eBay Bucks Program Update

I have complained endlessly about eBay during the last year and have hated all of the changes. As much as I have hated the changes, I do still buy on eBay, and I tend to buy a lot. The eBay Bucks program is by far the best idea eBay has had in years. I love eBay Bucks!

Back in April, I reported that I was one of the people randomly selected to participate in the eBay Bucks program beginning April 1. Under the program, participants are rewarded with eBay Bucks. The payout equals 2% of each transaction, not including the postage amount. The items must be paid for through PayPal. Once the payment is complete, the participant receives the credit which is applied towards the next coupon.

Participants receive a coupon at the end of each three-month period. The first three-month period ended on June 30, and I received my coupon last week. While 2% is a small amount, the eBay Bucks really add up for people who buy a lot on eBay. Even for people who buy a small amount, the reward is still nice.

I have until August 8 to use the eBay Bucks, and the coupon is automatically applied to my purchases when I go to pay for them. This weekend, I bought my first item since I received my coupon. After the eBay Bucks were applied, my item was free.

Not only that, my order was a qualifying purchase towards my next coupon, so I earned $0.20. I still have value left on my coupon, so the rest will be applied to future purchases, so long as I make them before August 8.

I did have one concern after I paid. PayPal shows a debit of $13.55 in my history, making it appear that I was charged $13.55 for the transaction instead of nothing. I clicked on the transaction information and found that the funding source was not my balance but a "redemption code."


This means that I was not charged for the transaction even though it appears that I was. For this reason, the redemption part of eBay Bucks needs to be improved. I received an eBay gift certificate a few years ago. It was deposited into my PayPal account, and I was able to choose when it would be used. There was never any doubt about the amount that I actually paid when I chose to redeem the certificate. The eBay Bucks need to be applied in the same fashion.

The plan is for eBay to opt more people into the program. From what I understand, only a small portion of eBay users were invited into the program so they could work through any problems. While it is unfortunate that few people are able to use the program, it does make sense to work out the problems first, which is much better than what eBay sometimes does.

If any of you who did not previously get an invitation get invited into the program, I would be interested in hearing about it.