When eBay wanted to show parliamentarians what its marketplace means for Australian small business, the answer was the sellers themselves. Damsel and Sprout designed and produced a walk-through showcase at Parliament House that turned a function space into a gallery of real Australian businesses, live demonstrations and conversation.

Client: eBay Australia
Year: 2025
Venue: Parliament House, Canberra
Format: Policy showcase and small business exhibition
Audience: Parliamentarians, advisers and invited guests

What we delivered

• Event concept, design and production;
• Seller showcase design and build, including profile displays and product plinths;
• Authenticity Guarantee activation build;
• Stage, AV and program delivery;
• Floral design;
• Branded moments, media wall and merchandise display;
• Full set up and pack down;
• All Parliamentary House logistics

The sellers were the exhibition

The heart of the showcase was a gallery of real eBay sellers from across the country, each with their own display: a profile, a QR code straight to their store, and their actual products on plinths.

 A boxed Super Nintendo and the latest Switch from The Gamesmen, Australia’s highest-rated games retailer. Genuine Sydney 2000 Olympic shirts from 2Aussie Thrifters, the Adelaide couple who turned op-shop finds into a business. Headlights and mirrors from JJ Auto Parts, a Sydney auto recycler stocking more than 100,000 parts. Pre-loved books, pre-loved fashion.

Walking the room, you met the marketplace.

Authentication, live

The Authenticity Guarantee activation put eBay’s verification service on display in the most literal way possible: gloved authenticators at a branded counter, inspecting luxury handbags and collectable sneakers in front of guests, beside a lit cabinet of the real thing. It was the single most talked-about corner of the room, because nothing explains a service like watching it happen.

A stage for small business

An intimate panel stage anchored the program: white stools against soft sheer drape, the eBay mark front and centre, and an Innovating for Small Business banner alongside screens telling individual seller stories. Built for conversation rather than presentation, at exactly the right scale for the room.

Details in brand colours

Even the florals worked for the brand: arrangements built in eBay’s red, blue, yellow and green, flowing across the stage. With a media wall, a merchandise wall of branded totes, and QR codes at every display, the showcase carried its message down to the smallest touch.