The winner of the 2025 eBay Van Conversion of the Year Awards has been revealed, and it’s a build that genuinely earns the phrase ‘apartment on wheels’.
Charlie Ding and Rosie Wells, a couple from Poynton in Cheshire, have taken the overall title and a £10,000 cash prize for their beautifully executed camper conversion, created inside a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter.
Now in its third year, the awards celebrate the very best in UK van conversions, from full-time vanlifers to business users and professional builders.
Judged by a panel led by TV presenter and architect George Clarke, the competition looks beyond Instagram aesthetics to reward clever engineering, thoughtful design and real-world usability, and this year’s winner clearly ticked all three boxes.
Charlie and Rosie’s Sprinter caught the judges’ attention by winning eBay’s Clever Camper category, which recognises ingenuity and originality. That placed it head-to-head with five other category winners, before being crowned overall champion.
The build itself is quietly impressive rather than shouty. Inside, there’s a fully fitted kitchen, a wardrobe that transforms into a shower, and a space-saving bed that retracts neatly into the roof — freeing up daytime living space in a way that feels more city apartment than campsite compromise. It’s a van designed to be lived in.
Their inspiration came while travelling in Vietnam. Loving the freedom but missing their dog, Little Rosie, the couple decided to create a proper home-from-home that could take all three of them on the road together. The result was an 18-month project, worked on during evenings and weekends, using parts and accessories frequently sourced via eBay — from windows and mirrors to lighting and a reversing camera neatly integrated into the central brake light.
Since completion, the van has already clocked up serious miles, taking the couple on a nine-month sabbatical through 13 European countries, including France, Slovenia and Romania.
George Clarke said the standard of entries this year was “truly next level,” adding that Charlie and Rosie’s van stood out for its balance of engineering and comfort. “I was genuinely impressed by their van’s seamless blend of engineering ingenuity and clean, cosy design. I could tell that the fit and finish was meticulously thought through – it’s such a smart and wonderfully inventive use of space.”
Charlie said the win felt especially rewarding after the time invested in the build. “We are ecstatic to have won the overall prize – especially after investing so much time and effort into planning and building our ideal conversion,” said Charlie. “It was great to put some of my engineering background to use, and we learned so much along the way.”
“It is a great feeling to have our hard work recognised, especially by George Clarke and eBay,” added Rosie. “Our van is like travelling around in a little city apartment, and it’s been perfect as we travel from country to country with our dog, little Rosie. This is the life for us, and I hope we show that anyone can make a van to go out and live in.”
Category winners at a glance
Alongside the overall winner, eBay also recognised standout builds across a range of categories:
- Tiny Haven Award: Isobel Mockett’s cleverly packaged Citroën Berlingo, featuring hidden underfloor storage and a compact but homely layout.
- Most Creative Award: Jessica Kleczka’s woodland-inspired Vauxhall Movano, built using reclaimed materials and designed for off-grid living.
- Globetrotter Award: Zarinah Meade and Jake Jordan’s adventure-ready Mercedes Sprinter, complete with roof deck, solar panels and earthy interior styling.
- Built for Business Award: Alex Kamintzis’ Evolution Studio, a fully self-sufficient mobile hair salon based on a Mercedes Sprinter.
- Special Recognition Award: Niall Seymour, for converting a Scania fire engine into a fully working burger van — again.
For eBay, the awards underline how far van conversions have moved beyond weekend projects into serious lifestyle and business tools. For Charlie and Rosie, it’s recognition that their calm, clever, and genuinely liveable Sprinter is something special.
And for anyone staring at an empty load bay and a head full of ideas, it’s proof that with patience, planning — and a lot of late nights — an ordinary van can become a home.
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