Latest news with #Whatnot
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Vendors are bringing millions of dollars to The National to buy your cards
It's never been easier to sell your cards; it's also never been easier to get ripped off. Some vendors are looking to change that. At this year's National Sports Card Convention, the competition will be intense, though maybe not where you'd expect. This year, it's likely that more cards will be bought or consigned for cash than at any show in hobby history, largely thanks to a few key players. One of them, is betting that its unique offer will convince sellers to choose their table over anyone else's. There are only a few ways a vendor can differentiate their buying ability: what percentage they offer off the most recent comp, what percentage they will offer for trade, and how fast you get your money. Comp is an industry term usually used for the recently sold price of a card. At the National you will see signs indicating people will buy for 50% comps up to over 100%. It varies vendor to vendor, and you could see wildly different offers from one vendor to the next. If you're not careful, it's very easy to get ripped off. Why Has Buying Exploded at Card Shows The sports card hobby infrastructure has never been more alive. There are more places to sell and buy cards than ever before, from live platforms like Whatnot, Fanatics Live, and TikTok, to eBay's continued dominance in the hobby, vendors have no shortage of exits. Repack businesses have also emerged as a major outlet, with recently raising $30 million to scale their model. For dealers, picking up a card at a discount and flipping it that same weekend, often for a 15–20% margin, has become a reliable play. Alt's Offer Most tables at The National will offer instant cash, assuming they're actively buying. What makes Alt's offer stand out is the volume. According to an Alt spokeswoman, the company will double the amount of cash it brings for advances for the fourth year in a row. This year's goal is to offer multiple millions of dollars in advances. That means sellers have a reliable spot to get cash on the spot, any time during the show. Alt isn't just buying cards to flip like most vendors. Cards submitted are sent to auction, and the money you receive is a cash advance. Ultimately, you're paid full comp value once the auction ends, not just a percentage. Here's how it works: Bring your cards to Alt's booth (#2411) at The National. Alt evaluates your cards and makes an immediate cash advance offer. The percentage of comp offered varies based on the cards submitted. Once the cards go to auction, two outcomes are possible: If a card sells for less than the advance, Alt eats the loss. If it sells for more, you get the difference (minus fees) credited to your account. Tips for Maximizing the Offer for Your Cards at the National To get the best offer from any buyer, bring a wide variety of cards. A diverse, high-quantity submission reduces risk compared to a single, ultra-high-value card, which can lead to more favorable upfront offers. It's also important to understand your expectations. Price out your cards ahead of time and have a clear idea of what you're willing to accept. If one offer feels significantly off, ask about it. You're under no obligation to sell once you receive a quote. Additionally, buyers appreciate a prepared seller. Come early, sell early. Most buyers will eventually run out of cash or buy all the inventory they need. Don't wait until the last day when vendors are fatigued, ready to get home, and have already bought thousands of dollars worth of cards. Avoid selling lower-end cards. Buyers don't want to take 5 minutes to price out a card worth $5. If you have a lot of lower-end cards you need to get rid of at The National, your best option is finding a vendor who either accepts bulk for consignment or needs singles for Whatnot/TikTok. If you want to get the full value of your lower-end stuff, I would highly recommend visiting the COMC booth. With The National's buying scene more competitive than ever, collectors would be keen to leverage this buying environment in order to get the best possible return on their cards. What do you plan on selling at the National? Let us know on Mantel.
