Livestream Selling on Whatnot vs Poshmark: Auctions vs Posh Shows

Whatnot and Poshmark are both popular resale marketplaces where sellers list secondhand and new inventory, and both now offer live auction selling. They arrived at it from opposite directions, however. Whatnot was built as a livestream auction marketplace from the start, while Poshmark introduced live shows as a feature in its already-established fashion resale marketplace. That difference shows up in almost every part of the selling experience, from what fees you can expect to pay for each sale, to how quickly items sell on livestreams.

Because of the inherent differences between Whatnot and Poshmark, choosing the right platform for your business requires much more than comparing fees and selling costs. In this guide, we'll cover how live selling works on each platform, compare fees, selling formats, and audience to help you understand which one is better suited to your inventory and selling preferences.

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Key Takeaways

• Whatnot was launched as a live auction platform, while Poshmark added live shows to an established fashion resale marketplace, making the livestream selling experience fundamentally different on each platform.
• Whatnot takes a smaller cut of each sale than Poshmark, but a lower fee rate doesn't necessarily mean you keep more at the end of every sale.
• While live selling is optional on both platforms, it's how most buyers find items on Whatnot. On Poshmark, it's typically a complement to standard Closet selling.
• The two platforms reach different buyers, which is why many sellers list on both instead of choosing one.

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How Live Selling Works on Whatnot and Poshmark

The technicalities of live selling are different on Whatnot vs Poshmark, from determining how an auction is set up to who can host one in the first place. Below, we'll walk through how Whatnot's live auctions work and how Poshmark's live selling events (known as Posh Shows) work, and understand what running a show actually involves on each.

Whatnot Live Auctions

Whatnot was established first and foremost as a livestream shopping marketplace, where auctions are the most common way items sell during a show. Sellers set a starting bid when creating a listing, and determine the start time of the auction and how much time buyers have to bid during the live show. When there are less than 10 seconds left, each new bid resets the clock to the counter bid time, keeping competitive items open until bidding stops. Alternatively, sellers can choose the Sudden Death option, which ends the auction at 00:01 with no extensions. Whatnot auctions typically move quickly, with many lasting 30 seconds or less.

It's important to know that auctions on Whatnot cannot be cancelled or stopped once they begin, so you need to be sure you're willing to sell the item to the winning bidder before you offer it to buyers at auction. Unlike eBay, Whatnot does not allow sellers to set a reserve price for auctions, which means that the highest bidder gets the item. To avoid selling an item for a price that's too low, make sure to set a realistic starting bid. Furthermore, listings for items you enroll in a show must also be reserved for a live show, though sellers can enable pre-bids on items before the show starts.

Poshmark Posh Shows

Poshmark introduced Posh Shows in 2022 for sellers in the US and Canada. There are three types of Posh Shows:

1. Live Shows - sellers appear on a livestream and sell items via auctions or at set prices, often an Exclusive Show Price that's valid only for the duration of the show.
2. Silent Shows - livestream events where only item images are displayed, and sellers interact with buyers via live chat. Auction is the only possible format for this type of live show.
3. Share Shows - sellers can offer more diverse shows by featuring listings from other sellers' Closets, with the earnings when the item sells going to the original seller. Both auction and fixed price selling formats are available for this type of live show.

Like Whatnot, Poshmark does not give sellers the ability to set a reserve price for auction items, but does allow sellers to determine their starting bid. For items that will be harder to sell, Poshmark offers what's known as "Low Start" shows, where all items have a set starting bid of $5.

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Whatnot Auctions vs Posh Shows: Fees, Format, and Pacing

Knowing how livestreams work on Whatnot and Poshmark is important, but it's far from the only consideration you'll need to take into account when deciding where to sell. It's equally important to know what a sale costs on each respective marketplace, how the selling format and buying culture affect the style and pace of a show, and what kind of buyer you can expect to participate in your shows on each marketplace. In this section, we'll go over each one of these to help you understand which platform best suits your selling niche and style.

