eBay’s $1.7bn gamble to capture the Gen Z and millennial shopper

10:41Megan Gannon:And more locally, a Depop spokesperson told the ABC at the end of 2025 that sign-ups in Australia for the platform have grown over 100 % year on year as more consumers look for second-hand items.

10:51Holly Wainwright:There's some boardroom stats you're high-fiving about going, yeah, we've hit those KPIs. That same article by The Guardian writes that eBay has been struggling in recent times to keep pace with its fast-growing rivals, Vinted and Depop, which tend to appear to younger consumers. It's scrapped fees for UK private sellers of pre-owned clothing and most other items in 2024, amid growing competition from other platforms, which mostly charge buyers rather than sellers. The global secondhand fashion market has grown dramatically in recent years, thanks to Gen Z's interest in pre-love fashion and the rise of resale apps like Depop.

11:24Holly Wainwright:It is projected to grow to$690 billion Australian dollars by 2031. What did we think when we first heard about this mega sale? It's a big one. That's a lot of money. It is a lot of money.

11:39Megan Gannon:Doesn't surprise me, though.

11:41Holly Wainwright:Look, Mads, I saw this in your notes, so I don't want to steal what you had to say. Steal away, Rae. I'm a sharer. It was the first thing that popped into my head when I read this segment. It was, honestly, if you can't build it, you have to buy it. And it got to a point with eBay where they couldn't compete with Depop, particularly in the fashion category. I think eBay do a really good job broadly in categories that, you know, target men, older women. There is a legacy piece there that a lot of the older generation are used to buying on eBay. They just haven't quite cracked that fashion category.

12:14Holly Wainwright:So this feels like a really nice addition to their portfolio. Categories they do really well in, trading cards, sneakers, also just general electronics. Like I bought a lot of my secondhand film cameras off eBay. Yeah. And I've had no issues. Mads, you sent me a couple of links for cameras on eBay as well. Yeah, I've done the same. But it just feels like a really natural extension. They couldn't compete. So they're bought up. Totally. And it goes back to what we've spoken about it so much about beauty brands. If you can't beat it, buy it. If you can't build it, buy it. It totally rings true for this.

12:47Holly Wainwright:This makes so much sense to me for eBay. It's like They've spent so much time trying to lay this foundation to compete. I don't know if anyone else has kind of seen it, but I feel like I'm a keen watcher of eBay. I loved eBay as a teenager. It was so random. It was like my favourite thing to do. But I feel like I've watched this kind of attempt to crack our market locally is probably just my closest observation, but they've sponsored fashion festivals. They've run adjacent campaigns. They've worked with a whole bunch of creators and done a whole lot of campaigns, including on this podcast. We've done campaigns.

13:19Holly Wainwright:It's not to say they're not effective either. it can work. It can just mean it's still hard to compete with someone else in the market. And Depop is undeniably their biggest competitor.

13:27Megan Gannon:And why do you think that Depop is appealing so much to that younger demographic? Because I have my own theories around that. But what do you guys think?

13:36Holly Wainwright:I think you don't want to shop where your mum and dad shop. And I think Depop is cool. It feels peer to peer. It's also been super like influencer led. I think there are a lot of creators who, you know, you look to and you love their outfits and then they're clearing out their wardrobes. Like you feel like you can kind of buy into, you know, someone's wardrobe. Yeah. For me, I honestly think it comes down to functionality. The in-app experience on Depop is very similar to how you converse or how you behave on an actual social media platform like Instagram.

14:05Megan Gannon:Yep.

14:05Holly Wainwright:That translates really well to young people. Also, you've got to remember eBay is a legacy brand. They originated as a desktop brand and then they tried to redirect to app.

14:16Megan Gannon:I don't think

14:16Holly Wainwright:that's translated as well for young people.

14:18Megan Gannon:I would agree. I think the reason that it's successful is because it presents a lot like a social media platform than, you know, a shop, basically. But I did notice recently I was having a look on Depop and I was scrolling through and I noticed a lot of fast fashion brands in there. Interesting. I was struggling to find the brands that I was looking for. Like if I'm going to be buying on Depop, I'm looking for brands that are maybe Australian made or like high quality fabrications and workmanship. I'm not looking to purchase fast fashion on there, but I can understand why that's a good thing for the circular fashion economy, because we want this stuff to not end up in landfill.

