eBay Cashback: Every Portal's Rate, Compared

The best eBay cashback we found is 4% at RetailMeNot, read from RetailMeNot's own eBay page.

eBay cash back rates by portal

Every rate below was read from that portal's own eBay page, and every row shows when we last looked. Where a rate has a catch, the catch is printed next to the number rather than underneath it.

PortalRateLast checked
RetailMeNot
4%source
Fluz
1.5%Fluz's general virtual card, available at most merchants. Not a rate negotiated for this store specifically.source
Price.com
1.5%source
Mr. Rebates
1%source
Sunshine Rewards
1%source
RebatesMe
Up to 1.2%A maximum, not a standing rate. RebatesMe's category table for this store goes as low as 0.5%.source
Extrabux
0.44% - 1.63%Not a fixed rate. Extrabux shows the range it actually paid over the last three months, 0.44% to 1.63%.source
Active Junky
Up to 1.2%A maximum, not a standing rate. Active Junky's category table for this store goes as low as 0.2%.source
TopCashback
10%This is a maximum, not a standing rate. The everyday rate is usually lower.source
MaxRebates
Up to 6%A maximum, not a standing rate. MaxRebates pays the top rate only on some categories, and the everyday rate is usually lower.source
GoCashBack
Up to 2.8%A maximum, not a standing rate. GoCashBack pays the top rate only on some categories, and the everyday rate is usually lower.source
chirpyest
Up to 2%A maximum, not a standing rate. chirpyest lists lower rates by category under "rules & exceptions".source
ShopBack
Up to 1.6%A maximum, not a standing rate. ShopBack pays the top rate on some departments or products, and the everyday rate is lower.source
Rakuten
Up to 1%A maximum, not a standing rate. Rakuten applies the top rate only to some departments or products, and the everyday rate is usually lower.source
MyPoints
Up to 7 points per $1A maximum: the per-dollar rate varies by category on the page.source
BeFrugal
Rate not publishedThis portal lists the merchant but did not show a rate we could read. That is different from paying nothing.source
CouponFollow
Rate not publishedThis portal lists the merchant but did not show a rate we could read. That is different from paying nothing.source
Hoopla Doopla
Not carriedThis portal does not cover this merchant.
Lolli
Not carriedThis portal does not cover this merchant.
Raise
Not carriedThis portal does not cover this merchant.

Rates move without notice, so treat anything more than a couple of days old as worth re-checking at the portal before you shop.

How to get eBay cashback, step by step

  1. Open RetailMeNot's eBay page and click through to eBay from there. That click is what ties the order to your account, so start every eBay order this way rather than from a bookmark or a search result. The rate as we last read it was 4%.
  2. Shop in that same tab and session. Don't leave for a coupon site and come back, and turn off any other cashback or coupon extension before you check out: the last click before the order is the one that gets credited, and another extension's click can take it.
  3. Check out in one go, using only codes RetailMeNot itself shows for eBay. A code from somewhere else can void the cashback on many stores.
  4. Wait for it to confirm. In about 45 days the cash back lands in the RetailMeNot account as redeemable. Returning part of the order, or cancelling it, changes what gets paid.
  5. Get paid. RetailMeNot pays by: PayPal or Venmo, from the RetailMeNot account. Minimum: A minimum approved balance of $5.01 is required for a redemption. Timing: On request, once the cash back is approved in the account.

Getting paid, portal by portal

Each portal's own help pages, as written there. The source link on each row goes to the page it came from. These are the portal's terms, not eBay's.

