What do you think is the best at the moment? I think whatnot is but Liveciety has potential in the long term considering they are only a month old. Palmstreet is ok. Poshmark sucks in my opinion and tiktok seems to have a good amount of bots.
Anyone know of any sealed pokemon sellers? Feels like only Backrooms does now.
Woosleys seems to have only done wheels in the last 2 weeks.
Feels like folks have started wisening up and only bidding up until where after shipping and taxes, its roughly at market which im sure cuts into their margins. Guess wheels are where the money is once you have a big enough following
So I’ve been watching a lot of Surprise Set shows lately, both smaller sellers and some of the big rooms, and I keep seeing the same thing enough that I don’t think it’s crazy to at least talk about it. I’m not saying I can prove Whatnot is doing this. I can’t. I’m saying the pattern looks strange, and if you think about it from Whatnot’s side, there would actually be a pretty big benefit to doing it.
What I keep seeing is this:
Smaller sellers seem to lose their big chases really early.
Meanwhile, in the big rooms with hundreds of people watching, those same kind of top prizes seem to hang around much closer to the end. Just to put numbers on what I mean, imagine if you tracked 100 sets from each group and it came out something like:
Small sellers: major chase comes out around spot 27
Large sellers: major chase comes out around spot 71
I’m not saying those are proven numbers. I’m using them to explain the pattern. Here is why I think it would make sense from a platform point of view.
A truly random 100-item set should be simple. Every item starts with a 1 in 100 chance, Then 1 in 99, Then 1 in 98, And so on.
Basically: P(item) = 1 / number of items left
It shouldn’t matter if the seller has 10 people watching or 800 and It shouldn’t matter if the item is worth $20 or $500. Everything left should have the same chance. But that is not the only way a randomizer can work. You could also give items different weights. Instead of every item having a weight of 1, you could have something like:
Common item = 1
Better item = 1
Premium item = 1.5
Big chase = 3
Then the formula is basically: chance of item = item weight / total weight of everything left
Now the big chase is still technically random. It can still come out anywhere. But it is much more likely to come out earlier. You could also flip that the other way.
For a big seller:
Common item = 1.2
Better item = 1
Premium item = 0.7
Big chase = 0.25
Now the chase can still come out early, but it is much more likely to stay in there longer. That is the part I think people should really think about. Whatnot already knows exactly what is in the Surprise Set. Sellers have to enter detailed descriptions of the products.
They also know the seller, the room size, average sale price, how much money the seller normally brings in, how fast bids are moving, how long people stay in the room. They know basically everything they would need to know.
So theoretically, the system could figure out two things:
How desirable is this item?
and
How valuable is this room to Whatnot?
Then use both of those things when deciding the odds. And this is where the benefits get interesting, Let's dig in!
Small seller:
Let’s say a smaller seller has 20 people in the room. Auctions are going for $20-$30. Then somebody spends $25 and hits a $300 item really early.
What happens?
The buyer is thrilled, Chat goes crazy. Other people think, "Wow, people actually hit good stuff in here."
People start bidding, Maybe that buyer sticks around on Whatnot and keeps spending money.
And here is the crazy part. Whatnot didn’t pay for that $300 hit. The seller did. The seller supplied the inventory. So from Whatnot’s perspective, you could almost look at that as a buyer promotion that costs Whatnot nothing. The buyer gets the great experience. The platform gets the excitement and future spending. The seller eats the cost. Now yes, that can destroy the seller’s room afterward. If the big prizes are gone at spot 15 or 20, everybody sees it, Then bids drop, People leave, The seller gets crushed, But those buyers are still on Whatnot, They can just go into another room.
Now look at a big seller
This is where the incentive flips. Say a big seller has 600 people watching, Their auctions start at $1 and run up to $70, $80, $100. There is a $500 chase still sitting in the set, That $500 item is worth way more than $500 to the platform as long as it stays alive, Because every single auction people are thinking: "The big one is still in there." So they keep bidding, keep watching, keep waiting. Let’s use easy numbers:
100 spots, If the chase comes out at spot 20: First 20 average $85. Then once the big one is gone, the other 80 average $42.
That is: 20 x $85 + 80 x $42 = $5,060
Now keep the chase alive until spot 85, 85 spots average $85, Last 15 average $42.
That is: 85 x $85 + 15 x $42 = $7,855
Same 100 products, Same seller, Same set: Almost $2,800 more in sales just because the chase stayed alive longer. That is the part that really caught my attention.