14:57Megan Gannon:But at the same time, it's like, for me, I was like, that's not why I'm on there looking for clothes.

15:02Holly Wainwright:Interesting. But there would be people that are like looking for a secondhand Zara top or a beginning boutique dress. Or I think it's also great if something sells out. I know the other day, Rhi and I were chatting, there was a top she wanted. It was sold out in her size. Not going to say the brand because just every time it gives me an aneurysm. But we were looking on there and Rhi's like, I'll check Depop. And I'm like, I don't have that consumer behavior yet. I'm like trying to get better at it. I'm just shit at it. I think you're good at finding a secondhand buy or you're not. I'm so big on shopping secondhand, particularly for Lucy Folk, which is one of my favorite brands of all time.

15:33Holly Wainwright:I do shop directly a lot from that store because they run a lot of limited pieces. but I also find it pops up quite a bit on Depop and Nagnata. They are like two brands that if you asked me to close my eyes and dress you, I'd put you in those. Yeah, I adore both of those brands. Nagnata is rife on Depop, especially historical colourways that are now quite difficult to get. Some of them actually retail for more on Depop than what you would purchase them for because they're so high demand. But I've always got keywords for them, Sharkmousse, which is the brand that Mads was talking about that she didn't want to say.

16:06Holly Wainwright:It'll hold me until the day I die. There is a top that I have my eye on at the moment, and there are quite a few on eBay as well. So eBay and Deep Pop, I actually went to first and foremost instead of trying to shop it direct from a major retailer because usually the prices are slashed on those apps. Look, I'm going to speak about this from a perspective of having worked on eBay quite a bit. As Mads touched on earlier, Shameless Media, specifically Stylish, have worked with eBay in the past. They were actually a long-term partner of ours when we first launched Stylish. So thanks, eBay. Thanks, eBay.

16:37Holly Wainwright:No, I honestly, they backed us in before the product actually existed, the product being stylish, the podcast. So yeah, thanks, eBay. What was really interesting throughout that whole process was understanding that everyone knows who eBay is. So the awareness piece is not the challenge. It was the consideration piece. Depop, Facebook Marketplace, even Vestiaire, the RealReal had really strong engagement and consideration from our community. So they're competing with these secondhand retailers that are nowhere near as, you know, they haven't been around as long as what eBay has, but they've really popped up as quite popular places for young people to go and shop.

17:13Holly Wainwright:And I think coming back to your point, Jo, around the functionality and the replication of it being similar to social media, I also think localization is really key to talk about here because the Facebook marketplace is an interesting one. I personally have never shopped on Facebook marketplace, but I do know a lot of my friends have. A lot of the reason and rationale around that, and some of this came out as well in the verbatim when we did a brand lift study with eBay was that they liked not having to have the product shipped to them. They preferred picking it up. Oh, I'm the total opposite of that.

17:42Holly Wainwright:I'm the opposite too. Oh my God, I'd be shaking in my boots if I had to go to someone's house and pick up something. I'm like, please put it in the post. But in the seller environment, I understand going to the post office and having to post something. It's inconvenient. Thank God my local post office is open on a Saturday. Otherwise I'd never get there. Yeah. One of the other quotes that came out of this study, and this is actual verbatim from someone in our stylish community when they were comparing eBay, Facebook Marketplace and Depop, they said, I like that Depop is only fashion rather than everything, furniture, et cetera.

18:11Holly Wainwright:It feels safe and secure. You don't have to have long-winded conversations about the price and pickup and delivery. So again, it's coming up quite a bit, that convenience piece. But also the point that they made, which we haven't spoken about, is the long-winded conversations. Have you guys, because I would say I have had that on Depop.

18:28Megan Gannon:Yeah. I think when you're doing this kind of transaction, it's just inevitable that you're going to have some kind of back and forth, but maybe less so on Depop than it would be on like Marketplace where everyone's going, is this still available? Is this still available? It's a bit more transactional.

18:44Holly Wainwright:More spots and dots. I don't need the story time. It's giving you up instead of being like, hey, how are you? Nice to be.

18:51Megan Gannon:But also there's maybe a certain type of demographic on Depop as well. It is largely going to be females, I assume. I actually don't know what their actual demographic is, but I'm assuming younger females. So you're speaking to your peers, essentially. You're not speaking to someone in an entirely different demographic to you that you would be if you were trying to sell a fridge.

