If your bean bag arrived without filling, you're not alone in being surprised. It's one of the most common questions we get. But once you understand why, it makes complete sense - and you'll probably agree it's actually the better way to do it.
It's one of the most common messages we receive, and we completely understand why. Your bean bag arrives, you open the box, and there's no filling. Just a beautifully made cover, an inner bag, and a moment of "wait... where's the rest of it?"
We get it. It's not immediately obvious. But once you understand why, we think you'll agree it makes complete sense, and that sourcing filling locally is actually the better outcome for you.
Mooi Living bean bag covers are made from premium fabrics - solution-dyed Olefin for outdoor pieces, premium cotton canvas, corduroy and bouclé for indoor pieces. Double-stitched seams. YKK zippers (outdoor). Inner bag systems. These are quality materials, constructed properly, and priced accordingly.
When you look at what's in the box, the idea that filling would also be included, shipped from Australia to your door starts to make less sense.
Quality materials and construction have a cost. Shipping 300 to 600 litres of EPS beans on top of that, across the country or across the world, would make the price of a Mooi Living bean bag look very different.
Some brands do include filling; but you pay a significant premium for the privilege, and you lose the ability to fill to your own preference. It's a trade-off, not a free inclusion.
EPS bean bag filling is one of the bulkiest, lightest things you can put in a box. It takes up an enormous amount of space relative to its weight, which makes it extraordinarily expensive to ship. A properly filled bean bag requires anywhere from 200 to 600 litres of filling depending on the size, and shipping that volume from our Gold Coast warehouse to your door would add more to the cost than most customers would be comfortable paying.
Meanwhile, EPS filling is widely available locally throughout the world, at major retailers, hardware stores, Amazon and discount department stores - for around $10 to $15 per 100 litres in Australia. Sourcing it locally is faster, cheaper and generates less environmental impact than shipping it across a country or across an ocean.
We ship worldwide and we love our international customers genuinely. But we also need to be direct about something, because this is where the "why no filling?" question comes up most often and most passionately.
Shipping EPS filling internationally is not a practical option. It is not something we can absorb into the price of the cover. Physics and freight rates don't work that way. A properly filled bean bag lounger would cost hundreds of dollars in freight alone to ship from Australia to the United States, the United Kingdom or Europe - and that's before the cover itself.
Here's the thing though, when you do the maths, a Mooi Living cover shipped internationally plus filling sourced locally is genuinely competitive with comparable quality bean bags sold in your country with filling included.
In the United States, for example, EPS filling is readily available at Walmart for around $25 USD per 100 litres. A Mooi Living cover shipped to the USA, plus six bags of filling from Walmart, puts you in the range of $350 USD all up, which is very competitive for a quality bean bag at that size and construction standard.
The cover you're buying is made from premium materials with proper construction. That quality is what you're paying for, and the filling, which you can source for a fraction of that cost locally, is genuinely the easy part.
This is the part most people don't think about until they're filling their bean bag for the first time, and then they're glad they had the option.
Bean bag comfort is personal. Some people like a firm, structured feel with plenty of support. Others prefer something softer and more enveloping that moulds around them completely. If every bean bag left our warehouse filled to a standard level, you'd get our preference, not yours.
Filling your own bean bag means you control the result.
Start with the recommended amount listed on the product page, sit in it, and adjust from there. Add more for a firmer feel. Leave it slightly under for something softer and more relaxed. It takes ten minutes and produces a bean bag that's comfortable in exactly the way you want it to be.
EPS bean bag filling is widely available and genuinely inexpensive almost everywhere in the world. You don't need to hunt for it, it's in most major retailers.
In Australia: Spotlight, Big W, Envee Beans Clark Rubber, Amazon & eBay. A 100-litre bag typically costs around $10 to $15.
In the USA: Walmart, Amazon and most large home goods retailers carry EPS bean bag refill. Budget around $25 USD per 100 litres.
In the UK and Europe: Most large home goods retailers and online marketplaces carry EPS bean bag filling. Search "bean bag refill beads" locally.
In New Zealand: Bunnings NZ, The Warehouse and Spotlight NZ all stock bean bag filling.
Our where to buy bean bag filling guide has a more comprehensive list of suppliers by country - worth bookmarking before you go shopping.
Every Mooi Living product page lists the recommended filling volume for that specific piece - just look under the tab "Key Features".
Our how to fill your bean bag guide walks through the whole process step by step - including how to get the filling in without it going everywhere, and how to adjust the amount once you've sat in it the first time. It's easier than it sounds and the result is worth it.
Shipping air is genuinely wasteful. A box of EPS filling is almost entirely air, sending it across the country or across the world in a truck or on a plane uses fuel and generates emissions for very little material payload.
When customers source filling locally, the environmental footprint of a Mooi Living bean bag arriving at your home is significantly lower than it would be if we shipped everything pre-filled from one warehouse.
It's not the primary reason we sell covers separately, but it's a genuine benefit and one we feel good about.
If your bean bag has just arrived and you're ready to get started, our step-by-step filling guide has everything you need. And if you're not sure where to buy filling near you, our filling supplier guide covers retailers across Australia and internationally.
Any questions at all - get in touch. We're always happy to help you get your bean bag set up perfectly.
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