PortalPaid byMinimumConfirmation window
RetailMeNotsourcePayPal or Venmo, from the RetailMeNot account.A minimum approved balance of $5.01 is required for a redemption.In about 45 days the cash back lands in the RetailMeNot account as redeemable.
FluzsourceBank transfer (ACH), PayPal or Venmo, or spent in the app on more gift cards. Without a US bank account, PayPal or Venmo.$15 in lifetime earnings once, then $1 per withdrawal.Instant. The cashback lands in the Fluz balance when the gift card is bought.
Price.comsourceDebit card deposit, PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, gift cards, a donation to charity, or crypto.$10 per withdrawal, with a $500 cap per withdrawal and per day.Typically 30 to 90 days: pending until the retailer confirms the purchase and its return period ends.
Mr. RebatessourceA rebate check by mail, or payment via PayPal, Venmo or an Amazon gift card.$10 in Available Rebates.Rebates post to Pending within 1 to 3 business days of the order or ship date, then stay Pending for 90 days from the posting date before moving to Available.
Sunshine RewardssourcePayPal, or gift cards from time to time through the Redemption Center.20.00 in credits, and the account has to be at least 45 days old. Cashouts are capped at $500 a month.Earnings should post within 10 days. Sale credits are then held: 28 days per the help page, 21 days from the date of purchase per the terms page.
RebatesMesourcePayPal, credit card, Alipay, check or gift cards.$10 in available cash back, not counting bonuses.Cash back becomes available after the 90-day return window.
ExtrabuxsourcePayPal, eGift cards, ACH bank deposit (US only), check (US only), or a donation to a charity.$10 available balance, with at least one confirmed purchase carrying more than $1 in available cash back.Usually tracked within 1 to 7 days of purchase, then held through a 90-day window for returns or cancellations at most stores before it becomes available.
Active JunkysourceCheck, PayPal, Venmo or a credit/debit card. Approved cash back can also be cashed out early as a gift card.None stated for the monthly payout. Cashing out early as a gift card takes $5.01 in approved cash back.Orders stay pending until the partner store approves them. For travel and events, partners typically approve within about 3 months after the trip or event.
TopCashbacksourceBank transfer, Venmo, PayPal, gift cards, a Virtual Visa Prepaid Card or an American Express Virtual Reward Card.None for PayPal, Venmo or bank transfer; some gift cards have one.No fixed window. Cash back goes pending, then confirmed once the retailer reviews the order, then payable once the retailer's network is invoiced. TopCashback prints an estimated payout speed on each merchant's page.
MaxRebatessourceCheck or PayPal, in US dollars, and sometimes other options such as a donation to charity.$10.00 per payment, with a $2,000.00 maximum.Pending for 90 days to cover store return policies, cancellations and commission collection; it often takes up to 90 days for cash back to become payable, depending on the product and the merchant.
GoCashBacksourcePayPal, check, gift card (US only) or Helipay.$10 in withdrawable cash back, not counting sign-up, referral or activity bonuses for the first withdrawal.It can take up to 120 days for cash back to become available.
chirpyestsourceUS dollars via PayPal or Venmo.$5.00; balances below $5.00 remain in the account for the next payment period.Not available until the retailer's return period has elapsed, up to 180 days or longer from purchase.
ShopBacksourcePayPal or a US bank account via ACH, once the balance clears the minimum.$5 of Confirmed Cashback on ShopBack's payment-methods and clear-time guides; its withdraw how-to says $10.Pending within 48 hours of checkout, then Confirmed once the partner store's claim time has been fulfilled: usually a few weeks for retail, after trip completion for travel.
RakutensourceBig Fat Check by mail, PayPal, American Express Membership Rewards points, or Bilt. A confirmed balance of $5.00 or more can also be redeemed as a gift card within minutes.$5.01 in confirmed cash back before the payment date; $5.00 or less carries over to the next one.3 to 14 weeks for online and in-store purchases; 45 to 120 days for travel.
MyPointssourcePoints, redeemed for gift cards, travel miles or cash via PayPal.At least 480 available Points to redeem (MyPoints blog, 2019).Not verified yet
BeFrugalsourceCheck, PayPal, direct deposit, Venmo, Zelle or an eGift card. Check and direct deposit are US only.$0.01 for PayPal or direct deposit; $25 for a check.Verified cash back sits in the account for 30 to 90 days, set by the retailer's return policy and its payment cycle with BeFrugal. Store pages say cash back is typically available for payment 15 to 60 days after purchase.
CouponFollowsourcePayPal; a valid US PayPal account has to be connected to CouponFollow.An Available Balance of at least $10.Pending for up to 60 days, to ensure a purchase isn't returned or refunded.

