cards, PPDG enforces some vague limits on the volume of gift cards you can buy. It used to be a limit of $1,000 per rolling 30-days, then it changed to 4 discounted gift cards per rolling 10-day, and now they don’t seem to have any hard limit at all. BUT they do glitch out and stop allowing you to purchase at a certain point. Buy what you can until it stops you, and try again later.
  • Gift cards from other sellers (SVM, GCM, etc.) These don’t have the same restrictions as PPDG, but a few of us have recently bumped into an undisclosed limit at which time eBay brings up a screen indicating that you’ve bought too much and the purchase can’t go through. Wait a day or two and try again.
  • Discounted Gift Cards When buying discount gift cards on eBay from authorized sellers, the seller will always have a limit to the quantity you can buy. For example, if $100 Exxon gift cards are on sale from SVM for $95, they may limit you to buying three of them. Or if PPDG if selling $50 iTunes e-gift card for $40, they may limit you to buying four of them.

 

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Watchdog
Watchdog (@guest_1546513)
January 31, 2023 21:41

 Chuck I wanted to bring to light this issue that I believe Ebay is scamming customers of their gift card balances. I would suggest that anyone buying Ebay gift cards be doing so at their own risk! Ebay has been freezing several people’s gift cards under the guise of “security concern” or “suspicion of fraud” even when many of these instances are unfounded. A quick Google search will reveal that this problem is rampant (https://www.google.com/search?q=ebay+freezing+gift+cards). While I understand there are several real gift card scams out there right now, Ebay’s handling of this situation by freezing people’s funds and suspending gift cards does not appear to be lawful. I, like several others who have legitimate gift cards, have been impacted. Ebay is making the process for resolution very difficult and long. They ask for documentation in very specific terms: – A photo of the redemption code(s) email confirmation. – A photo of the receipt or purchase confirmation email used to purchase the eBay gift card(s) with header information. Header information must show the email address of the sender and recipient. – A handwritten note containing your eBay username and the current date. First of all, many people don’t have receipts for gift cards because they are given as gifts to others. Secondly, even when you have proof of purchase, it may not be in the form of an email with full header information. Thirdly, many users have experienced their gift cards locked again even after submitting the proper information. Lastly, it doesn’t appear lawful for Ebay to block gift cards and requiring such documentation to begin with. Ebay also has seemingly tried to protect themselves by listing this in their Gift Cards: Terms and Conditions (https://pages.ebay.com/giftcard/terms_conditions.html): “We reserve the right to correct the Gift Card balance if we believe that a clerical, billing or accounting error has occurred. You also agree that we may deactivate, cancel or suspend any Gift Card and freeze any associated Gift Card funds if we suspect fraud, unlawful activity or improper Gift Card use. You agree that you will not use a revoked Gift Card.” This seems like their way of operating under the premise that they can suspend and zero out people’s gift cards at any time as they please, giving any reason or simply under the guise of “security and fraud concerns.” In the end, Ebay is just taking people’s money and everybody is actually getting scammed by Ebay instead of actual scammers. I find it surprising that I haven’t heard about any Class Action lawsuits against Ebay about this matter since the US and states have laws around gift cards (https://www.ncsl.org/financial-services/gift-cards-and-gift-certificates-statutes-and-legislation). Given Ebay’s actions and their terms and conditions, it appears to me that Ebay is doing their best to skirt around any sort of legislation around gift card use. In the end, regardless whether or not you feel like Ebay has the complete right to do something like this, Ebay has made it very bold and clear in their terms that… Read more »

Abe
Abe (@guest_978159)
May 12, 2020 13:29

Well, I know this is a relatively old thread but I think their policies have been modified. I am a LONG TIME buyer & seller on eBay (Since 1998) with never a single problem of any kind as I have close to 1500 100% positive feedback. A COUPLE MONTHS ago I used about $700 in eBay gift cards on one purchase. Recently I used $150 (6 x $25) and after the 5th one I got a message saying “it seems like you have used a lot of gift cards recently, please wait a few days and try again.” Reason I use so many is I get 4% cashback from my local supermarket when I buy them PLUS 2% CB on my credit card. Is this some sort of new policy?

Abe
Abe (@guest_978187)
May 12, 2020 14:17

Disregard. Policy has just been changed:. Limit is now 4 gift cards or ANY other type of coupons combined with $1000 per single purchase and/or $1500 per calendar month effective May 7th.

https://pages.ebay.com/giftcard/faqs.html

Sara
Sara (@guest_333376)
January 3, 2017 00:04

If the cart asks you for the eBay gift card pin then I don’t see how you’d be redirected to PayPal afterward? Also, tried to pay for a $550 auction but gift card wasn’t an option but that may be the seller not accepting PP

Sara
Sara (@guest_333079)
January 2, 2017 06:32

Are you sure that you must long I’m through PP because they’re separate entities now? Also at checkout it asks you for the pin directly?

Dominick Thornburgh
Dominick Thornburgh (@guest_304823)
October 8, 2016 19:56

Are eBay gift cards reloadable? I’m talking about the eBay gift card U buy in the store as a gift for someone.

Tom
Tom (@guest_286848)
August 22, 2016 23:10

What does that mean?
“This code can’t be applied to some of your items.”

It’s a digital ebay gift card that I purchased. I checked the balance.
The item I’m trying to purchase is from a private eBay seller.

Dawn
Dawn (@guest_286927)
August 23, 2016 00:10

I am getting the same message as Tom
This code can’t be applied to some of your items

I am trying to purchase a store gift card and have been on the phone with ebay for over an hour. I was told that I cannot purchase a gift card with an ebay gift card. Is this something new?

SteveX
SteveX (@guest_284477)
August 16, 2016 16:22

Just a data point for you, this isn’t valid or is unenforced:

“There’s a limit of eight gift card and promo codes which can be used in one purchase. All eBay vouchers and coupons are input in the same field at checkout and all count toward this limit of eight.”

I just tested it as I happened to have a BUNCH of small ones. I had to use 13 in the same transaction it it took all of them without issue.

Shane
Shane (@guest_245575)
April 13, 2016 23:25

I can’t pay with any of my Ebay gift cards, my PayPal account is constantly locking. Nobody at 4 different support centers can help, they claim they don’t know why it is locked. Emails to executive offices go unanswered. I guess Ebay will slowly go under if they rely on PP.

Ang
Ang (@guest_239465)
March 30, 2016 12:18

Does this still hold true – if you have a paypal balance and you want to pay with an ebay gift card, you won’t be able to use the gc because it will use the paypal balance first? I remember reading somewhere that that’s true, not sure if it’s changed? I tried searching, but I can’t find anything. Thanks.

Ang
Ang (@guest_239523)
March 30, 2016 14:45

Thanks for the clarification! =)

beaware
beaware (@guest_236729)
March 24, 2016 13:20

Now there is no way to see what exactly happened to a ebay gift card. Paypal no longer has that information. So if the eBay gift card balance does not add up, all you can do is to call eBay customer service. and they will not help you…I had money disappeared from eBay gift card when eBay transactions failed.