"さいふはありますか?"
Translation:Are there wallets?
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Because you are searching / asking for wallets. Wallets are what you go for, so the word is the topic.
I'm looking for some good links on this topic myself and can't really find any. This hinative answer is the best thing I've found so far.
My interpretation of their answer:
車がありますか (kuruma ga arimasu ka) means "is there a car?" (a question of existence).
車を持っていますか (kuruma o motte imasu ka?) means "do you have a car?" (a question about your personal ownership).
車はありますか (kuruma wa arimasu ka) basically means "is there a car?" (a question of existence) but is used colloquially to mean "do you have a car?" (a question about your personal ownership).
So according to this answer, it seems like が would make more sense. This is only one native speaker's opinion, so I'm interested to hear if anyone else has found some good links, because duolingo clearly prefers は in questions and there must be some kind of logic behind that.