Does eBay have its own cashback or rewards program?

Not the way a single-brand retailer does. eBay is a marketplace, millions of independent sellers under one checkout, so there's no storewide percentage-off sale or a single return window to point to, and eBay itself pays nothing back on a purchase. What it does run is buyer protection, not cashback: the eBay Money Back Guarantee, which "covers most transactions on eBay" and "means buyers can get their money back if an item didn't arrive, is faulty or damaged, or doesn't match the listing." source. That refunds a bad order; it isn't a percentage back on a good one, and none of the cashback portals below substitute for it or duplicate it.

eBay used to run a points program for buyers, eBay Bucks, with its own currency and account balance. TopCashback's editorial states it plainly: the current eBay Mastercard "essentially replaces the eBay Bucks Rewards Program, which was discontinued in early 2024." source. That's TopCashback's claim, not eBay's; eBay's own Mastercard pages (`pages.ebay.com/creditcard/cardholder/`, its FAQ and terms pages, and the help-center article for the card) all either 404 or load as an empty shell in this session, so the specific point values reported elsewhere online couldn't be checked against eBay's own text. One line is eBay's own, printed in that page's own description: "eBay MasterCard allows you to earn double points on all eBay and PayPal purchases and is accepted everywhere MasterCard is accepted." source. The card is issued by Synchrony Bank, and activation runs through Synchrony's own site, not eBay's, so treat it as a separate financial product from the marketplace itself: a rewards credit card, not a portal, and it stacks with portal cashback the same way any other rewards card does.

The other place people go looking for "eBay coupons" is sellers' own listings, not a site-wide code. eBay lets sellers sell physical paper coupons as a product category, capped at "25 coupons worth $100 in total" per seller per month, only "physical paper coupons", never a scan or photo source. That's a listing category, not a discount mechanism at checkout, and it has nothing to do with whether a cashback portal tracks your order.

Because eBay is a marketplace, the things that change a payout aren't brand-wide sales; they're the sale mechanics themselves. An eBay purchase clears one of two ways, a fixed Buy It Now price or a won auction bid, and Rakuten, TopCashback and Price.com, the three portals whose eBay terms this page quotes, all write their terms around that split. Returns work the same way: there's no single storewide return window, because each seller sets their own, "the return may be automatically accepted" when it "complies with the seller's return policy or the eBay Money Back Guarantee" source. Check the listing, not this page, for how long you have.

