Is the eBay Plus membership worth it in Australia?

From television to video games to online shopping, every type of service is taking advantage of the subscription payment model with varying results. eBay Plus is the online shopping giant's crack at committing its customers to a monthly membership but are the delivery and discount benefits worth the $4.99 per month fee?

eBay Plus is the subscription plan from one of the internet’s first marketplaces for businesses and consumers. What started as an online auction house, primarily, has become more of a business-to-consumer marketplace like Amazon. And just like Amazon Prime, eBay Plus is a subscription plan for the platform’s most frequent users; a monthly fee that saves you on delivery and returns while offering access to exclusive discounts and events like eBay Tuesdays.

eBay Plus costs $4.99 per month in Australia if you pay every month. There’s also an annual subscription for $49, which you pay upfront. The annual subscription shakes out at about $4.08 per month (a saving of roughly 18% over the year).

If you don’t use eBay all that much but you’ve spotted an offer you can’t refuse, you can always take advantage of the 30-day free trial of eBay Plus. Just be sure to cancel eBay Plus before your first 30 days is up to avoid paying your first bill when the free trial ends.

So what do you actually get for your $4.99 fee? Like most of these subscriptions, the biggest benefits come and go. Permanently, you’ll get free express metro delivery on eBay Plus items in NSW, ACT, SA, VIC and QLD (sorry WA, NT and TAS) and free standard shipping where express delivery isn’t available. It also gets you cheap(er) movie tickets with its $25 HOYTS LUX tickets (but only on Tuesdays) and free returns on all eBay Plus items.

But the biggest eBay Plus temptation is eBay Tuesdays, a weekly sales event for members that has had some seriously decent deals, such as this $299 Nintendo Switch deal. Or this storewide 20% off discount at Lenovo. Not every deal is newsworthy but there’s almost always a standout tech deal from some of the biggest brands.

Recently, eBay also announced its own version of Prime Day, Plus Weekend. A sales event scheduled for the 24th of May 2022.

Amazon is easily eBay’s biggest competitor in the online shopping space and its popular subscription service Amazon Prime was the first to really corner the market on this type of shopping membership. At $6.99 per month, Amazon Prime is a little more expensive than eBay Plus but it also offers incomparable value. Not only does Amazon Prime get you access to Prime Shopping discounts and deals but also Prime Video, one of the best TV streaming services available, Prime Music, Prime Reading and more. In short, eBay Plus doesn’t really hold a candle to Amazon Prime when it comes to ongoing value and the number of benefits.

On the other hand, eBay Plus compares favorably to the subscriptions offered by Kogan and Catch.

Kogan First costs $59 per year and doesn’t have a monthly payment option at the time of writing (it used to cost $11.99 per month). While Catch OnePass costs $4 per month or $40 per year. All three services offer similar benefits but eBay Tuesdays has been the only exclusive sales event out of the three to really make headlines.

Here’s a comparison of each shopping subscription:

Whether you’re a paying eBay Plus customer or want to cancel before your 30-day free trial is up, cancelling eBay Plus is easy if you know where to look.

First, visit the eBay Plus homepage using the login details you signed up with (you could also find a link to eBay Plus in the top navigation bar on eBay).

Under the My eBay Plus section, select the Edit membership dropdown.

Select Cancel membership. A pop-up will give you two options, Cancel anyway and Keep benefits. Select Cancel anyway.

On the next page, you’ll be asked to select a reason for canceling. Select your response and click continue.

And you’re done. You will still be able to access eBay Plus benefits for the rest of the free trial period but access will be revoked 30 days from the date you signed up.