Do You Earn Rewards on eBay, Etsy, and Marketplace Purchases?
This guide explains how marketplace purchases code and how to earn more on them.
How marketplaces code
eBay, Etsy, and similar marketplaces generally code as online retail or under the platform’s own merchant category, not as groceries, dining, or another bonus area. So a category card sees general online shopping and pays its base rate. It is the same reason Amazon does not earn a grocery bonus, the platform, not the items, sets the code.
How to earn more
A card that bonuses online shopping earns an elevated rate on marketplaces, and stacking a shopping portal on top, clicking through the portal to eBay before buying, can add bonus rewards or cash back. Combined, these turn a base-rate purchase into a decent earner without changing what you buy.
The peer-sale exception
Buying from an individual on Facebook Marketplace or a similar peer platform is different. Those deals often happen in cash, or through a personal payment app where a card-funded transfer may be treated as a fee-bearing personal transaction that earns nothing, like sending money on Venmo. When a marketplace routes payment as a real card purchase, you earn your base rate; when it is a peer transfer, you may not.
- Marketplaces code as online retail or the platform.
- A category card usually earns only its base rate.
- An online-shopping bonus can earn more.
- A shopping portal can add rewards on top.
- Peer sales via cash or personal transfers may earn nothing.
Frequently asked questions
Related reading