What eBay cashback stacks with

LayerStacks with portal cashback?Notes
A "Buy It Now" purchaseYes, at Rakuten, TopCashback and Price.comThis is the plain case those three portals' terms are written for: Rakuten pays on "legitimate Winning Bid" or "Buy It Now" transactions source, TopCashback on legitimate “Buy It Now” transactions or Winning Bid source, and Price.com on completed “Buy It Now” purchases or winning-bid transactions source.
A won auctionYes, but the window after your click differs by portalTopCashback requires the "auction win is within 10 days after clicking through" source; Price.com requires the win "within 24 hours of activation" source. Rakuten states no window, only that the win has to be "legitimate" source. Click through before you start watching the auction, not after you win it.
A sniping tool or third-party bidding serviceNo, at both portals that name itRakuten: "Use of a 3rd party bidding service will void Cash Back." source. TopCashback: "Cash Back is not available on bids placed with a sniping service/tool." source. Price.com's terms don't mention bidding tools either way source.
A Best Offer purchaseNo, at Rakuten and Price.com; TopCashback doesn't sayRakuten: "Cash Back is not available on best offer purchases." source. Price.com excludes "Best Offers" outright source. TopCashback's exclusion list names categories and coupon codes, not the Best Offer mechanic source, so treat it as untested there rather than safe.
An unpaid itemNo, anywhere it's addressedRakuten: "Cash Back will not be earned on unpaid items with eBay." source. Price.com excludes "unpaid items" by name source.
eBay Daily Deals or a seller-subsidized "deal" listingNo, at Price.com; not named by Rakuten or TopCashbackPrice.com excludes "Daily Deals, or seller-subsidized “deal” items" source. Neither Rakuten's nor TopCashback's terms mention Daily Deals source source.
Local pickupNo, at TopCashback; not named by Rakuten or Price.comTopCashback excludes "Purchases of items for local pickup." source. Neither Rakuten's nor Price.com's terms mention pickup source source.
A coupon code from a seller's own listingPortal-dependent, and it's a different thing than a portal codeTopCashback wants only "a coupon code not displayed on TopCashback"; anything else is an exclusion source. A seller's own paper coupon, sold as a separate eBay listing, is a different mechanic again, redeemed by the seller directly rather than at checkout source.
The Rakuten Card, paid through PayPalYes, and it adds to the rate"Rakuten Cardholders: earn +4% when you pay with your Rakuten Card using PayPal." source. That's on top of Rakuten's own base rate, not instead of it.
The eBay MastercardYes, it's a separate mechanismIt earns points on the card, not cashback on the click, so it stacks the way any general rewards card does; the pillar guide covers how card rewards and portal cashback coexist.
Gift cards, buying one or paying with oneNo, at TopCashback and Price.com; Rakuten doesn't sayTopCashback excludes "Purchases of items from the following categories: Coins & Paper Money, Gift Cards and Coupons, Stamps and Real Estate." source. Price.com: "not available on eBay gift cards, purchases made using gift cards" source. Rakuten's terms don't name gift cards source.
The Fluz virtual cardYes on its own purchase, but it isn't an eBay-specific gift cardFluz's mechanism here is a Mastercard/Visa-network virtual card funded from your Fluz balance or bank account, usable "Anywhere Mastercard/Visa is accepted," not a store-specific eBay balance source. Fluz pays on the card purchase itself, "with no fees, credit checks, or minimum spend required" source, separately from clicking through a portal. Its current rate is in the table above.
A second portalNeverOnly one tracking click gets credit; the pillar guide explains why the last click wins.

eBay cashback exclusions and what breaks tracking

Because eBay sells almost everything, Rakuten, TopCashback and Price.com exclude by category rather than by brand, and the two of them that publish category tables disagree with each other, and in Price.com's case, with itself.

