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In the middle of the night, Doctor of Credit broke the news that eBay has changed the rules of their gift cards. Previously, you could buy eBay gift cards and then use those gift cards to buy other gift cards on eBay
There is also active discussion on the #giftcardselling channel of our Points With a Crew miles and points Slack channel
The eBay Terms of Conditions now say: (bolding mine)
- The Gift Card may not be used to pay eBay or PayPal service fees. The Gift Card also may not be used to buy eBay Gift Cards, third party gift cards, gift certificates, coupons, coins, paper money, virtual currency, or items generally considered to be “bullion” (for example, gold, silver, and other precious metals in the form of coins, bars, or ingots).
The problem here is that many people would buy discounted eBay gift cards, hoping to use them to get an extra discount on 3rd party gift cards when they were on sale, to get an extra bit of discount
(SEE ALSO: $18,030 in gift card reselling – was it worth it?)
eBay’s change in terms just goes to reinforce the rule that you should never buy so much of anything (product, gift cards, prepaid debit cards) that you couldn’t float the deal if the rules changed suddenly on you. It also reinforces the rule that you should hit every deal out there as hard as you can for as long as it lasts 😀
Is this even legal?
I don’t know. I’m not a lawyer of course, and while eBay certainly has the right to do whatever they want with their own gift cards, it doesn’t seem “right”
Feel free to join a class action lawsuit, contact the California Attorney General or file a complaint with the CPFB if you think it will do any good 🙂
Did you get stuck with a bunch of eBay gift cards? What are your plans?
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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 
Nooooo this one was great
Maybe we’ll see an increase in eBay portal payouts because of this?
Ugh. Have $420 in ebay cards. Guess I’ll be doing my Christmas shopping on ebay.
I just tried and failed to purchase a gift card. I’m stuck with $500 in Ebay gift cards. What an unethical company to do this without notice.
The terms say ebay gift card and 3rd party gift cards. What what about retailers /restaurant gift card and egiftcard sold by ebay?
I think that is what is meant by 3rd party gift cards
I’m up for a class actions suit. Perhaps first there needs to be a s__tstorm of tweets and facebook posts warning “buyer beware” at Ebay.
PLEASE JOIN MY CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT AGAINST EBAY NOW
I’M READY TO FILE A CLASS ACTION SUIT AGAINST EBAY FOR NOT MAKING ME AWARE THIS POLICY AND NOW I’M STUCK WITH THIS EBAY GIFT CARD. I NEVER RECEIVED EMAIL OR ANY TYPE OF NOTIFICATION VIA EMAIL FROM EBAY REGARDING THE RE NEW POLICY OF NOT BEING ABLE TO USE AN EBAY GIFT CARD TO PURCHASE COINS OR CURRENCY ON EBAY. THIS IS WITHOUT A DOUBT A QUALIFYING CLASS ACTION ACTION LAWSUIT. JOIN ME NOW.
…..good luck?