19:11Holly Wainwright:Yeah, that's so true. I have a question. Why do you think there's such a big demand for secondhand clothing at the moment? Shit is expensive and we also love the archives. I don't know why I've said it like this. You're singing again. Here we go.

19:27Megan Gannon:No business. It is Wednesday.

19:30Holly Wainwright:No, I really do. I think it's really expensive right now and also so many of the trends that we're seeing are vintage inspired so why not get the real thing instead of getting like a recreation of it. Can I stop you there though? How do you know it's the real thing on Depop? Oh I just mean like vintage. Oh sorry I thought you were. I'm not going like it's it's it's authentic John Galliano. But how do you know? How do you know it's real? I'm not going like what's the stitching and is the Chanel code right on the tag? Like I'm thinking more like you know if you want a military jacket I'm not saying like go to like 1500s but I'm saying like if you know that low-rise jeans were really big in early 2000s or Von Dutch or I don't know like Juicy wouldn't you rather the 2000s version?

20:12Holly Wainwright:Yeah totally I do and the reason why I was like how do you know is I do find the authenticity app on eBay but also Vestia I would gravitate to that more so than what I would on Depop if I was shopping for something that was either vintage actual vintage or vintage inspired I would go to both of those platforms knowing that they offer that and that's a guarantee. Depop, I feel like, is where you see a lot of fakes and a lot of dupes circulate. And age old saying, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is. Likely so. Yeah.

20:41Megan Gannon:I also think there's an element of people trying to be better with their, you know, being more environmentally friendly and they don't want to be buying things brand new all the time, especially if they really want to be up with the trends and buying things frequently.

20:55Holly Wainwright:Yeah.

20:55Megan Gannon:their mindset is kind of like, oh, if I buy it secondhand, it's better for the environment. There is still a lot of clothing going into landfill, though. In that same ABC article that I referenced earlier, it was talking about how much, like billions of cubic meat. I don't know how they've worked out. I can't remember it, but it's a lot still going into landfill. And so people that are buying secondhand, it's not necessarily a lot better because they're still buying a lot of stuff, even if it is coming from another person.

21:25Holly Wainwright:I think for me personally, with resale platforms, to Ray's point earlier, the way that I interact that I've found really wonderful is like, sometimes I do get that buyer's remorse. Like I remember there was a Scanlon Theodore denim dress that I was obsessed with and it sold out in like a blink. And I was like, I just loved it. So actually hilariously, like probably showing my age here, I signed up for the keywords on eBay. So every time one listed, I got a notification. I do the same on Depop, not necessarily brand, but I'll find the style name of something. Do the same on Vestia for like a vintage bag by Luaybe that I've always wanted.

21:55Holly Wainwright:Like there's just certain terms that like I wait for it to come up at a price that I feel comfortable spending. Jill Sandagoji bag for me. Yeah. That's pinned. And every time that comes up, I'm ready to shop. I do want to talk about for a minute before we move on from this segment, what do you think this acquisition means for the consumer? Do you think it's better for them? I don't think the consumer will know any difference about this. I think that eBay are like, look, don't touch. I would not be at all surprised if that is their strategy. We let the Depop team do their thing. As a total parent company, we now have greater market share.

22:23Holly Wainwright:We have the monopoly. We are not here to rebrand Depop to eBay or implement anything. The only thing I would imagine they would be merging more of is probably the PayPal integration, given they own that, and maybe some of the backend tech sort of stuff. But I don't think interface-wise or interaction-wise, branding-wise, anything will be changing for the foreseeable future on Depop. I think it was very deliberate that they said that in the quote as well that you read earlier, it is really important to the consumer that they don't mess with a good thing. Yeah, absolutely. For the competitors of eBay and shaking in your boots, all right, hey, all right, hey.

22:58Holly Wainwright:Because one probably being Poshmark out of the UK, I think there's a real worry for them because they've been emerging alongside Depop. Interestingly as well, though, in this, like we're going, this is a mega deal. This makes sense for eBay. This opens them up to a new consumer. But Etsy did sell Depop at a loss. So Etsy bought Depop for 1.6 billion USD and sold it for 1.2 billion USD.

23:22Megan Gannon:And they only bought it in 2021. It's not that long ago. So it's not, it's less than five years. Yeah.

