eBay Australia will prohibit gift card sales on its marketplace from 12 November 2026, closing a resale channel for merchant and gaming gift cards. The restriction also covers eBay gift cards, while the company says existing eBay cards will remain redeemable for eligible purchases on eBay.com.au. [S01]
The Australian seller announcement, first published on 14 October local time, asks sellers to end affected listings before the change takes effect. Non-compliant listings may be removed. The country-specific policy page confirms the November date; it does not establish the same implementation timetable for other eBay markets. [S01] [S02]
A fraud-control measure with an undisclosed impact
eBay attributes the change to reducing potential fraud and misuse. Its current Australian rules already restrict gift card listings, including a cap of AU$500 in combined face value per seller at any one time. That is a listing limit, not a measure of sales. From 12 November, the prohibition reaches digital codes, monetary vouchers, store credit and returned-merchandise credit as well as physical cards. Even empty, expired, unactivated, used and collectible cards fall within the announced scope. [S01] [S02]
The breadth matters for businesses buying or reselling stored value: the policy removes permission to offer these products through the Australian marketplace, rather than merely tightening the existing seller limit. eBay has not disclosed affected listing volumes, merchant exposure or projected loss reductions. The published notice therefore establishes a change in distribution access, but does not quantify its commercial cost or effectiveness.
National reporting provides context for the stated fraud concern. The National Anti-Scam Centre recorded AU$5.8 million of losses in Scamwatch reports classified as “Other gift card” in 2025. Its annual report placed that category among the five payment methods with the largest reported losses, behind cryptocurrency, bank transfer, cash and credit cards. [S04]
Reported Australian scam losses by selected payment methods, 2025
Five payment-method categories shown in Figure 8 of the National Anti-Scam Centre annual report. “Other gift card” is the source category, not a total for all gift cards.
AUD million
Tap or hover for details. All values are also available in the data table.
Source
Scamwatch reports for January to December 2025; values rounded to AU$0.1 million. These selected categories do not represent all reported losses. Self-reported losses are not transaction-level risk, market share or eBay-specific outcomes; “Other gift card” must not be interpreted as all gift cards.
Show data tableHide data table
| Category | Reported losses |
|---|---|
| Cryptocurrency / DCE | 121.3 AUD million |
| Bank transfer | 118.1 AUD million |
| Cash | 10.0 AUD million |
| Credit card | 9.1 AUD million |
| Other gift card | 5.8 AUD million |
Those figures do not demonstrate that gift cards sold on eBay caused the losses. Scamwatch is a reporting channel with incomplete population coverage, and the annual table does not identify an eBay component. The payment categories also describe how reported money was lost, not the proportion of legitimate payments that became fraudulent. [S04]
The new marketplace rule is separate from eBay’s earlier decision to stop selling its own newly issued gift cards online from 3 August 2026 and let physical retail stock run down. Its Australian help page continues to allow redemption of existing cards under the usual conditions, including an Australian account and delivery address and a three-year expiry from issue. The November resale restriction does not cancel those balances. [S03] Gift Card News previously covered the separate eBay issuance phase-out.
Independent coverage by Doctor of Credit initially presented the policy more broadly, then identified the Australian notice and subsequently reported unconfirmed U.S. customer emails. The verified Australian documents support the 12 November change reported here. They do not support treating that date as a worldwide ban, or estimating how much fraud the restriction will prevent. [S05]
In this article
Emma Carter
Emma Carter covers retail, e-commerce and the gift card shopping experience for Gift Card News.