How Ive made my Whatnot business profitable in 6 months. (Buckle in, if you’re interested! This is a long one!)

I feel like I have had success in the 6 months that Ive been doing Whatnot as Virginiatreasurehunter. Some may disagree, but I am very happy with how my business has grown. Ive had people asking how I started and built things up and I thought I’d share if anyone is interested. Keep in mind this worked for me, it may not be the best way for you.

-Consistancy. I tried a couple of different times and dates before I settle on Friday evening being my ‘set show’ day. I have a show every Friday, I have adjusted the times, but my shows are Friday evenings and I stick to it. Ive only cancelled one (I had the flu and wanted to die, so I thought

$$$-It costs money to make money. I DID pay to promote for the first 3 months. The analytics showed I was getting sales from promotion, but more importantly I was getting bidders and return visitors who initially came in from promotion.

$$$-MORE ‘It takes money to make money’. (This is the really unpopular one). I had $1 starts my first show, $3 starts after that, now I do all $4 starts. Yes I lost money on many items in the beginning. I sold many awesome pieces, many that I would guess Brad would get $30-$80 in his shows, for $3-$15. I knew I had to do this to build my business and considered it an acceptable loss. I congratulated my buyers (very upbeat and cheery, even when I was sad about it) and moved on to the next item. This has cost me the most money, and its been worth every penny.

-KEEPING PEEPS IN THE ROOM. I did/do this several ways. I thought ‘People have so many rooms they can scroll through, how can I keep them in mine?’

My show thumbnail and title gave people a reason to stay. To start I gave a lot of jewelry away.

- Plan your background thoughtfully. Give them something that takes time to look at. Brad uses a mirror and his zany personality along with the flats of amazing jewelry he’s selling. He’s shopping with a show, personified! However, for us mere mortals…..

I now set up all ‘bangers’ in the background. Amazing higher end pieces I have preloaded, a few for auction, but mostly in the BIN. I do run flash sales during my shows on those pieces and I always make a nice profit on them. I could do a better job of featuring them during my shows..but that another topic, lol. By having those in the background there is always something really nice to look at, and if asked I tell people to look in the shop at the piece then I show the item up close and run the sale. I think people sometimes look and then research and come back because I am often asked to run a piece a second time, and then it sells, sometimes even a show or two later.

$$$-My 1st and 2nd show I gave 1 piece of free jewelry with every purchase. Basically buy one get one. The free pieces were decent quality and I tried to give pieces similar to what people had bought. If someone had bought a lot, I made sure I included at least 1 really nice freebie. (Remember, It takes money to make money). By my 3rd to 6th show, I gave a free gift in each package rather than each purchase. Again, the gifts were similar to what they had bought. I have gotten a lot of feedback from return customers in the chat that the free gifts were thoughtful, people really liked them (cuz most of it was really good stuff!).

$$$-Giveaways. I like to believe I give good giveaways. My go to is “You will get a piece of vintage jewelry and if you’ve made a purchase, I will try to find something I think you will like. If not, I will pick something I think anyone would like”. This can be time consuming after the fact, BUT, I cannot tell you how many repeat customers I have gotten from it. Also, at least once a show, I would pick one really nice item as a Givey. I would show it and tell everyone to stay tuned, That awesome item was coming up in a future Givey! Now, I source some kind of magnifiers (It’s my logo, so I hope people think of Virginiatreasurehunter when they see their jewelers loupe, little magnifying glass, they will think of me)

I have also gotten many, many buyers who initially win a giveaway, then stay and buy, initially because of the discounted shipping, then because they like what Im selling. I pay no attention to sellers who are negative on giveaways. You do you. I love free stuff, If you give me good free stuff and you show me jewelry I like, I’ll buy it! (While I wait around on the chance to get more free stuff). Much of my feedback mentions that someone loved the free stuff I sent.

-THE WAY I SELL THE MOST. Again this is what works for me.

I started with scan shows. I found this to be very time consuming and often found the person who requested the item ultimately was not the winner. Then I realized as a buyer, I just want to see what sellers had, if I liked what was on the screen, I’d bid on it. I’d watch Brad…emptying entire flats, selling 200 pieces a show. I wanted to do that, so I did! I also like a faster pace, so I try to run fast.

I stopped scanning and started setting up flats, $4 starts, everything on the tray goes. If I think it needs a ‘boost’ I run a couple of things together. If it doesnt sell, I put it back on the tray and runt it as a lot at the end of the tray. Im thoughtful when I set up the trays to put a good mix of items on each tray. It I get a request and I know its coming up and can easily get to I take a second to grab it. (KEY IS A SECOND). I DONT spend too much time looking for anything, if Im not actively running something, I make sure Im talking. If I can get it quick, I ask them to stick around, its coming up, I make a note of who asked and when I find it I ask someone in the room, or a mod if I have one, to tag the person who asked to get them back, give them a minute to get there and run it.

I try not to focus on one person for too long, we have all been in shows where one or to people in the room are dominating the sellers attention and that derails the show. People dont stay in a derailed show.

I also try to run items quickly, this is really hard sometimes because I love to talk about jewelry. If youve been in my shows you may have heard me say “Just shut up and run it Christine!” So I try to be accurate and quick! (Thats a work in progress for me!)

MODS

They are new for me! I started selling with exactly 6 followers, days after I signed up for the app. Until recently I have never had Mods, (Only mom, who really has no idea, lol) Can I run my show without them? Yep! Are my shows better, more fun and more profitable with them? 100% absolutely! It has taken me a while to make friends, but I can say I have met some great folks for sure! I credit Brad and this group with making my business a success. This group has allowed me to make friends and through mutual support become more successful. I like to believe I add something to their shows when I can be there, I KNOW I love having them in mine. I dont care if any of them ever buy anything, just being there, showing support it awesome! The banter and interaction makes the shows so much more fun! And as Brad posted earlier the algorithm seeks out fun, engaging shows.

So THANK YOU BRAD, FOR THIS GROUP. AND THAKS TO ALL THE AWESOME FRIENDS IVE MADE! YOU ALL ARE THE BEST! AND I CANT THANK YOU ENOIUGH!

WRAP UP AND GOALS

If youve gotten this far, wow! Thanks for reading! (Back to the awesome peeps Ive met!). Ive only been doing this 6 months, but Im happy with where I am. I have had the luxury of having the capital available the Spend money, to make money and that has worked for me. It may not work for you, but if something I wrote today helps you build your business, then it was worth my time! We will all continue to learn and grow, even faster with the help of others! Thanks for being here my friends! Just remember ‘You Rock! You can do this! We can do this!”

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