23:27Holly Wainwright:It's not a great board report to have to send up the chain. It is very interesting. I'm really keen to see how this evolves. I am really keen to see if it does change anything of the consumer. I agree with both of you. I don't think it will, but nonetheless this is a big big move for pre-loved fashion the category as a whole.

23:43Megan Gannon:Yeah it's inspired me to do a little depop shop if you will. Well next we are sharing our stylish travel guide but that will be right after a word from today's sponsor. If you're heading outside today to soak up the last of summer consider this your reminder to be sun safe. Trust us, future you will thank you. These days two in three Aussies will be diagnosed with skin cancer in their lifetime with the damage starting in just 15 minutes. So regardless of the weather be sure to slip, slob, slap, seek and slide and together we can end the trend of skin cancer. Thank you so much to Cancer Council and the Australian Government for making this episode of Stylish possible.

24:16Megan Gannon:I feel like this has been a while in the making this particular segment and I'm very excited to get into it because I will be doing some travel this year so I want to be maxing my points wherever possible. Honeymoon time. Yeah kind of. Honeymoon maxing if you will. I love. So it was that time of year when travel plans are being made, which got us thinking, it's about time we did a stylish travel guide. Now, traveling can get expensive and exhausting very quickly, but if you have the right advice or recommendations, you'll get the most out of your time overseas. So we asked the wider Shameless team for their best travel hacks and tips, and we'll be sharing some of the best ones as well.

24:52Megan Gannon:But to start us off, we're going to focus on what's often the most expensive part of traveling, which is the flights. Now, we spoke to Hayley Jarvis, who's behind the travel Instagram account, All Signs Point to Travel. It's about flight hacks and getting the most out of your points while planning your next trip. Here's what she had to say. Airline points can be incredibly beneficial in allowing for cheaper travel, whether that's domestic trips or something more luxurious like international business class almost anywhere in the world, thanks to airline partnerships. Qantas and Velocity Points can be used across multiple airlines.

25:23Megan Gannon:Qantas can be used for airlines such as Emirates, KLM, Oman Air and American Airlines, and Velocity points can be used on partners like Qatar and Singapore Airlines. She said you can buy almost anything and earn points. From camping gear to tech, Woolworth's everyday rewards points can link to Qantas, and Cole's flybys can link to Velocity. Both added two supermarket points to one airline point ratio. Both supermarkets often run bonus promotions on selected gift cards, which change weekly, sometimes up to 20 times supermarket points, which equals 10 times airline points. For example, let's say you need to buy a new $1 ,700 iPhone, if you purchase$1 ,700 in Apple gift cards from Coles or Woolies during a 20 times promotion, you're effectively earning 17 ,000 airline points for no extra money spent.

26:08Megan Gannon:And if you add those gift cards to your Apple account, rather than using them directly at checkout, and you purchase through Qantas shopping, you'll be another one point per dollar spent. So you could earn a total of 18 ,700 points on a purchase you already needed to make. That is a lot of like brain power that goes into being a points person. And I always say, I want to be a points person, but it's a lot of effort. You're a wizard, Hayley. Yeah. I felt like it was like,

26:34Holly Wainwright:and if you carry the one and you divide the three, I'm on the journey. I'm on the journey. That's giving year 10 math quiz problem solving. And I didn't do year 10 math. If April needs 20 ,000 quantities, what does April need to do? My brain was like monkey clapping. then. Yeah, I was like, I'm going like, okay, then I get the gift card and then I use that. I do use Qantas shopping. I love Qantas shopping. I didn't even know what Qantas shopping was. Oh, God, it's Qantas Marketplace. It's great. I use that for my points. My parents use this. Yeah. So it's a little like plug-in on your web browser.

27:05Holly Wainwright:So you just use it and it goes like, it has a little like eligible to earn. So you can get like five points, one point, depends where you're going. When I bought my new iPhone, I used it. I didn't get 18 ,700 points like Hayley. In the context of points that you actually accrue for flying, that is significantly more. Yeah. Yeah. I'm a Virgin Velocity member. I fly Melbourne, Sydney route quite a bit for work. In some cases, I'm literally only getting five to ten status credit points and maybe like a thousand points. So this is significantly more. The main reason you're supposed to be getting points is for flying.