USA Today
4 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
PFL's unbeaten Alexei Pergande aims to shake prospect label, potentially enter tournament
COCONUT CREEK, Fla. – One of PFL's brightest prospects, Alexi Pergande, is eager to prove he's much more than that. The 24-year-old Pergande (6-0) is undefeated and quickly turning heads early in his career. All of his pro bouts have taken place within the PFL ecosystem, so he's been given a big platform to perform since the beginning. To some, that could be daunting, and Pergande admits he was no different. "The first few fights, I was definitely nervous to be on the bigger stage, but I feel like now I've crossed that border, that barrier, where now it's just excitement," Pergande told MMA Junkie at American Top Team. "Now, I just want to go in there. I want to do something flashy. As you can see, I always have those flying knees. I have elbows, I have back flips – everything I can to get the crowd excited, and to me, I'm a performer. I just love to do that." While Pergande embraces a flashy style to captivate the fans, his MMA idol, Georges St-Pierre, was a little more reserved in that aspect. He's picked up things from GSP that he implements in his game, that he hopes will help inspire future generations of martial artists. "Just because how humble he was and his skills in martial arts in general, he brought those two things really well together," Pergande said. "He wasn't quiet, but he was just very humble and just went out there and did his thing, and then moved on to the next thing – and that's kind of how I want to be. I love to inspire people and inspire the younger generation. I've been very active on TikTok and Whatnot and I've built a very big fanbase on there. I've inspired so many people that reached out to me and said, 'Hey, I started my martial arts career because of you.' To me, that's all I really need." In his second fight of the year, Pergande takes on Ethan Goss in a featherweight bout at 2025 PFL World Tournament 10: Finals on Aug. 21. It's his first main card placement of what he anticipates will be many. While Goss (12-7) doesn't bring a record that jumps off the page, Pergande expects he'll be mixing it up with the next level of competition next year, and is eyeing a potential entry into next year's PFL tournament. "One or two more fights, I'll be facing the guys that are in the tournament right now," Pergande said. "Possibly even, we'll see about next year if I'll be in there. We'll see. I'm not going to say anything yet, but that's on the horizon. I'm at the point in my career where I don't care who I fight anymore. Anyone PFL offers me, I say yes. It's up to them at this point. I'll say yes to anyone."
Business Insider
14-07-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
My side hustle is buying and reselling secondhand merch. I sold over 470 items and made nearly $9,000 in my first year.
The first time I dove into a Goodwill Outlet bin, I came out holding a broken belt, one flip flop, and a genuine Missoni shawl. Around me, other resellers were elbows-deep — with gloves on, masks up — tossing clothes like someone buried a gold bar in there. There was no actual gold to dig up, just the chance to make money flipping this "trash." Welcome to the Goodwill Outlet, aka "The Bins," as regulars call it. It's the final stop before auction, recycling, or the landfill. Here, you buy by the pound, so the Missoni shawl, which originally retailed for $350, cost me less than $2. I sold it for $62 on the resale app, Poshmark. It was not as much as I'd hoped, but the snags I overlooked before buying it lowered the value. I've been exploring this part-time side hustle for a little over a year. I sold my first personal item in February 2024 and started taking reselling more seriously, including regular trips to The Bins, at the beginning of that summer. Strategic finds like the Missoni shawl helped me earn nearly $9,000 in profit my first year. However, it wasn't just about the money. I've also decluttered my house and found an unexpected online community. I was inspired by my best friend and the online community My best friend had been thrifting for a long time, but once she discovered Poshmark, everything changed. Suddenly, her weekend hobby was making real money. She was the one who got me curious, but it was the supportive Instagram community that pulled me in. Before spending money on new inventory at thrift stores and The Bins, it's recommended by veteran resellers to start with items you already own. So, that's what I did. I looked around my house at all the stuff we'd accumulated, especially after having kids, and made a pile of things I wasn't using but couldn't quite let go of, until that moment, when they finally had a new purpose. There was the maternity dress I wore to a wedding, a pack of baby onesies with the tags still on, and a set of handmade ceramic mugs we'd made tea in once. In that first purge, I filled three trash bags full of stuff and listed it on my Poshmark store, Forsythe Canyon. I could tell I was just scratching the surface, so I started going deeper into the reseller community on Instagram, where I followed and interacted with top sellers who shared invaluable advice like how to research an item's sell-through rate and average sale price and where to find deals on live auction apps like Whatnot. Out of everything, what surprised me most was how collaborative reselling is. I'd promote other resellers' Poshmark stores on Instagram, and they would support me back. Everyone I meet has their own reason for starting. One friend put herself through college. Another uses her earnings to take her family on dream vacations, and one guy made it his full-time career after his ADD made traditional offices too challenging. I learned the hard way Resale is not competitive because the inventory is endless. Americans have way too much stuff. Spend even an hour at The Bins and that becomes obvious. The one I visit, staff roll out new blue carts brimming with unwanted items every 10 minutes, eight at a time, all day, every day from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Of course, all the support didn't stop me from learning the hard way. When I started sourcing outside my home, I overpaid for trendy items I didn't bother to "comp" (reseller speak for checking comparable sales), and ended up losing money on a few pieces I thought were "cute." My bookkeeping was a disaster until I found the reseller-friendly software Vendoo, which organized my messy spreadsheets into