PayPal Gift Card Giveaways in Australia
PayPal is cash rather than store credit: spendable anywhere PayPal is accepted, or withdrawable to your own bank account. Sent to the email address registered to your PayPal account.
What a PayPal prize card will not cover
A transfer to an email with no PayPal account attached is held unclaimed and eventually returned, so the account needs to exist before you enter.
Tax on a prize in Australia
A prize won in an ordinary game of chance is generally not assessable income in Australia, so a gift card or a cash prize from a promotion is usually yours in full and does not go on your return. The position changes if winning is connected to a business or an income-earning activity, which is why prizes won by influencers and professional competition entrants are treated differently. What a prize earns afterwards is ordinary income: interest on prize money in a savings account is interest like any other. The ATO is the authority on your own circumstances, not a promotions site.
Entering without paying
Entry to a game of chance must not require a purchase in the ordinary case, and where a promotion is tied to buying something there is normally a free entry method set out in the terms. The terms are the authority on which type a promotion is, and a promotion whose terms cannot be found at all is the one to walk away from.
Questions
- How does a PayPal prize card arrive?
- Sent to the email address registered to your PayPal account.
- Is a PayPal giveaway win taxed in Australia?
- A prize won in an ordinary game of chance is generally not assessable income in Australia, so a gift card or a cash prize from a promotion is usually yours in full and does not go on your return. The position changes if winning is connected to a business or an income-earning activity, which is why prizes won by influencers and professional competition entrants are treated differently. What a prize earns afterwards is ordinary income: interest on prize money in a savings account is interest like any other. The ATO is the authority on your own circumstances, not a promotions site.
- Is entering free?
- Entry to a game of chance must not require a purchase in the ordinary case, and where a promotion is tied to buying something there is normally a free entry method set out in the terms. The terms are the authority on which type a promotion is, and a promotion whose terms cannot be found at all is the one to walk away from.
Open right now in Australia
Before you enter
Check the sponsor page for Australia eligibility, free-entry terms and the exact prize value before entering.
- Named sponsor
- A real giveaway names the company responsible for running it. If the entry page hides the sponsor or only uses a famous brand name with no company behind it, treat it as unsafe.
- Official rules
- The rules should state the prize, approximate retail value, entry period, eligibility, winner selection method and how odds are determined. Missing rules are the strongest reason to walk away.
- Free entry
- A US sweepstakes must be free to enter. No purchase necessary is a legal requirement, not a courtesy. Any fee to enter or claim a prize disqualifies the listing.
