See Inside eBay's Massive Five-Room 'House' at ComplexCon

LONG BEACH, CALIF—ComplexCon, Complex's self-described “festival of the future,” brings together a who’s who of influencers in the pop culture, music, art, food, sports, innovation, activism, and education industries. So for an audience this hip and discerning, you better believe brands are going to bring it.

A standout moment from this year’s show, which took place Nov. 18-19 at Southern California's Long Beach Convention Center? A 2,500-square-foot activation from eBay, which organizers like to refer to as a full-scale “hype house” rather than simply a booth. The vibrantly colored, interactive space highlighted the marketplace's selection of authentic fashion and collectible goods, including handbags, watches, sneakers, streetwear, and trading cards. 

The eBay House included five main spaces, each of which adopted a different color and theme. “Each room of the eBay Hype House reflects the love collectors have for authentic products as they showcase them all throughout their homes,” explained Colin Davis, a senior producer at Media.Monks, the creative agency behind eBay’s presence. “The space [was] unified by eBay-branded elements and ownable colors, and brought to life in an explorable, playful expression of the eBay brand and its sellers.”

The house-centric theme also evoked how both buyers and sellers engage with eBay at home. “Our collections, prize purchases, and favorite memorabilia make their way to our closets, shelves, walls, and entryways,” noted Media.Monks creative director Nat Janin. “Dividing eBay's product categories across different rooms of a home and displaying them in not only delightful but interactive ways exemplifies the passion both eBay customers and sellers have for the authentic items they love.”

Scroll down to see inside the booth, which was produced by Stoelt Productions… A blue bedroom space focused on sneakers—”for the sneakerhead that would sleep in their sneaker closet,” laughed Davis. The space featured a shoe tunnel with 64 of today’s most sought-after products, illuminated with LED lighting.Photo: McKelvey PhotographyThe bedroom also featured a “vertical bed photo booth with sneakers; books such as Supreme, The Incomplete: Highsnobiety Guide to Street Fashion and Culture, and Virgil Abloh: Figures of Speech; vintage concert tickets from 1989 LL Cool J and Eazy-E concerts; a functioning acrylic mushroom lamp; and a functioning Victrola record player,” said Matt Stoelt, whose company, Stoelt Productions, handled fabrication, production design, production support, and technical production for the booth.Photo: McKelvey PhotographyThe red game room space, meanwhile, focused on the brand’s collectibles market. It featured vintage standup arcade games like Ms. Pac-Man and NBA Jam.Photo: McKelvey PhotographyIn a clever, on-theme twist, the foosball table had collectible cards in the place of players.Photo: McKelvey Photography“Artist Dylan Sadiq built two Rubik’s Cube murals and glass showcases featuring all types of collectibles, including Supreme boxing gloves and rare Pokemon cards,” added Stoelt.Photo: McKelvey PhotographyThe yellow office was focused on luxury items that can be found on eBay. The team created various LED backlit arch photo moments, plus a custom display case with tubes where fans could visualize luxury watches on their own wrists.Photo: McKelvey PhotographyAn aquarium-like ball bit was filled with luxury handbags and mounted on the wall. Davis described the office space as “delightfully unexpected.” “Luxury handbags, watches, and accessories took over a luxe office desk, a fish tank, and bookshelves, turning unexpected places into opulent, Instagrammable moments,” he said.Photo: McKelvey PhotographyThe green laundry room focused on streetwear, with a customized T-shirt station plus a clothesline that displayed streetwear that would later be auctioned off live on eBay.Photo: McKelvey PhotographyBespoke faux washers lined with LED lights doubled as display cases for streetwear products.Photo: McKelvey PhotographyFinally, the white living room was the hub and focal point of the experience, where the team streamed to the eBay platform for live auctions. Multiple auctions were held throughout the weekend, allowing sellers like Jeff Hamilton, Corey Populus, Matt Senna, Dave Reilly, WhoJungWoo, and Cassius Marsh to interact with a live and online audience to sell their products.Photo: McKelvey Photography“The living room was defined by soaring, open, white powder-coated metal frame walls, with shelves with monochromatic white props and the eBay Live steaming stage,” said Stoelt.Photo: McKelvey Photography

For each individual space, Media.Monks worked with the eBay marketing team to hand-select and display products that could be and have been available for purchase on eBay. “The focus was on the Authenticity Guarantee messaging, giving its user the comfort and security to purchase authentic products from eBay sellers knowing eBay verifies any products with the Authenticity Guarantee seal,” noted Davis. While the products on display weren’t directly purchasable on site, they could all be found through eBay sellers. 

The eBay House took five days to build, starting with flooring on day one; rigging and lighting on day two; fabrication build on days three and four; and propping, fit and finish on day five. Matt Stoelt, CEO and creative director of Stoelt Productions, noted several challenges in the project, starting with the flooring.

“The team designed the booth scenic and elements to sit directly on top of the color breaks in the floor, leaving zero margin for error. This proved to be extremely challenging on the collectibles and bedroom arch, where our free-floating wall lined up to the living room space,” he noted. “We overcame this challenge by creating the production file for the floor print, and resizing and scaling the scenic in 3D model before creating shop drawings and ultimately putting these pieces into production.” Stoelt added the load-in logistics were also a challenge, noting that ComplexCon typically comprises rented, prefab falls. "Working hand in hand with the ComplexCon and [general contractor] Freeman teams, we devised a plan that allowed for the lighting and flooring to be installed ahead of our arrival, giving our teams an additional day to complete the massive buildout," he explained.Photo: McKelvey Photography

Overall, the booth was a success, grabbing attention across the busy show floor. “ComplexCon is composed of several smaller booths and a handful of medium and larger ones—and the sheer size alone, combined with the overhead lighting, really made eBay stand out,” remembered Stoelt. “Beyond the bright color palette and open floor plan, the semitranslucent stage backdrop had two portrait-mounted screens on the back displaying the eBay livestreams, pulling guests into the experience.”

Davis pointed out that the booth's open footprint also was designed to improve the attendee experience. “It allowed guests to enter from all angles, opening it up to be more of a free-flow experience,” he said, adding that everything was carefully crafted to appeal to the event’s specific audience. “Guests of ComplexCon understand quality and authentic products, whether it’s shoes, collectibles, streetwear, or luxury goods. This was the perfect place to showcase the types of products you can purchase through eBay, as well as its offerings for eBay Live and Authenticity Guarantee."