top-selling categories and brands, average sale price, and revenue vs. profit. When I look back at some of my early listing photos, I'm shocked that anything sold. There were too many shots with bad lighting, jeans half-out-of-frame, and wrinkled tops. That Missoni shawl was a lucky flip. My average sale price per item lands closer to $30, but that adds up. Within the first year of opening my reselling store, I've generated $14,000 in revenue, $8,700 after expenses, listed 784 items, and sold 474—all of which I photographed and wrote descriptions for with relevant keywords. Shopping and listing take the most time. My dining table has become a photo studio, covered in a white sheet and flanked by two lamps I stole from the bedroom. Some days, I'll list until my back aches. Reselling is my hobby, it's not a get-rich-quick scheme Reselling's not glamorous. Remember me digging through The Bins? It's also definitely not a get-rich-quick scheme. If I tracked my hours, I'm pretty sure I'm earning less than minimum wage. However, the flexibility is worth it to me. While the kids are in school and I'm between work projects, I'll swing by the Outlets, drop $100, and turn it into $600 within a few weeks. Not bad for a mid-morning treasure hunt. At night, while I have a show on in the background, I can crank out 20 listings and replenish my inventory. I like the environmental aspect, too. A pair of vintage, 1950s suede kitten-heel pumps that might otherwise have found their way to the dump found a new home in Palm Springs, where the buyer would slip them on as the statement piece for her bachelorette night outfit. I made just $16 on the flip, but the real reward was keeping them out of the landfill and giving them a second life with someone who couldn't wait to wear them. Reselling is an oddly satisfying mix of entrepreneurship, creativity, and connection. And yeah, there's the dopamine hit of finding a valuable flip. What started for me as a decluttering spree became a reminder: what looks like trash might actually be treasure. Sometimes you find treasure. Sometimes you find people. If you're lucky, you find both.
CNBC
30-06-2025
- Business
- CNBC
25-year-old skipped college—now her sports trading card company brings in more than $1 million a week on Whatnot
Dakota Peters wasn't sure what she'd do after high school. The 25-year-old Florida native weighed going to college but ultimately decided against it. Her older sisters taught her that if she didn't have a specific direction for studying, she was better off just getting work experience in the real world. During her senior year of high school, Peters shadowed her family in their commercial real estate business and ultimately went to work for the company post-graduation in 2017. But by 2021, she felt it was time to tackle something different. She and her sisters started selling sneakers from their decades-long collection on Instagram in 2017, and in the spring of 2021, Peters discovered that the live auction app Whatnot was another platform they could sell on. At the time, the app was only streaming sports trading card sellers but was planning to expand. As Peters waited for her opportunity to sell sneakers, she got hooked. Watching sellers "break," or unbox, sealed collectable cards "was just mind blowing to me," she says. "I was like, where did this come from?" Peters had always loved sports and decided to give selling sports trading cards on Whatnot a shot. In her first year, her profile brought in just over $1 million in gross revenue, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It. Today, her company Achickrips has multiple Whatnot seller channels and brings in more than $1 million in gross merchandise value per week. Here's how Peters built her booming business. There was a natural tie-in between selling sports trading cards and selling sneakers. If a sneaker is linked to a specific athlete, the popularity of their sneaker, like their trading card, depends on the success of that athlete's career. That basic understanding gave Peters a good base for learning her new field and a friend helped her procure the cards for her first stream. Streamers point a camera at card boxes and slowly unveil the contents of a box. Viewers can then let the streamer know they want to buy a card (or multiple). Peters' first stream was about four hours, she says, and she did it from about 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. to make sure she wasn't competing with other sellers. Less than 20 people tuned in. But she made, to the best of her memory, "maybe $500, $600," she says, adding that "the buyer base was just there for the taking." That first year, "I used to do 12 hour streams to 24 hour streams," she says. She would then answer DMs and work on sorting and shipping. She also built out relationships with card box sellers to ensure she got the highest-quality cards. "It felt like a 24-hour shift every day," she says. Given her quick success, Peters started hiring help that first year. At first it was part-timers who helped tackle the day-to-day of the business. In 2022, she made her first full-time hire. Today, Achikrips has more than 40 employees, she says. The majority of them work full time. People are "either sorting through the orders, [they're] shipping the orders, there's people doing customer service," she says. About half of them stream, in addition to taking on other tasks. The company now has five different sports trading profiles that sell football, basketball and baseball cards. In the last year, the company has also expanded to new fields: They now have a profile for selling thrift clothing and one for selling coins. Peters stepped away from streaming herself in 2023. It was getting hard to be "creating the ideas and paving the way for us to get there while still sitting behind and streaming multiple hours a day," she says. She's taken on a more high-level managerial role putting out fires as they come: "The Wi Fi is out in the corner, we're going to run out of [protective card] sleeves soon," etc. Down the line, she wants to get the company's channels to be streaming more hours of the day and to experiment with YouTube. "People are now making social posts solely about the entertainment factor of ripping the cards," or breaking them out of their packaging, she says, without even trying to making money off of them. That's an avenue she's interested in exploring. Five years ago, Peters hadn't even heard of Whatnot. Now, she loves what she's doing. "I couldn't dream of a better thing to call work," she says.