  • Rakuten: one flat rate, no category tiers. Rakuten's eBay page shows one rate for the whole marketplace source, with no category breakdown at all, plus the auction and bidding terms above. Its exclusions text is short: no coupon rule, no category list, just the Winning Bid / Buy It Now requirement, the bidding-service and best-offer bans, unpaid items, and "A maximum of $50 Cash Back" per purchase source.
  • TopCashback's category tiers. Three rates by category, highest to lowest: "Clothing, Shoes, Accessories, Jewelry & Watches, eBay Motors, Health & Beauty" on top, then "Baby, Toys & Hobbies, Books, Movies & Music, Collectibles & Art, Home & Garden, Pet Supplies, Sports & Leisure", then "Electronics, Travel, Business & Industrial" at the bottom source. The numbers move; the live table above carries today's. Its exclusions drop four categories entirely: "Coins & Paper Money, Gift Cards and Coupons, Stamps and Real Estate" source. Terms: "Cash Back is calculated only on the item(s) price and does not include taxes, shipping or other fees." "A maximum of $50 Cash Back may be earned per item." "Each item in your basket will be tracked individually for Cash Back." "To be eligible for Cash Back on all products, you must begin your purchase with an empty shopping cart." "Should your Cash Back fail to track automatically, please submit a Missing Cash Back Claim within 100 days of your order." source.
  • Price.com's category tiers, and a contradiction inside its own page. Its top band covers "Clothing, Shoes & Accessories", "Health & Beauty", "Jewelry & Watches", "eBay Motors" and "US Motors"; a middle band includes, by name, "Gift Cards & Coupons", "Stamps" and "Coins & Paper Money"; a lower one holds "Business & Industrial" and "Cameras & Photo"; and "Real Estate" sits alone at the bottom, the lowest rate on the page source. That directly contradicts the prose above the table on the same page: "Cash Back is not available on eBay gift cards, purchases made using gift cards, coupon orders, Best Offers, unpaid items, Daily Deals, or seller-subsidized “deal” items." source. The table lists Gift Cards & Coupons at a real, positive rate; the exclusions text says gift cards earn nothing. Neither line on the page resolves the other. Timing: "Purchases will typically show in your wallet as pending in 22 hours" and "Cash Back will be added to your wallet in approximately 52 days." source. No dollar cap is stated on this page, unlike some of Price.com's other merchant pages.
  • Fluz's virtual card, and what isn't published. The page prints a rate alongside its own disclaimer, "Offer valid while supplies last. Offers are subject to change - check here before purchasing." source, which is the page telling you the number is provisional. What it doesn't publish, unlike Fluz's pages for some other merchants, is a denomination range or a reloadable/non-reloadable spec; this page is built around the general-purpose virtual card rather than an eBay-specific gift card balance, funded by "your Fluz balance or a linked bank account" source, with identity verification required first: "Verify your Fluz account by completing identity verification (KYC) and link a bank account to fund purchases." source.
  • What the Money Back Guarantee itself won't cover, a separate list from the cashback exclusions above but one that lands on similar categories: excluded items include "Real Estate, Websites, Businesses for Sale", "Digital content, Intangible goods, Non-fungible tokens (NFTs)", "Classified Ads", "Travel tickets or vouchers", and "Motor vehicles, including recreational vehicles, aircraft and boats", the last one getting its own separate protection program instead source. Real estate is the one category that shows up on every list in this file: excluded from TopCashback's cash back entirely, priced at the bottom of Price.com's table, and carved out of eBay's own buyer protection.
  • Returns and timing. There's no single window: a return "complies with the seller's return policy or the eBay Money Back Guarantee" source, so the listing you bought from sets the clock, not eBay as a whole. The portals wait it out before paying: TopCashback's page for eBay doesn't repeat a return-disqualifies line the way some other merchant pages do, but its general terms hold, "the correct amount will be updated once the purchase is approved" source, and Price.com's "approximately 52 days" source is its stated wait, longer than the 22-hour posting time that starts the clock.

What breaks tracking at eBay specifically, on top of what breaks it anywhere (the pillar guide has the portals' own general wording):

  • Bidding through a sniping tool or third-party bidding service, at Rakuten and TopCashback by name.
  • A Best Offer purchase, at Rakuten and Price.com by name.
  • Leaving an item unpaid after winning it.
  • Starting a bid or a Buy It Now click on one device and finishing the purchase on another, including the eBay app after clicking through on desktop.
  • Items already in the cart before the click, on TopCashback's empty-cart rule.
  • A coupon code from somewhere other than the portal's own page, at TopCashback.
  • Paying with a gift card, or buying one, at both TopCashback and Price.com.
  • A return, a cancellation, or a Money Back Guarantee claim, which reverses the sale the cashback commission was paid from.

eBay cashback rate history

Only changes are listed. Re-confirmations are not noise worth showing.

  1. Price.com1.5%
  2. RetailMeNot4%
  3. Price.comrate no longer published
  4. Extrabux0.44% - 1.63%
  5. Price.com1.5%
  6. RetailMeNotrate no longer published
  7. Price.comrate no longer published
  8. RetailMeNot2%
  9. Price.com1.5%
  10. RetailMeNot3%
  11. MyPointsUp to 7 points per $1
  12. chirpyestUp to 2%
  13. Mr. Rebates1%
  14. MaxRebatesUp to 6%
  15. Hoopla Dooplamerchant dropped by this portal
  16. CouponFollowrate no longer published
  17. ShopBackUp to 1.6%
  18. Raisemerchant dropped by this portal
  19. Lollimerchant dropped by this portal
  20. GoCashBackUp to 2.8%
  21. Active JunkyUp to 1.2%
  22. Sunshine Rewards1%
  23. Extrabux0.43% - 1.63%
  24. RebatesMeUp to 1.2%
  25. BeFrugalrate no longer published

How these eBay numbers were produced

eBay cashback FAQ

Which portal pays the most for eBay cashback right now?