27:36Holly Wainwright:Yeah. And I guess like the most obvious thing is the biggest drive to get points is to get a credit card with the sign up and minimum spend. or now there's a lot of like get a home loan, you know, through a certain bank and they'll do that as like a sign-up bonus. Like I know, for example, when I bought my home, I got I think it was like 250 ,000 velocity points with that home loan. So I was like flying virgin very regularly during that period. But, yeah, I feel like otherwise it's like it can feel like rats and mice kind of points if you're not doing the points hacking.

28:07Megan Gannon:I've seen a lot of TikTok accounts that tell you when these offers are available and it comes up in my algorithm them and Adrian does our grocery shopping. I very rarely go to do the grocery shopping. Nor do I, don't worry.

28:18Holly Wainwright:That checks, given that he is the cook.

28:21Megan Gannon:You're like, come home, you're like, I bought some things. Yeah, he even buys my like period products as well. I go to the supermarket and I send him a photo. I'm like, is this the one we get? Yeah.

28:30Holly Wainwright:Is this the dish liquid you like? He needs to do that TikTok trend where he records you messaging, like calling you at the supermarket. He's like, is it the you by Kotex or is it like?

28:40Megan Gannon:No, Libra only.

28:41Holly Wainwright:I'm a Tom Organics girlie.

28:42Megan Gannon:Are you? Okay, well, maybe this is a separate segment we can go into later. So there's a lot of TikToks on this. So they always come up in my feed when these gift card things are available and it's actually quite frequent. So if you're on it and you do need stuff that you would buy gift vouchers for, I think it's worth doing for the points, honestly.

29:02Holly Wainwright:Yeah, it's that prior planning. I mean, it's no incentive for me. I like shop at my little local grain grocer and I love it there. But I'm like, damn it, they're not like giving me Qantas points as I'm like checking out. It should be for how much you have to pay for this. I know what grocery you're talking about. Shout out to Leigh Forgannon. Love you guys. Lovely. Right at dawn for you. Your orange juice is the best in Australia. Okay, so if you're not taking advantage of this points hack, what else can you do when it comes to travelling? What are your travelling tips, girls?

29:30Megan Gannon:Can I give you one that I discovered recently? Yes. So I started using this platform called pay.com.au and I'm scared that it is going to be found out. Like I'm scared that I'm onto a good thing. No, no, no, not like a scam as in like the government are going to find out that they're doing this and they're going to stop it. Is this the one where your BAS statements, you can get the points? Yeah. Yeah, nice. I need to do this. So it basically, you can do all of your ATO payments and things through this platform. And it's completely legal, but it essentially means you can get all of your credit card points as well as all of your airline points.

30:04Megan Gannon:Because often when you're paying government bodies, you get less points. So it like halves the points or even more when you're paying the ATO.

30:12Holly Wainwright:Oh, okay.

30:13Megan Gannon:So it just means that you get a bit more out of those payments, which can be hefty at times and it's not something you want to pay for, honestly. It's the tax time, not good.

30:22Holly Wainwright:Yeah, also means doing well, though, so we like.

30:25Megan Gannon:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Pros and cons.

30:30Holly Wainwright:The high octave would say you want to argue.

30:34Megan Gannon:So anyway, I use this platform. I'm not going to recommend it to you specifically because I don't know what everyone's circumstances are and I'd consider that financial advice. And I am certainly not someone to take financial advice from given that I just mentioned I didn't do year 10 maths. So take that with a grain of salt.

30:50Holly Wainwright:I have another travel hack. Sometimes there's like points promotions if you buy points. So like, for example, I was coming home from Europe. I was going directly into the office the next day. I was like, this is going to be really rough. Like, and I knew that I had a massive two weeks at work. I was like doing three recordings in a week. It's okay, you flew business. Yeah, I was like, just get to the point, babe. Well, I'd like to actually justify this. So I bought my points and I bought a flight, a business class flight. There it is. We all saw the TikTok doll. Don't worry. Did you send that to the ATO?

31:24Holly Wainwright:No, I'm kidding. Fuck you. Do you know what? Group of purchase. Here's my five TikToks. Call me punch because I'm out here being bullied by the other monkeys. And we're the ugly monkeys. No. They're throwing me around. And Kate's in the corner as a stuffed monkey. Where's my IKEA monkey? Where's my IKEA stuffed monkey? Kate's the stuffed monkey.

31:51Megan Gannon:Oh, my God.

