How to get your first 1000 sales on Whatnot.com A reseller strategy for success.

Are you looking to grow your following (and consequently your sales) on Whatnot and increase your reach within the community? Building a strong following on this platform can help you connect with more users, expand your influence. and increase the number of sales, and the amount items sell for. Here are some expert strategies to help you gain more followers on Whatnot.

Thinking of selling on Whatnot? Here's our referral link, which will give you, "head of the line" priority onboarding and up to $150 in matched sales during your first week! https://whatnot.com/invite/seller/vintagebeedesign

What's important about 1000 sales on Whatnot?

When you first become a seller on Whatnot, there is a lack of trust between all parties. Whatnot doesn't want to have sellers who don't follow the rules, ship on time, or worse yet, scam their customers. Buyers may not have faith that a new seller is being honest about the quality of their product, or how timely their products will arrive. To accommodate these issues, and make all parties feel more secure, Whatnot sellers are not paid for their sales until after the items are delivered to the customer (based on package tracking). After 1000 successful sales, this policy changes. On the 1001st sale, Whatnot sellers will get paid when they SHIP the item to the customer. assuming there are no major infractions. Whatnot, and their base, have decided that this is enough of a track record to have confidence that the buyer will receive their items. 

The key to selling 1000 items, really has a lot to do with building your clientele. Building a tribe of people who like what you like, and want to hang out with you, for the hours it will take to build your business, takes work and understanding of the platform, and selling process. 

For clarification, Whatnot considers each item sold as a sale. If there are 3 items sold during an auction, to a single customer, that is still 3 sales. 

Optimize Your Profile

First impressions matter! Make sure your Whatnot profile is complete and engaging. Use a clear profile picture, write a compelling bio, and showcase your unique personality or brand. This will make your profile more attractive to potential followers. Most social media strategists will recommend that you use a photo of yourself. People love looking at other faces. It's a known fact. The exception to this may be if you already have a well known brand, or if multiple people may sell on your profile. 

Create High-Quality Content

Content is king on any social media platform, including Whatnot. To attract and retain followers, focus on creating high-quality, engaging shows that resonate with your target audience. Whether you're showcasing collectibles, hosting live auctions, or sharing your expertise, make sure your show is fun & entertaining and the items available are unique and visually appealing.

Don't worry about being 'picture perfect'. Be the real you. Authenticity will draw your tribe of people who want to watch, hang out, and buy. 

Keep the show moving. The biggest complaint I hear from other Whatnot viewers is when the auctions are really slow. If you are scanning the shelves and someone wants to buy something, don't allow more than a minute to go by without running that item. If you continue scanning, hoping for more buyers to chime in, you are basically telling the one who is asking for an item to be run, that they aren't as important as someone else might be. 

Be chatty and talk about yourself, ask questions to engage your followers, and create relationships, so people feel like joining your show is like hanging out with friends. 

Engage with the Community

Building a following on Whatnot is not just about running shows. It's also about engaging with the community. Selling anything is all about relationships. People buy from people they KNOW, LIKE, AND TRUST. Take the time to interact with other users, participate in other shop owners' live auctions, join discussions, and support fellow Whatnot members. This will help you build relationships and attract more followers.

Promote Your Whatnot Profile

Don't be shy about promoting your Whatnot profile on other social media platforms or websites. Share your Whatnot username or profile link, and encourage your followers on other platforms to connect with you on Whatnot. Cross-promotion can help you reach a wider audience and attract new followers.

Consistency is Key

Consistency is crucial when it comes to growing your following on Whatnot. Develop a posting schedule and stick to it. Whether you're posting daily updates, hosting weekly auctions, or sharing monthly highlights, consistency will help you stay on your followers' radar and attract new ones.

For example, VintageBeeDesign, has two regularly scheduled shows. We do a Vintage and Home Decor show every Wednesday at 7pm EST and a DIY Product Night every Thursday at 7pm EST. If we are running late for these shows, people will already be in the room waiting, asking if we are OK. 

If we have other shows that we want to run, like Raid Trains, Pop-ups, etc, we will promote those during our regularly scheduled shows. The more people who show up in your shows, the more likely you are to sell products, and sell those items for more money. 

Develop Your Brand and Stick to It! 

One of the biggest mistakes that small businesses can make is trying to be the jack-jack-of-all trades. We've all been guilty of it. Curated shows, with items that follow a common theme or style, tend to do better than shows that are random. This is why we don't offer DIY items on our Vintage nights. 

If you've ever watched our YouTube videos, where we are thrifting or shopping at estate sales, you've likely seen Melissa tell Sue that something she likes, and wants to buy, doesn't fit their brand. This isn't being "mean" or "disrespectful" to Sue, it's an important part of learning that our business attracts specific buyers and items that sell to a different demographic probably won't perform well. 

Preloading Your Auction Items

Pre-loading your auction items can seem like an arduous task. After all, when you watch bigger sellers, they may just have a few categories, usually listing items only by weight. They can do that because they've grown their audience large enough that they are confident that sticking around will be worth their time.  When you are still new, buyers need to know if there is something worth waiting around for. Loaded auction tabs create a way for them to see the kinds of items you sell, and the prices of the items. 

Shelf scanning may seem like a great way to showcase your items without the hassle of pre-loading. This strategy, however, is a lot like having a store where nothing is priced. How many sales do you think a store would lose if buyers had to ask for the price every time they were interested in something? Put yourself in the buyer's shoes. You see a cute pair of vintage salt and pepper shakers and think, "oh those are adorable". The seller doesn't mention the starting bids of anything. In the chat you say, "black cat salt and pepper shakers". The host continues to scan before grabbing them and saying, "Sure! I'll run them!". The host takes the time to put the set in and runs the auction. This is when you find out that they are $38, and you were thinking something closer to $15. The host has now wasted their time and the potential customer may be embarrassed and leave the show. Sure, you could have asked for the Starting Bid (SB) before she ran them, but that's really still the same conclusion, isn't it? 

Perhaps that specific item was very rare or valuable and her other items were within the buyer's range of $15/pair. Without having items pre-loaded, a new buyer will not know whether this store is simply expensive for them, or whether that specific item was. 

Having a full Buy-it-Now section (Marketplace)

Marketplace is what's available when you aren't running an auction. During an auction, you can move specific items from your marketplace to your buy-it-now section (BINS). This allows buyers to combine shipping, if you are set up for combined shipping under settings, of items they win during an auction, and items they want to purchase from your store. Low priced items typically do best here. Buyers, who have won something at auction, will frequently check out the BINS to see if they want to add on another purchase that may have free or reduced shipping. Items purchased from your BINS, count toward your 1000 sales. By having full BINS, you increase the possibility of more sales per show, without additional effort (other than loading the items). 

Whatnot is about building a strong VIRTUAL STOREFRONT, not quick sales. 

While the auction process may take only seconds, building a successful business will take time and effort. By implementing these expert strategies, you can increase your followers on Whatnot and build a strong presence within the community. Stay patient and persistent in your efforts. Hurdles are put in your way to keep those who aren't worthy from attaining the goal. Happy connecting!

Thinking of selling on Whatnot? Here's our referral link, which will give you, "head of the line" priority onboarding and up to $150 in matched sales during your first week! https://whatnot.com/invite/seller/vintagebeedesign

Not ready to sell, but still want to buy? Use this referral link to get $15 off your first purchase (not including shipping). Yes. I'll get a little credit too! https://whatnot.com/invite/vintagebeedesign.

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