The final sale from eBay for 2023 is fast approaching, and we'll be highlighting all the best deals in the eBay Boxing Day sales once they kick off. If you want to shop the sales in 2024, keep an eye out for eBay Plus Weekend likely coming up in May, or eBay's Black Friday offers in November.
Boasting over 11 million visitors each year and hosting 40,000 sellers, eBay is one of Australia's largest online shopping site. With years of providing shoppers some of the best prices on billions of products across tech, homewares, clothes, toys and more, eBay has had to up its game in recent years to compete in the growing online Aussie shopping arena and has done so by introducing eBay Plus – a membership that awards loyal customers with a variety of perks including free shipping and returns, both of which typically incur a fee.
eBay Plus is a paid subscription service that offers members quite a few perks, similar to Amazon Prime, Kogan First and Catch Australia’s OnePass (formerly called Club Catch). It was launched in May 2018 and costs just AU$4.99 a month (AU$49 a year), less than what Amazon charges for its Prime service.
What is eBay Plus?
eBay Plus offers subscribers a specific range of shopping benefits for a small monthly (or annual) fee. These benefits are:
- Free delivery on select eBay Plus items: where sellers have made it available, shoppers are able to upgrade to free express shipping for items being delivered to metro addresses. Free standard shipping is applicable to all other areas. Note that this benefit is only available on items listed as ‘Buy Now’.
- Free returns of eBay Plus items: All eBay Plus items are eligible for free returns within 30 days of purchase, irrespective of the reason for return.
- Access to exclusive members-only special offers and discounts: This includes the ability to shop during eBay’s members-only Plus Weekend sale. To avoid missing out, keep an eye on the dedicated eBay Plus deals page.
- Two AU$5 vouchers to spend each month: one that you can use on almost anything (minimum spend AU$15) and another to nab AU$5 off Plus items (minimum spend AU$50).
- Early access to select new products
It’s important to note that not all products on eBay Australia qualify as Plus items, but they aren’t few and far between either. eBay promises there are over 15 million Plus items, so there’s going to be something for everyone. Many big brands are eBay Plus sellers, such as Sony, Microsoft, Lenovo, Bing Lee, Big W, Dan Murphy’s, Baby Bunting and The Good Guys. As mentioned above, not all the sellers offer the upgrade for free expedited delivery (like Bing Lee, Big W, Baby Bunting and The Good Guys), but they often provide the option to click and collect for free instead.
To identify if the product you’d like to purchase is Plus eligible, look for the black-and-green ‘eBay Plus’ label either below the price information of the item on the shopping site or in a box to the right of the price on the product page.
How much does eBay Plus cost?
An eBay Plus membership costs just AU$4.99 a month or AU$49 a year. While pay annually will save you AU$10.88, all Plus members are given two AU$5 coupons each month to spend on eligible items – that's a total value of AU$120 across an entire year.
As with most similar subscription services, eBay offers a 30-day free trial, giving you the opportunity to sample the benefits before you need to start paying. If you decide it’s not for you, you can cancel at any time before your trial ends. If you choose to continue, you'll be charged the following month.
If you decide to cancel your subscription at any point, you’ll be able to continue using the service until your paid period ends.
Is eBay Plus worth it?
Whether or not paying for eBay Plus is worth your while will depend on how frequently you shop on the site and how many of those items are Plus-eligible. If you are a frequent shopper, chances are you’ll be able to save a decent chunk of change on delivery fees alone. Throw in the exclusive deals and your savings climb higher.
Another advantage to signing up for eBay Plus are the free returns. eBay promises that you can return an item for any reason for free within 30 days of purchase. This is applicable even when the seller’s return policy requires customers to pay return postage.
To return an item, head to your ‘purchase history’, select the specific item you want to send back, choose the reason why, and you’ll be emailed a free return label that you can print out, stick on the package and drop off at your nearest post office.
How to cancel your eBay Plus membership
If you’re not happy with the eBay Plus service or think it’s not cost-effective enough for you, you can also cancel at any time, even if it’s in the middle of your free 30-day trial. The good news is you’ll still be able to use the service for the full 30 days.
If you cancel an ongoing subscription, you won’t be charged on your next renewal date and you’ll be able to take advantage of all the eBay Plus benefits until that renewal date.
Additionally, if have a yearly subscription and forget to cancel before your next renewal date, eBay has a 14-day cooling off period where you can cancel and get your money back.
To cancel, log in to your eBay account, go to your eBay Plus membership page, select ‘edit membership’, followed by ‘cancel membership’ – it’s as easy as that.
