Whatnot Throws Black Friday Sale For Sellers With 0% Commission Promo
Live selling platform Whatnot is flipping the script on Black Friday, slashing fees for sellers and promoting featured shows to kick off holiday shopping season.
What is the promo?
On Friday, November 29th, Whatnot will drop Commission Fee rates to 0% on all auction and marketplace sales within the promotional period for all sellers in the US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.
The promotion will run for 24 hrs and is localized to your timezone from 12:00 AM - 11:59 PM on Friday, November 29th, 2024.
It only applies to commission fees - the payment processing fee for each transaction still applies (2.9% + $0.30 in the US, see applicable payment fees for other locations here.)
All auction and marketplace sales within the promotional period will be eligible. When you schedule or start your show does not impact if this promotion will apply to a sale — the only thing that matters is when each individual listing’s purchase is processed.
If a customer submits an ‘Offer’ on a listing prior to the start of the promotion and you accept the offer within the promotion period, the promotion will not be valid. This promotion only applies to ‘Offers’ that are both submitted by the customer and accepted by the seller within the promotion period.
For 'Anytime Auctions,' any auction that ends during the promo period qualifies for 0% fees, no matter when it starts.
Whatnot will also be choosing special shows to feature during the Black Friday event, allowing who are planning a particularly fun/entertaining show or who will offer significant deals to apply for the opportunity.
If your show is selected to be featured in this campaign, it will be featured at the top of the category page that you’re selling in.
How to apply:
- Schedule a show during the promo period that is centered around an amazing deal that your buyers won’t want to miss.
- Submit an application to be featured by November 27th. Be sure to include a link to your scheduled show(s).
If your show is chosen, it will be visible on your category page on November 29th. Regardless of your show being chosen or not, take advantage of the 0% fees starting at 12:00 AM on November 29th (your local time).
The one day promo is an interesting move at a time when competing marketplaces have been experimenting with changing their fee structures, with varying degrees of success.
Etsy-owned Depop dropped their seller commission fees in the UK and US earlier this year, shifting some fees to the buyer side of the transaction.
Liz Morton
Mercari US removed seller fees earlier this year as well, instituting buyer fees instead - and it has not gone well. 7 months later they continue to struggle with massive abandoned cart problems as buyers encounter sticker shock with fees added in at check out, they've laid off ~45% of US staff, and the US CEO will be "resigning" at the end of the year with the Japan CEO taking over.
Liz Morton
Poshmark speed ran their own version of this test, splitting the fees between buyers and sellers, and it was such a disaster they reverted back to the old fee structure in ~3 weeks.
Liz Morton
And eBay has dropped selling fees in all categories except Motors for private sellers in the UK, with buyer fees slated to be introduced in Q1 2025.
Liz Morton
Running a 24 hour no commission promo is a smart strategic move for Whatnot that will allow them to compete for seller time, attention and best deals for the critical shopping holiday without committing to longer term fee structure changes that have clearly proven more difficult to navigate than other marketplaces had imagined.
