Yesterday, the news came out (Doctor of Credit, Miles to Memories) that eBay was making some drastic changes to its eBay Bucks program. Â If you’re not aware, eBay bucks are an internal eBay currency that operates similar to a cashback portal. Â By default, you earn 2% eBay bucks on a purchase, so buying something for $100 will net you 2 eBay Bucks.
I typically have been using eBay for buying discounted gift cards to resell
(SEE ALSO: Reselling $18,030 of gift cards (was it worth it?))
The good thing about eBay Bucks is that while normally you earn 2% eBay bucks on purchases, eBay will often run promotions where you can earn 6, 8 or even 10% back. Â Earning (sort of) 10% cashback on purchases, IN ADDITION to portal cashback and credit card points can make even marginal deals better. Â (There’s currently an 8% eBay bucks promotion going on until the end of Wednesday)
2 eBay Bucks changes coming
The 2 changes that eBay is making to its eBay bucks program are
- After October 1, 2016, you will not be able to earn eBay Bucks when purchasing eBay Gift Cards, Gift Cards, and Digital Gifts purchases within the Gift Cards & Coupons category.
- After January 1, 2017, you will not be able to redeem eBay Bucks for eBay Gift Cards within the Gift Cards & Coupons category.
You can find the details in your My eBay account under eBay Bucks.
My take on the eBay Bucks devaluation
While there may still be a few gift card reselling opportunities out there, this makes sourcing gift cards from eBay a lot harder to do.
The second issue is nearly as bad as the first – you can’t cash out your eBay bucks as an eBay gift card, which was one way I know that people did to get around the fact that eBay bucks expire
I can’t blame eBay – they were probably losing a ton of money on these eBay Bucks promotions to people just buying gift cards to flip, while not getting as much lift to their ACTUAL sales (which is what they were probably trying to incentivize). Â At least there was advance notice.
As always, if there ever exists a deal that is too good to be true, prepare for it to be shutdown. Â We’ve seen it time and time again and this won’t be the last.
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
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