31:52Holly Wainwright:Do you know what? In the end, I flew business class home from Athens for about three grand and it should have cost about eight. So I won. My travel hack is more related to pre-travel prep because this is where I shine, guys. the type A in me is rife. I love pulling out all the outfits that I want to wear when I'm traveling and I actually put them on a separate rack in my room and I usually do this about three weeks out from us leaving. What I do is basically group them in beach evening wear everyday like walking outfits and then I pull out my shoes and I basically just keep looking at it over the next couple of weeks and then every weekend up until we leave I pull things out or I put something in depending on what I like or what I don't like or forming the outfit.

32:38Holly Wainwright:So I don't try and do it all at once. I do it over like a three-week period. Good idea. Yeah. That's amazing. It's so funny because when I was going to Europe, I rang Rhea. I was like, I haven't even started packing. It was the day before I left. Rhea's like coming over and everything she put out, she's like, this would be nice for a Thursday night at a restaurant. This would be good at a beach club. You're going to a beach club. Yes. I was like, wait, are you trying to find a location for each of these? She was like, how many days in Mykonos? So she's like pulling out things. I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, this level of planning is making me very anxious.

33:06Holly Wainwright:And she'd never get charged for extra luggage. No, I actually, famously I did once. But it wasn't the clothes, it was the books. I packed four books and I had to leave them at Rome Airport because I was over the limit. Damn. It's giving Kindle. Get a Kindle. I don't have a Kindle. Sorry, I'm not coming from an ivory tower. No, no. You know what? This has been a constant back and forth. I just love a paperback, but I need a Kindle. I do. I know I do. We should get each other a Kindle. Oh, that would be nice. Just to make up for all the mean things we've said about each other on today's episode.

33:39Holly Wainwright:Look, I know that feels like it might be in excess and over the top, but I do always get to the holiday and I always wear every outfit. The one thing I will say where I fall short most trips, overpacking shoes. Agreed. I am so – I always overpack like one or two pairs. I've just banned heels now. I do not wear heels when I'm traveling. So I'm just, I've got a flat rule, no heels.

34:02Megan Gannon:Yeah, I'm usually the same.

34:04Holly Wainwright:So that's my travel hack. Let's talk about some of the wrecks that the girls from the Shameless Media team suggested. So they had quite a few good travel hacks. Quite a few of the team members said to be weary of TikTok recommendations. While they can be useful, our managing director, Ange, said that she found lots of great wrecks on TikTok when she was in Japan. Take them with a grain of salt. Sometimes the wrecks turn out to be overhyped and super crowded. This happens all the time, particularly in Europe. Yep. Yes. I find a good way to test this is actually reverse engineer it and look up in Melbourne, best restaurants in Melbourne and see what comes up.

34:38Holly Wainwright:Half the time, they're not the best restaurants in Melbourne. So just apply that same mindset when you're doing this in another country. I rarely take recs off TikTok now. I'm more of a follow certain creators who I know either live in an area or travel there quite a bit. Lucy Williams, who is one of my favorite UK creators, had one of the best guides to Portugal that I've ever seen. and we went to quite a few places that she recommended in Lisbon and Porto and they were amazing. Yeah. I do think as well, even if it is great, it's likely to be very busy. Like if everyone's caught on, it's not that it's necessarily not great.

35:13Holly Wainwright:And there were also a lot of records for the Google Maps, which I love. I love a Google Maps pin. Have you done this?

35:18Megan Gannon:No, I haven't, but I need to.

35:20Holly Wainwright:I'm starting to do it now for places that I love going to, if it's a little wine bar or whatnot, so that when friends like I'm coming to Melbourne, where should I go? I just send them that. So what you can do is like pin little favourites to a city guide and then you can share that city guide. So let's say, you know, Ray's just spoken about all these places she loved in Portugal. You literally put them into your Google Map, add, add, add, add, and then you share your list with people. It's fantastic. Amazing. I went one step further and I don't think anyone's going to be shocked by this. When we did the Shameless Takes trip in London last year, I was responsible for choosing one of the restaurants.

35:52Holly Wainwright:It shocked me what a fantastic bit at all. and making all the reservations and just coordinating travel time between where we were staying and where we were going. And I found it really helpful to actually build that by day as well. So it was like on this day, we're doing this. And because we had such a regimented routine, it was like breakfast, lunch, dinner, proximity to the hotel or proximity to the apartment that we were staying in London. It just really sets up your day and makes you feel like you can also pick places that are in close cluster. I don't know if you guys have this problem sometimes when your recommended things from people.

