What's the Deal With Whatnot!?!
Whatnot has been one of the most popular spots for sports card breaks, but it's still unfamiliar to most of us. We bring in a veteran to break it down!
Each “Happy Hobby Sports Card Newsletter” pack has a handful of great sports card subjects, helping sports card collectors working with limited budgets – like me!
This Week’s Newsletter Highlights!
⚾🏈🏀 WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH WHATNOT!?!
⚾ SPORTS CARD TRIVIA!
🏀 🏈 ⚾ IF PATRICK IMHOFF BECAME CEO OF FANATICS
⚾ 🏀 🏈 REMEMBERING ROOKIE CARDS FROM 1977 IN EVERY SPORT!
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⚾🏀🏈 WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH WHATNOT!?!
Dan Herman shares his experiences with Whatnot as a community marketplace. You can check out Dan’s Substack here, where he opens packs and shares cards he got off Whatnot and other spots.
In my opinion, Whatnot has been a positive experience, and it should be added to your list of websites to source and buy/sell trading cards from.
What is Whatnot!?!
Whatnot is comparable to eBay and Etsy, but it also has a livestream component. When you venture onto the website, you'll find categories of products ranging from sports cards, toys, apparel, knives, bags, estate sales/storage units, to a potpourri of subtitles under the heading "Whatnot". That subheading includes things like kitchenware, books, home decor, watches, even ephemera.
Whatnot started out as a place for its founders to buy and sell Pokémon product. Today, sports cards and Pokémon cards remain as its most popular category. As of now, I see 8 live shows with anywhere from a handful to 800-plus watching any of them.
There's usually someone doing sudden-death auctions (10 seconds, no time extension) for $1-2 as the opener. There's someone breaking open a hot new Topps product. Slabs, singles, boxes of all types and most modern sets across most sports are fair game. Breaks are a big deal here, especially since there's no true watchdog about how the shows are run, or what product or how much money is behind it all.
Follow What You Like
I have a go-to list of maybe six shows that I like, mainly because I like the attitude of the generally invisible voice hawking product, or the availability of product in their own shops (the "Buy It Now" section in each store) or both.
Just about every show has a free giveaway option. If you're lucky enough, you can score something the owner has for free, maybe a throwaway cheap pack or a single. One store kept the live football game on, and it provided a nice ambience as the small community chatted about the game, picking numbers from a board to see who might score a possible chase card with a ratio of 1:20 (1 chase chard for every 20 guesses), paying for each guess. You could pay a bit more to have two or three choices.
Fire Sales are My Friend
Another store I like occasionally has a fire sale to get a ton of product moving in a short amount of time and will do the sudden-death option, But they can also rein them back if no one is bidding or the auctions are selling under the owner's sense of value. Totally fair -- it's their show, their rules.
Shipping Prices Vary
Whatnot itself controls the shipping process on a sliding scale; you typically pay a larger amount for your first purchase or winning bid, then it goes down to free if you get to, say, your fourth such win.
Different Loyalty Levels
Whatnot recently rolled out gold/silver/bronze loyalty tiered levels. The ways to achieve those levels are largely up to the seller, but typically you must watch X amount of shows or spend X smount of money to get to that level. The Bronze tier usually offers $5 store credit. Higher tiers, such as Platinum or Diamond, have private auctions. Also, the tiers are not lifetime, as they have a time-limit on them. Currently, all tiers will expire in early December, then the process begins anew.
Getting To Know the Whatnot Community
I suggest you get to know your sellers, even if you don't win. If you show up, win a 'givvy', or just hang in chat, send a tip if you like how they run their ship.
Every show is fully responsible for their proper packaging. The best ones include the Whatnot shipping labels that spell out what you won and for how much. The community aspect is absolutely encouraged because this is what makes it fair for all.
My only quibble with the website is that you do need to do your own accounting when it comes to prior bids and wins. It does give you a running account of your shipping details and what you won, but you'll need to access it on the app for the best results.
Descriptions are totally up to the owner's discretion. If you do check via the app, you can click through to the activity section to see what your past purchases were, then you click through to a clip provided by the owner to see what you had won. Again, the best shows follow through with all the details, so you don't have to.