RetailMeNot, at 4%. That's the rate a returning shopper gets, which is how the table ranks: an "up to" ceiling or a new-customer rate never takes this spot over a lower rate everyone gets.

How long does eBay cashback take to pay out?

On a click-through portal there are two waits, one after the other: the portal has to confirm the order with eBay, which mostly tracks eBay's return window, and then the confirmed balance has to be paid out, which is the portal's own rule. Buying eBay's gift card through a portal skips the first wait: that cashback is paid when the card is bought.

Is there a minimum payout?

Does eBay cashback work on auctions, or only on "Buy It Now"?

Both, but a won auction has a shorter clock than most people expect, and it's different at each portal. TopCashback needs the "auction win" to land "within 10 days after clicking through" source; Price.com cuts that to "within 24 hours of activation" source; Rakuten states no time limit, only that the win be "legitimate" source. The safe habit either way is the same: click through from the portal before you place your first bid, not after you've already won, since none of those three portals promise credit for a click made after the fact.

Does eBay still run its own rewards program?

Not the points program it used to. TopCashback's editorial states that the eBay Mastercard "essentially replaces the eBay Bucks Rewards Program, which was discontinued in early 2024" source, though that's TopCashback's claim rather than something read directly off an eBay page, since eBay's own Mastercard pages didn't load usable content in this research pass. What is confirmed from eBay's own page is narrower: "eBay MasterCard allows you to earn double points on all eBay and PayPal purchases" source. That's a Synchrony Bank-issued credit card, a separate product from any of the cashback portals in the table above, and it stacks with portal cashback rather than competing with it.

Can I use a seller's coupon or an eBay promo code and still get cashback?

Depends which kind, and which portal. A promo code that isn't on the portal's own page is a straightforward exclusion at TopCashback source. A different thing entirely is a seller's own paper coupon, which eBay sells as a listing category capped at "25 coupons worth $100 in total" per seller per month and restricted to "physical paper coupons" only source; that's redeemed by the seller directly and isn't a checkout code a portal would see either way. Rakuten's and Price.com's terms don't address seller coupons or codes at all source source.

Does cashback pay on eBay Motors, gift cards, or real estate listings?

It depends which portal, and the portals don't agree with each other, or in Price.com's case, with itself. eBay Motors sits in the top tier of both category tables this page quotes, TopCashback's source and Price.com's source. Gift cards are a flat no at TopCashback, grouped into its excluded "Gift Cards and Coupons" category source, and a flat no in Price.com's prose, "not available on eBay gift cards" source, but Price.com's own rate table lists "Gift Cards & Coupons" in a paying band source, which contradicts that same page's own prose. Real estate is excluded outright by TopCashback source and priced at Price.com's lowest rate source rather than excluded. Rakuten doesn't tier by category at all, so none of this applies there source.

What happens to cashback if I return an item or a seller never ships it?

The Money Back Guarantee and portal cashback are two separate systems that both react to the same event. If an item never arrives or doesn't match the listing, the Money Back Guarantee gets you a refund: "buyers can get their money back if an item didn't arrive, is faulty or damaged, or doesn't match the listing" source. That refund also reverses the sale the portal's commission was paid on, so a return, a cancellation, or a successful Money Back Guarantee claim reverses your cashback the same way it would at any retailer, since there's no longer a completed purchase for the portal to have been paid on.

Is there a minimum order, or a cap, on eBay cashback?

No minimum is stated by Rakuten, TopCashback or Price.com, the three portals whose eBay terms this page quotes. There's a cap in two places: Rakuten's "$50 Cash Back" maximum "on any single purchase" source, and TopCashback's "$50 Cash Back" maximum "per item" source, which is the more generous of the two on a multi-item order since each item is capped separately rather than the whole cart. Price.com states no cap on its eBay page. All three pay on the item price only: TopCashback explicitly excludes "taxes, shipping or other fees" source, and neither Rakuten's nor Price.com's terms mention shipping being included source source.