OpenAI credits behave differently from cloud credits in one way that matters enormously: the balance belongs to an organisation, and so do the API keys, the usage tier and the rate limits. That bundling is what makes a clean sale hard and an improvised one risky.
Free to submit, no asking price needed, and a written reply in 24–48 hours.
Which kind of OpenAI credit do you have?
These are issued under different terms, and the differences decide whether a sale is even possible.
Prepaid API credits
Credits your organisation bought up front to cover API usage. The most commonly oversupplied balance — teams top up for a project that then gets cancelled or migrated to another provider.
Promotional and programme credits
Granted through startup programmes, research access and partner arrangements. Usually carry programme-specific conditions on top of the standard terms, and are attached to the organisation that was accepted into the programme.
Where to check your balance
platform.openai.com → Settings → Organization → Billing, which shows the credit balance and any expiry. Check the Usage page alongside it to see your actual burn rate, because that is what tells you whether the balance is genuinely surplus.
What moves the value of OpenAI credits
We do not publish a percentage, because there is no index price and anyone quoting one before seeing your listing is guessing. These are the factors that actually decide it.
Organisation binding
Credits, keys, projects and rate limits all hang off the same organisation. A buyer cannot take the balance without taking the organisation, which is a much bigger step than receiving a code.
Usage tier and rate limits
Throughput depends on the organisation's usage tier, not on the credit balance. A buyer who needs high sustained throughput may find the tier, not the money, is the binding constraint — so tier matters to what they will pay.
Model access
Access to specific models and features is granted per organisation and can differ. A buyer will want to confirm the models they actually need are available on the account before agreeing anything.
Expiry on prepaid balances
Prepaid credit is not indefinite. Check the stated expiry in the billing settings rather than assuming the balance sits there forever.
Check these before you talk to a buyer
Remaining credit balance and its stated expiry, from the billing page
The organisation the credit belongs to, and who controls it
Current usage tier and the rate limits that follow from it
Which models and features the organisation actually has access to
Whether the credit came with programme conditions attached
What OpenAI's terms say about account sharing and assignment
OpenAI’s own terms
Read these rather than taking our word for it. We do not guarantee that any credit is transferable, and your agreement with OpenAI governs what you may do.
Not as a transferable balance, because there is nothing to hand over. OpenAI credit sits against an organisation and is consumed by API keys belonging to that organisation. There is no code to pass on. What people sometimes attempt instead is sharing an API key or handing over the account, and both run into OpenAI's terms on account sharing and assignment. The arrangements that can be legitimate are structured ones — a documented transfer of the organisation, or a managed-spend agreement where the buyer's workload runs under a written contract. We review submissions on that basis and tell you when we think there is no permitted route.
Is giving someone my OpenAI API key a way to sell credits?
No, and we would advise strongly against it. An API key is a credential, not a credit. Sharing one gives another party the ability to spend against your organisation, see your project configuration and act as you, with no ceiling beyond your balance and no way for you to prove what they did. It also runs into OpenAI's terms on account sharing. If someone proposes this as the mechanism, that is a reason to walk away rather than a workable deal structure.
Why do buyers care about my usage tier and not just the balance?
Because the tier determines throughput. A buyer moving a production workload needs a certain sustained request and token rate, and rate limits are a property of the organisation's usage tier rather than of the money sitting in it. A large balance on a low tier may not be usable at the speed they need, so tier and model access affect what a buyer will pay just as much as the balance does. Expect any serious buyer to ask about both.
Do OpenAI prepaid credits expire?
Prepaid balances carry an expiry rather than sitting indefinitely, so check the stated date in your organisation's billing settings instead of assuming. Time to expiry is one of the biggest factors in whether a balance is placeable at all, because a buyer has to be able to consume it within the window and migrating a workload takes time.
Are there Amazon OpenAI credits?
No. OpenAI is an independent company and Amazon does not issue OpenAI credits. There are three distinct things people conflate here, and knowing which you hold matters because the terms differ. First, credit bought directly from OpenAI, which sits against an OpenAI organisation and appears at platform.openai.com. Second, Azure OpenAI Service, where Microsoft bills you for OpenAI's models running on Azure — that is an Azure balance governed by Microsoft's terms. Third, Amazon Bedrock, which serves foundation models on AWS but not OpenAI's; if you are on Bedrock you are most likely using Anthropic's Claude or another provider's model, billed as AWS spend. Check which console shows your balance and read the matching page.