The chase doesn’t just have an item value, it has a suspense value.
As long as it is still in there, it can keep hundreds of people bidding. And it can keep hundreds of people in the room. If 600 people stay another 45 minutes because the big prize is still alive, that is: 27,000 extra viewer-minutes
That is huge for a live shopping platform, Those people are watching, Bidding, Chatting, Buying, And they are not on another app. Plus, big rooms make Whatnot look busy.
There is a big difference between opening the app and seeing rooms with:
700, 500, 900 watching versus seeing a bunch of rooms with 8, 12, or 20 people.
So the large seller has value to Whatnot beyond just the fees on each sale.
They are keeping the platform active, keeping people entertained, keeping people from leaving.
So if this theory were true, the logic would be pretty simple. No you say? Well let's have a look:
Small seller:
Get the good prizes out earlier.
Buyers feel like they are getting huge value.
Buyers get excited.
Buyers keep spending on the platform.
Large seller:
Keep the good prizes alive longer.
People keep bidding.
People keep watching.
Prices stay high.
The room stays big.
Whatnot makes more money.
And the really interesting part is that both sides are being funded by the seller’s inventory. Whatnot does not own the prizes. The sellers do! That is why I don’t think the theory is just "Whatnot helps big sellers." I think, if something like this were happening, it would be more like:
Whatnot uses different odds depending on what is most valuable to the platform at that moment.
Small rooms would be better for creating buyer wins. Big rooms would be better for keeping suspense alive and maximizing revenue. Again, I am not saying this is proven (Because of course they would feel bad about it 😉).
Randomness can absolutely produce weird runs.
One seller losing every big item early means nothing.
But if somebody actually tracked enough Surprise Sets and found that smaller sellers consistently hit their major prizes much earlier than large sellers, then that gets really interesting.
Because if the Randomizer is truly the same for everybody, seller size should not tell you anything about where the big prizes land. If it does, over a large enough sample, then I think there is a real question there.
If after all this you still think it's just random: Look at the attached math! Happy Bidding 🙂
I also updated the app, deleted and then got the app, and refreshed. (It’s been like 10 hours)
Accounts less than 6 months old having crazy amounts of followers already. Is it raid trains or can someone purchase a whatnot account with a large audience? Is it legit? Impressive
So from what i was told. There was a guy in his show who was joking around like people always do, then his girlfriend got sensitive and kicked him out of the show. so he comes back and asks why he was kicked or what he said that was so bad and she bans him. Way over the top. Instead of being a normal person and explaining what was so offensive and trying to move on from it. This guy only really cares about money though anyways. He sells tie dye shirts for $80 with some drawings on them my 7 year old could do. How about you be a man and run the show like it’s always been and don’t change for a girl. thats like bringing your girlfriend to a guys night out to drink. He also swears constantly on stream, talks about inappropriate topics, and vapes.
Don’t know if this has happened to anyone else. I won a Cam Skattebo Rpa #8/75 from Splashcards_ stream. It hadn’t shipped in over a week so I reached out and got no response. I was trying to file a dispute with whatnot and was looking for comps on the card to give a value, and I find out that the EXACT same card that I won sold on ebay on August 5th. You can see the signature and location matches perfectly, and they are both #8/75. Seen some mixed reviews on his page of complaints of not receiving cards. Buyer beware.
So over a week ago I sold a $2k purse. The item showed it was delivered on the whatnot app. And they released my earnings. I transferred the money to my bank account. But a few days ago I received an email the purse is being returned to me because the buyer refused delivery.
I messaged whatnot support and they basically told me I get to keep the earnings from the sale and the purse. Has this ever happened to anyone? I’ve just never heard of a platform ever doing this.
Has anyone dealt with this seller on Whatnot...freedomproductsofficial? He deals in vintage clothes, Polo Ralph Lauren, etc. I purchased 2 couple items from him and he sent me the wrong item. And it smelled musty and moldy. I message him, with pictures of what I paid for versus what I received. He then apologized and said he would make it right. A couple days passed nothing. I followed up and was told to put in a cancel request. When I tried to do that, Whatnot system denied my request. So now I have something I didn't pay for and he's gone silent. And then blocked me. I know Whatnot is sketchy as a company, but has anyone had to deal with? By the way, after that I wasn't wasting my money with him again anyways. I've learned to stick with sellers I trust...keep my circle small! I didn't read his reviews before entering his show either. A number of them had the same complaint about moldy, smelly clothes.
