Before you fill out the Ebay credit card application you need to read this review! The Ebay MasterCard is not what it seems…

sign outside of Ebay office
Ebay is undeniably one of the most successful internet companies out there. Founded in San Jose in 1995, not only did it weather the dot-com bust, but it has also continued to experience higher revenue and earnings year after year… today the company has sales of over $8 billion annually.

However with Ebay’s success, there have been a slew of scandals and controversies along the way. The past few years many sellers have been jumping ship because they feel the auction fees are just too high. Meanwhile many buyers feel the deals aren’t quite what they used to be a few years ago. Most recently, some have criticized their credit card…

Ebay Credit Card Review
Behind the fun colors and animated advertisements, the Ebay MasterCard isn’t exactly all that it’s cracked up to be. Let’s take a deeper look to find out what’s really going on…

Rewards: This alone is probably what sparked your interest in the Ebay credit card in the first place. After all, there’s no mistaking that this auction site attracts the brightest, most financial-savvy consumers out there since there are many deals to be found. So you would think their charge card would live up to those same standards right? Well, you may want to think otherwise.

For years, the Ebay MasterCard had one of the worst rewards programs on the market. Perhaps all the negative feedback is why they decided to change it for 2011 onward.

Here’s how the new version works…

Like many credit cards, points are earned on spending which can be redeemed in variety of ways, such as cash back, gift cards, travel, and merchandise.
  • 1 point per dollar on regular spending
  • 2 points per dollar on Ebay & Paypal purchases
  • 3 points per dollar at gas and restaurants
At first glance this sounds like a good deal, right? Well I thought so too, until I researched the redemption options...
Here's the problem with redemption...
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I should start out by saying I scoured the Ebay credit card website, including the fine print, to try and determine exactly how much the points are worth… I wasn’t able to find anything. After getting the information from their foreign call center, I now know why they’re not exactly shouting it from the rooftops. Here are the examples I was given:
  • 6,000 points = $50 cash back to Paypal account
  • 2,500 points = $15 Applebee’s gift card
  • 15,400 points = $100 travel voucher
Under those circumstances each point is worth significantly less than a penny. If you calculate it out the points are only worth between 6/10 to a little over 8/10 of a penny. That’s significantly below 1% on your regular spending!

Once I did the math, I realized the higher point categories aren't all that attractive considering the low point value. Not to mention, I would basically be losing out on my regular spending since it would be earning significantly less than 1% (because as we all know, many credit cards give a full 1% and that is considered to be the norm nowadays).

Interest Rate: So we’ve already established the rewards are pretty lousy, so at least the interest rate must be good, right? Well it took some digging around to find the answer, because not a whole lot is said about it on the credit card application or accompanying pages. However I finally found it in the fine print and at the time of this Ebay credit card review, the APR ranges from 19.99% to 23.99% depending on your credit. So the “best case scenario” is nearly 20% interest? That’s crazy!

Conclusion
Why screw around with such inferior rewrards? Ebay can be a great place to snag a good deal, but the Ebay credit card clearly isn’t one of them.

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