36:23Holly Wainwright:You pop them all in one of the Google Maps or you pop them all on a list and then you realize a lot of them are really far away or they're really hyper centralized to one location, which can be quite annoying. Can I yes end this as well? Love. So I like to pre-book them because a lot of them will have like a 30-day open window where they like only especially in the US. Yeah, massive in the US. But even like my favorite restaurant in Rome, you've always got to pre-book it. So like I've booked that before I've even booked my account. I'm like, Elmore, I'll name some. Always with the accent. Jo, I want to hear your works.

36:56Megan Gannon:Well, I actually asked a friend of mine, Paige Carmichael, who is a content creator but she's also a travel writer and she writes a substack called Unpacking Suitcases. I picked her brain. She knows her shit when it comes to travel and she's always doing long-haul travel between Australia and especially the UK. So she sent me a list of her tips. First one was don't buy a whole new wardrobe for colder climates. Buy thermals instead. So take your regular clothes from your wardrobe or like whatever you have for winter and just buy the Uniqlo or Marks & Spencer thermals to put underneath your existing clothes.

37:31Megan Gannon:I loved that tip because I definitely would be buying like winter appropriate stuff. I can still wear that in Melbourne, but if you're not from a cold climate, it doesn't really make sense to have that stuff.

37:40Holly Wainwright:I'd like to get sucked in with a little, I look like a cute little snow bunny. Yeah, yeah.

37:45Megan Gannon:A little furry hat.

37:46Holly Wainwright:Zara McDonald inspired. She looked great.

37:49Megan Gannon:She also said to collect hotel slippers to wear on the plane because your feet and ankles generally swell on the flight. So it's easier than taking your shoes on and off and you can just throw them in the bin after your flight if you're a bit grossed out by them.

37:59Holly Wainwright:That's a good one for addressing my shoe problem.

38:02Megan Gannon:Yes. I always have a pair of slippers in my carry-on.

38:05Holly Wainwright:I have my Birkenstocks, the clog ones, because I don't like to wear open-toe shoes on planes.

38:09Megan Gannon:Okay.

38:10Holly Wainwright:Those are good. And you can also wear socks with them. Yes. But they are quite heavy and chunky to travel with.

38:15Megan Gannon:Yeah, and then you've kind of got the germs from the airport and like the toilet.

38:19Holly Wainwright:Not if you've got your compression socks on. Not sexy but very practical. Always socks on a plane doll. Compression. Oh, you mean the shoes themselves. Have you ever walked over those wipes where they actually disinfect your shoes? No. Yeah, they have them in Australia and a couple of other airports but not at – oh, Jo's eyes. Welcome to the hospital. She's like, what?

38:37Megan Gannon:I'm around. Do I need one of these at my house?

38:41Holly Wainwright:Yeah, they disinfect the germs. to stop. She needs like a full body one so she can wear her outside clothes inside. Yes, I really do.

38:47Megan Gannon:She also said, as soon as you book your ticket, request an upgrade with points. This is generally much better value than bidding for an upgrade. So that's a really good tip there for points people. She said, fly off peak for a higher chance at getting an upgrade. She has always been upgraded from economy to business when she's flown on Boxing Day.

39:03Holly Wainwright:I've heard this from a few people that Boxing Day is one of the best days of the year to travel.

39:07Megan Gannon:Similar to Hayley, Paige also said before you spend a cent, ask yourself, can I earn points on this? Not many people know that you can earn points online shopping, booking Airbnbs, and even while you sleep because some apps, like I know the Qantas Wellbeing app, you can literally earn points by sleeping well.

39:23Holly Wainwright:Yeah, it used to reward me for walking. Yeah. Oh, I remember that one. Redownload the app when I got my new phone.

39:29Megan Gannon:Yep. So there's all these ways that you can earn points without even like really trying to earn points. But Paige is great for these kinds of tips. I also personally recommend the Time Shifter app.