Fees and Payouts During Live Sales

Whatnot splits its fees into two parts, and both apply to every item sold, whether it goes through a Live Show auction or a Buy It Now listing:

• Commission: 8% of the item's final sale price for sellers in the US, Canada, and Australia, excluding shipping and taxes.
• Payment processing: 2.9% of the total order value plus a $0.30 transaction fee. Total order value is what the buyer pays at checkout, including shipping and buyer-paid tax.
• Reduced categories: Coins & Money and Pallets are charged 4% commission instead of 8%.
• High-value orders: 0% commission on the portion of a sale above $1500 in select categories.

Poshmark's fees are much simpler, and apply to both Posh Show and regular listing sales:

• Sales of $15 or more: a 20% commission.
• Sales under $15: a flat $2.95 fee.

Depending on what you sell and at what price point, it might make more sense to list on Poshmark rather than Whatnot, or vice versa.

Selling Format and Pacing

As a fast-paced, primarily livestream marketplace, live shows on Whatnot are deliberately designed to create a sense of urgency. Auctions are short, sellers move through a lot of items, and the final sale price is set by bidding rather than by you. Buy It Now listings can also be reserved for live, adding to the anticipation, and Flash Sales let you discount a listing temporarily while you're on air.

Poshmark is a fundamentally different marketplace with different buyers, which is why live shows on the platform are not as fast-paced. Sellers have more control over the clock, can set the auction duration and the counter-bid timing in advance, or even skip bidding entirely by switching a listing to Buy Now at an Exclusive Show Price. Items that don't sell go back to your Closet at their normal price, available for purchase and ready to feature again in a future show.

These differences are not just important for understanding the type of selling experience you can expect on each marketplace, but actually affect the types of items that are best suited for each one. Whatnot's fast-pace is better suited for high-volume sales at a variety of price points, while Poshmark's slower and more customizable pace is better suited to smaller batches of mid- to high-value items that you can spend more time on.

Audience During Live Shows

Whatnot launched as a collectibles marketplace in 2019, and trading cards, sports memorabilia, comics, and coins are still its largest categories. Its audience skews male, though women make up a growing share as the fashion and beauty categories expand. Live auctions are especially suited for these types of buyers, since they already have vast specialized knowledge about the product they're after and can recognize it easily during a live stream. As such, Whatnot works best for inventory a buyer recognizes on sight, such as collectible cards, as well as branded fashion, streetwear, and vintage clothing.

Poshmark is an established fashion marketplace that existed long before live selling, with an audience that skews female and millennial. The marketplace was created to emulate a social media experience, so shoppers tend to prefer browsing Closets, liking items, and engaging with sellers, often with the expectation to negotiate. Posh Shows draw on that same crowd, which makes them a better fit for clothing, shoes, and recognizable brands where fit and condition can easily be conveyed on camera or in the chat.

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Whatnot vs Poshmark Buy It Now and Non-Live Auctions

While live shows are a core format on Whatnot and a growing one on Poshmark, they're far from the only way to sell on either platform. In this section, we'll cover how traditional product page listings — both auction and fixed-price — work on Whatnot and on Poshmark.

Buy It Now Listings

On Whatnot, Buy It Now listings appear by default in your Profile Shop, the storefront where buyers can purchase items from traditional listings (known on the platform as Marketplace Listings), either during a show or at any other time. Sellers can enable offers on these listings, run Flash Sales on them during a show, or turn on Reserve for Live to restrict listings to a specific live show.

On Poshmark, every item is a fixed-price Closet listing with offers open to buyers by default. Even items that you only have on live shows must go through a listing process, albeit a much shorter one, in order to be purchased. Buyers can send offers, you can send Offers to Likers, and you can drop prices during Closet Clear Out events.