Whatnot is ultimately a fun and quick way to find great sports cards. And even if you don't partake in the shows, just do a search for a specific card, and it may already be part of a seller's list for auction or a Buy It Now.
Here are some items I’ve won off Whatnot in the past few months, with their prices:
From Wiscobid:
1989 Hoops Jordan - $5
2022 topps Chrome Baseball German Marquez Sonic Green Ray Wave Refractor 71/99 - $7
2015 Topps Heritage: Nolan Ryan insert card - $15
From Hobbyboxny:
2014 Panini Golden Age: Bill Mumy patch insert - $7
Ditto of Vivien Leigh - $6
Topps 2024 Baseball Series 1 pack: Gavin Williams Baseball Stars auto RC, 149/199 - $6
From Swamilee:
1952 Topps Clyde King - $10
1948 Bowman Snuffy Stirnweiss - $14
1964 Topps NL Batting Leaders - $14
1964 Topps Koufax - $42
From Retrometrocards:
2023 Panini Football Contenders: Trea Turner auto $18
Also, the following card is my biggest pull yet! Dated from Nov. 2, from Wiscobid on whatnot. I waltzed in to see the host posting pre-production Leaf packs up for bid. I won the auction for $20. He opened it — and look at this beauty! He's ONLY a major Heisman candidate now!
Get into the madness as a buyer with my Whatnot referral link, and you can receive store credit, randomly selected between $10 and $200 once you make your first purchase.
Want to be a Whatnot seller? You can join up here.
⚾ BASEBALL CARD TRIVIA!
Send me the answer to this question – you could win this free card from me! 2021 Topps Update Mike Schmidt – Cards That Never Were #CNW-8
Can you name the two players who have been Card No. 1 the most times (five) in Topps Baseball flagship checklists dating back to 1952?
Email your answer to gonoscards@gmail.com and you can win this 2021 Topps Update Mike Schmidt card! Rather than take the first person who answers it right, I’m going to do a random drawing of all the people who answer this question before midnight, Friday, December 6. Winner will be announced in Dec. 12 newsletter.
Read the Question from Nov. 21: Answer before Friday, Nov. 29. Prize: 1979 Topps Willie Stargell! Winner will be announced Dec. 5.
Question from Nov.14: What was the year Topps didn’t produce football cards for the first time since 1955? No one has answered this one correctly yet, with a 1986 Topps John Elway card on the line! Send me your guess! Winner announced next week!
🏈 ⚾ 🏀IF PATRICK IMHOFF BECAME CEO OF FANATICS: #19 of 23
Imhoff breaks down all the moves Fanatics should make, just two years away from when they unify the baseball, football and basketball card licenses in 2026. He shared his first move in our June 20 newsletter, and he’ll continue to share more of these going forward.
No. 19 – BETTER REWARDS PROGRAM
I would look at the current rewards program Topps offers and anything Fanatics offers. I would compare them with rewards programs from sellers like Dave & Adams Card World and Steel City Collectibles. In the end, I would ensure the Topps reward program would be equal to, or exceed, all others.
You can subscribe to Patrick Imhoff’s Substack Newsletter here.
🏈 ⚾ 🏀 REMEMBERING THE BEST ROOKIE CARDS FROM 1977 IN EACH SPORT!
In 1977, Luke Skywalker joined the rebels against the Empire, The Bee Gees were busy Stayin’ Alive, and we found out, we wouldn’t like Dr. Bruce Banner when he’s angry! Here are your top sports rookie cards from 1977!
Baseball:
Basketball:
Football:
Hockey:
Strangely, there really weren’t any rookie cards worth owning from these three sets.
Coming Next Week!
⚾ REFLECTING ON 1976 TOPPS ALL-TIME ALL-STARS!
🏈⚾🏀 SPORTS CARD TRIVIA!
🏀🏈⚾ IF PATRICK IMHOFF BECAME CEO OF FANATICS
⚾🏈🏀 CARDS THAT MAKE US HAPPY!
***Important Card-Collecting Articles on DavidGonos.com***
Connect with David Gonos on:
Email me: mailto:gonoscards@gmail.com
Have a #HappyHobby!
Podcast Music: "I dunno" by grapes - 2008 - Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution (3.0)
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