1st pic is what I paid for and 2nd pic is what I received. Different size, different pattern and smelled.
Hi everyone, so I recently created an account because an Instagramer offered 25€ for free to use it on the platform, the 25€ are visible on the app, but when I want to buy something, the credits don't move, so it's taking directly on my bank account (I use PayPal).
If anyone can tell me how to fix this so I can buy with the credits, it'll be very helpful.
Thanks
Just out of curiousity, are any of you experiencing not receiving giveaways at an increasing rate? For first couple months on the app, I got everything without issue. As far as my purchases go, that still remains true. However in the last month I've not received 4 givvies. They're all bs mystery givvies and the sort, so probably would've been some crappy ex pokemon card anyway. Just wondering if this is common? Whatnot gives me a credit so it's not a huge deal, but I also don't want them to think I'm abusing the credit system.
10 days ago I found a great stream where I managed to get quite a few big cards that I was really excited for. The seller printed off the label so the status of the order says shipped but there’s been no updates for over 7 days.
The seller has a great reputation (4.9 stars) and over 2k sold cards so idk why it’s taking so long. Someone else in the show even reached out to me asking if there was an update for me bc they were going through the same thing. Is the seller just avoiding shipping so they don’t deal with this and refund my payment or is it a usps thing
I’d be really sad if it was the case bc I got some great cards :/
So basically this is my second time buying from this seller and I really like them! For this purchase, I spent $165 on a dress and $70 on a top (vintage y2k). They came today but the top has a fairly large hole in the back by the tag which I honestly think the seller just didn’t see but also they didn’t disclose it. I don’t think I would’ve spent $70 on the top if I knew it had a hole and I don’t think I can repair it because of the placement and fabric. I am kind of new to Whatnot so I don’t know if I should message the seller first? Or just start a dispute?? Not sure if it counts against them? I would possibly like to purchase from them again despite this but definitely not happy about it.. Any thoughts or opinions?
I don’t get why a seller would want to pay .78 to mail a single sticker for a giveaway win. I’ve actually bought from this seller before too! Why bother with it? Is it for the followers? It’s a cute sticker and all but I don’t get it!!
Link to the original situation here
After obvious alt accounts 'defending him', and getting whatnot support involved, he decided to not send the card forcing whatnot to reimburse me $250 on my account (charged to his account anyway) small victory in the end but sad situation overall. He seemed willing and he seemed like he was going to come through but he had a timeline to go by (August 14th to ship it) and he missed it and vanished from my DMs yet again! Thanks for everyone's suggestions and support through it all.
I see them for like maybe 20% max but im a Yankee candle and bow member. They run great deals all the time. No whatnot seller has been able to match.
I’ve just sold a load of items on whatnot for well cheaper then I wanted
Now this is usually fine for me and I don’t mind giving my people good deals but this time I just made a huge mistake which has cost me £200
I sold a signed Gerrard shirt for £88 on £1 starts stupidly at 11pm on a Sunday with only 9 viewers
The shirt is worth 3x that probably 🤣 I was an idiot and learned a very hard lesson this happened on 2 other items also so I had plenty of time to re evaluate.
It’s safe to say my business on whatnot is no longer a thing after this I’m not good enough lol I always make a loss. I’m just not patient enough to maintain my prices and get fed up waiting. I just try to keep my buyers happy and engaged but it never works out well for me.
You know it’s bad when the guy who bought the shirt tipped me £10 because they felt awful for me even though they had absolutely no reason to. I am very grateful for buyers like that. But I can’t help the fact that everyone was telling me to start it at the pre bid and for a whole 5 mins of it being live it didn’t go up a penny. Like I was basically pressured into listing it lol in hopes id get more bids but everyone just left the live the second I put it up
Not trying to get anyone in a gotcha! Moment. I’m not upset, really just wanted the sponsor shoutout for my show this week.
I sent a screenshot to them showing my notification page. No mention, no followers.
I’m genuinely curious on what to do from here.
Would you wait until next weekend?
Or would you run it up the whatnot chain for a refund?
Edit: Added the response from whatnot support below. $100 wasted essentially. Guess I’ll leave a bad review when my “item” comes in the mail. Then I’ll get blocked! Yay! 😀