Non-Live Timed Auctions

Poshmark has no non-live auction format at all, with bidding only possible through auctions in a Posh Show. The closest thing to standard auctions (like those made popular by eBay) are Silent Shows, which are live auctions with listing images and countdowns instead of sellers appearing in front of a camera on live stream. These are still scheduled shows that you have to be present for in order to interact with buyers in the chat, however. Silent Shows are a good middle ground for sellers who are not comfortable appearing on camera, but still want to take advantage of the urgency and high selling potential of auctions.

Whatnot has begun gradually introducing a non-live auction format, previously called Anytime Auctions, that runs an auction outside of a show. Since Whatnot is primarily a livestream-based platform, these auctions can be pinned inside a live show to draw attention to them. The feature has been slowly introduced by category, starting with categories like sports cards, sneakers, comics, and luxury bags & accessories, and is expected to be available in additional product categories in the future.

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Whatnot vs Poshmark for Sellers: Which Fits Your Style

Whatnot works best for sellers who can go live regularly and bring plenty of items to each show. Buyers tune in expecting auctions and bid through inventory quickly, making it an ideal platform for sellers who deal with high volumes of stock. Poshmark, on the other hand, is better suited for sellers who prefer to carefully curate their Closet and let items sell on their own for the most part. As a Poshmark seller, hosting a show is an occasional way to boost engagement or sell items that have already collected likes and attracted offers. In our experience, sellers who don't want to be on camera tend to do better on Poshmark, while those who don't mind livestreaming have much greater success on Whatnot.

That said, plenty of sellers choose to get the best of both worlds by listing on both instead of choosing one or the other. The two platforms reach different buyers and suit different types of items, which makes multichannel selling the smart approach for sellers looking to grow their reselling business. Selling on multiple channels also means that your business depends less on any single platform, safeguarding it against sudden account restrictions, unexpected fee changes, and algorithm updates.

For many sellers, the obstacle to selling on more than one channel is keeping two sets of listings and one stock count in order by hand, which is exactly what ExportYourStore handles for you. With a smart AI crosslisting wizard, ExportYourStore allows you to designate a source store and automatically crosslist to additional sales channels from that store, so you don't have to create the same listing for every sales channel. Whenever something sells on one channel, ExportYourStore automatically reduces inventory or delists the item from all other connected channels, automatically keeping your stock in sync and preventing overselling. Use custom crosslisting rules to adjust prices to account for fee differences, ensure that every product gets an optimized listing tailored to each marketplace, determine what gets crosslisted to where, and so much more. Most importantly, ExportYourStore lets you continue working from your preferred platform — whether that's Poshmark, Whatnot, or any other marketplace, social commerce channel, or shopping cart — so you don't have to spend time learning the intricacies of every sales channel just so you can start listing.

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FAQs

Q: Can you do live selling on both Whatnot and Poshmark?

Yes, both Whatnot and Poshmark have livestream selling. To sell via livestream on Whatnot, sellers are required to submit a seller application, which in most cases is approved within minutes. Poshmark's Posh Shows are available only in the US and Canada, and require sellers to apply for approval before they can become a Posh Show host.

Q: What kinds of products sell best on Whatnot vs Poshmark?

Collectibles are Whatnot's largest category, so things like trading cards, sports memorabilia, comics, and collectable coins tend to do well there. Beauty, electronics, jewelry, and women's fashion have all been growing steadily on the platform as well.

Poshmark is primarily geared towards women's fashion including clothing, shoes, and accessories, with active home goods and beauty sections too. Brand-name pieces are easier to sell there, since shoppers often search and filter by brand.

Q: Which platform has lower fees during live sales?

In most cases and at most price points, Whatnot will have lower selling fees for live sales. Whatnot charges 8% commission plus 2.9% of the total order value and a $0.30 transaction fee, while Poshmark charges 20% on sales of $15 or more, or a flat $2.95 below that.

This means that, on a $50 sale, you'll earn $44 on Whatnot compared to $40 on Poshmark. That said, fees are only part of the picture, since what an item sells for and how shipping is handled both affect what you keep.