Can you sell OpenAI API credits?
OpenAI's Service Credit Terms prohibit transferring or selling credits, and the balance is tied to an organisation. What that means, and what you can do instead.
OpenAI credit is the AI credit people most often ask us about. Startups receive it through accelerator and partner programmes, teams prepay more than they end up using, and projects get cancelled with a balance still on the account. The question is always the same: can the unused part be sold?
The short answer is no, not as a standalone credit. There are two reasons, one written in OpenAI's terms and one built into how the platform works.
Reason one: the terms
OpenAI publishes Service Credit Terms that govern credits on the API platform, and they prohibit transferring or selling service credits. The document is short. Read it yourself at the link on our credit transfer rules page rather than relying on anyone's summary, ours included.
Promotional credit from a programme usually carries the programme's own conditions too, such as eligibility, an expiry date and restrictions on use. Those sit on top of the service credit terms, not in place of them.
Reason two: there is nothing smaller than the organisation to hand over
Even setting the terms aside, an OpenAI credit balance is not a portable object. It belongs to an organisation on the platform, together with:
- the organisation's API keys and projects,
- its usage tier and rate limits,
- the models it has access to,
- its billing settings and usage history.
There is no button that moves a balance from one organisation to another. So a "sale" of OpenAI credits really means one of two things: giving the buyer API keys to spend your balance, or giving them a seat in your organisation. Both make the buyer's usage your usage. Their prompts and outputs run under your organisation, against your usage policies and your rate limits, and any policy violation lands on your account.
That is the arrangement we refuse to broker, and the one you should refuse too.
Check what you actually hold
On platform.openai.com, go to Settings → Organization → Billing. You will see the credit balance and, for granted credit, an expiry. Then check the Usage page for your real burn rate. It's common to find that a balance which looked surplus will in fact be spent before it expires, or that most of it expires much sooner than the headline suggested.
What you can do instead
If the credit can't be sold, the useful question becomes how to get value from it before it expires.
- Pull work forward. Evaluation runs, dataset labelling, synthetic test data, document backfills and embedding regeneration are all jobs teams postpone. A balance that is about to expire is a good reason to run them now.
- Use batch processing for bulk work. Large offline jobs can usually run more cheaply through batch endpoints than synchronous calls, so the same balance covers more work.
- Move internal tools onto the balance. Prototypes and internal assistants that currently run on personal or other accounts can run on the organisation's credit instead.
- Ask OpenAI. If the balance is large and came from a programme, the programme contact may tell you about extensions or conditions that aren't published.
If the whole company is changing hands
When a company is acquired or wound down, its OpenAI organisation goes with whatever happens to the company. That is a corporate transaction governed by the commercial agreements, and it's worth raising with OpenAI directly as part of the deal. It is not the same thing as selling credit to a stranger, and shouldn't be treated as a loophole for it.
Still want a second opinion?
If you hold OpenAI credit you won't use and want an honest read of your options, submit the details and a person will reply within 24–48 hours. Often the reply will say your credit can't be sold and suggest the best way to use it.