39:38Holly Wainwright:So good. I've used this on work trips when we've had to travel because I am not waking up. Jet lag. With jet lag. Yeah. Do you know what I actually like to do as well that I've started doing when I international travel is I ask ChatGPT for a three-day plan prior. So I say what times should I be going to bed and how long should I be sleeping ahead of getting on the plane? Because I think sometimes you think about, okay, what time is it there and just the flight. But a few days before I feel like there's things you can do to kind of like train yourself into the zone.

40:05Megan Gannon:Well, that's what Time Shifter does. Oh, I thought it was just the day off. No, it will tell you like 24 hours before or even longer in some cases. Like this is when you should be asleep. You should wake up this time the morning of your flight. You should have a nap at this time on your flight. You should have caffeine at this point. The caffeine is huge because obviously that's going to keep you awake if you've just had a coffee and then you're meant to be having a nap. So it times all of this stuff to get you on the right time zone so that you don't have to upgrade yourself to business like Mads if you've got work the next day.

40:34Megan Gannon:I don't know. The champagne in the lounge was pretty nice, guys, and I worked very hard for those points. Thank you to Hayley and Paige for their contributions and the wider Shameless Media team for all their tips as well.

40:43Holly Wainwright:Mads, you actually had a really good one off mic that you've forgotten to share. I did. I did forget. Thank you for reminding me. It was that you can actually buy lounge access at different international airports. I don't know about local, maybe them too, but I do know that when I was travelling to Greece, I went to, I think it was through Abu Dhabi. I think it cost me like 60 Australian dollars for lounge access and let me tell you, I got my$60 worth of food and drink. I think I had the time of my life in there. Had a shower, had something to eat, had water. There was napping booths, you name it.

41:11Megan Gannon:You can also use your Amex with certain lounges as well.

41:14Holly Wainwright:Yeah. I don't have one of those, but maybe this is my time to get one. That's big in the US, the Amex access to a lot of the lounges. A lot of the international legs to Europe, it's really common. I don't know if it is as common in Australia locally. Like I don't think you can do it if you fly, let's say, Melbourne to LA because that's technically a direct flight. but I have flown through Dubai before and also Qatar. Yes. Qatar and I know a lot of my friends have done it and they were like absolutely best money spent. I want to hear other people's tips. DM us at stylishpod. I'm sure there's way more than what we've said.

41:46Holly Wainwright:I mean I don't think buying the points is the most revolutionary hack. Sometimes they do bonus on top of your buy. That's my tip. There we go. Last tip. That's all for this week's episode of Stylish. I reckon that's a nice place to close it out. Thank you very much for joining us and, of course, thank you very much, Jonah Fleming, and I wouldn't say Annika Josh Smith, but you are Rhiannon Joyce. Remember, you can drop us an email anytime at style-ish at shamelessmedia.com.au or, as I said, slide into our DMs over at stylishpod. Sure that there will be many more tips to come. Maybe this is the first of many travel tips.

42:16Holly Wainwright:I hope so. There is one that I've just thought about, which is this TikTok trend. I don't know if you saw it. I reckon it circulated like two years ago where people were, like, bribing the cabin crew. So people would take, like, bottles of, like, little wine and snacks or, like, skincare to give to cabin crew, hoping that they would be, like, come with me to the left of the plane. This is why I could never be cabin crew because I would be, that would be me. You're like, I can be bought. I can be bought. And champagne is my drink of choice. Okay. Well, thank you to all of our Shameless Media team who contributed, but also to the production team who make this episode possible, head of podcast Lucy Hunt and our senior podcast producer Kate Emmett-Burke.

42:54Holly Wainwright:You'll hear from Ray and I on Friday. We are talking all things peptides. Pepys. Stay tuned. And you'll see the rest of us back here next Wednesday. TBD on Attica. See you there. See you guys. Bye.

43:10Holly Wainwright:This podcast was recorded on Wurundjeri land. Always was, always will be Aboriginal land. Hello, guys. It's Rhi here from Stylish Friday Episodes. On our latest Friday episode, Mads and I actually cover the rise of illegal peptides that are taking over our TikTok feeds. They are absolutely everywhere. I cannot escape this content. We cover the full story on what peptides actually are, why we think they're on the rise and the pressure we're all feeling as this conversation circles around. It's on our internet feeds, it's in the media, it's even bleeding into our catch-ups with girlfriends on the weekend.

43:44Holly Wainwright:So safe to say it is everywhere. Look out for the episode. It's titled, Are Peptides All Over Your Feed Too? On The Stylish Feed.