Elle
18-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Elle
Why Everyone Is Shopping on Livestream Right Now
In January, writer Liana Satenstein hosted an informal runway show in her living room. As friends-cum-models paraded through the narrow space, she announced each piece over the din of the well-heeled crowd. But to be in the room where it happened, you didn't have to score an IRL invite. You just had to tune in to the live selling-and-buying platform Whatnot. Shopping, for as long as it has existed, has been about more than just the practical act of purchasing goods. It's a chance to socialize, to indulge, to play. And now that e-commerce has become old hat, there's a desire to bring some real-life excitement to the online experience. Enter the livestream. Satenstein, who hosts a series of closet cleanouts she calls 'Neverworns,' started with in-person sales, but kept receiving messages when she'd post teasers online. 'What am I supposed to do? You have to either be here or too bad,' she thought at the time. Livestreaming became a way to bridge the gap—shoppers could get the full Neverworns experience, including a chance to purchase, from the comfort of their own homes. If boomers had QVC, livestreams are shoppertainment for the Twitch generation. 'Gen Z, and the up-and-coming Gen Alpha, sees social media as an entertainment platform just as much as traditional TV,' says Rebecca Rom-Frank, a marketing strategist for the trend forecaster WGSN. 'With the rise of video platforms, it makes sense that livestream shopping would follow.' Satenstein drew inspiration from QVC clips on YouTube and a 1989 interview with Donna Karan on a talk show called Attitudes. 'There's context, layers, history—and [Karan] has a model walk out in the clothes showing how something fits.' Since its founding in 2019, Whatnot has become a buzzy name in the live shopping space. In January, the platform announced that it had raised $265 million in new funding. According to Whatnot, viewers spend an average of over 80 minutes per day watching its content, more time than they spend on Instagram or TikTok. While they buy about 12 items per week, there are also plenty of users who are tuning in just to chat or listen, no purchase necessary. 'I hear time and time again that it feels like a TV show, where each week there's a new episode,' says Nica Yusay, who sells luxury handbags on the account FashioNica. Despite the convenience of a one-click checkout, there's a loss of community spaces. Shopping has become a solo sport, but livestreams can bridge the gap. Customers can get involved, connecting with like-minded shoppers—and the seller on the other side of the lens—without leaving the couch. Watchers ask questions on the fly, and sellers do their best to keep up, offering banter, backstory, and even try-ons in front of their audience. 'People ask me how many unitards I own at this point,' says Nina Chong-Jimenez, a Whatnot seller whose account, Lockitin, has made nearly 68,000 sales. 'At any given moment, I'm stripping down to put anything on that I can. It's important for you to see how a piece is going to fall on a person.' It's an added layer of transparency that's often lacking in apps or large online marketplaces: You can see the person behind the post, and get real-time info on the piece for sale, all while chatting with friends. With higher sale conversion rates than conventional e-commerce and a growing market share, livestreaming seems poised to keep winning new fans. For now, buyers and sellers are still figuring things out. 'There's no rhyme or reason,' Satenstein says of how much she ends up selling in a livestream. 'But I'm having a good time.'
