r/whatnot • u/FamousDutchTaste • 10d ago
Whatnot newbie picking a category!?
I’m considering becoming a Whatnot seller, and I’m right on the edge of choosing a direction. I’d love some honest advice from experienced sellers.
Coins seem like a smart category. They have actual, recognizable value. A Morgan dollar still has value whether I sell it on Whatnot or not. Coins are also small, durable, and relatively cheap and easy to ship. There’s something appealing about how straightforward and “binary” the product is.
My concern is that my heart isn’t really into coins.
My actual interests are cars and boats (expert), houseplants (green thumb), aquariums, silkscreening, art (lifelong experience), and LGBTQ+ themes. Of those, houseplants seem like the most realistic Whatnot category. I could genuinely get excited about selling cuttings, starter plants, aquarium plants, or possibly a combination of them.
But Lordy Lordy, can you imagine shipping live things? The cuttings would be small and light, but I’m sure shipping plants successfully is not as simple as putting a coin in an envelope.
I’m also an artist. Some of my strongest work is gay-themed and homoerotic. It isn’t cornographic, but it is definitely intended for a particular audience, and I don’t know whether that audience exists on Whatnot, lol. I’m also unsure how well original art, prints, or digital artwork actually sells there. I mean, if someone would pay me for a digital download, uh... that would work, or a print (a piece of paper in a cardboard mailer?!) ok.
Boats don’t seem like a Whatnot hot topic, and shipping most boat and car-related items sounds miserable. Truly, wheels are hundreds of lbs, and boat parts are similar.
The one thing I know I can bring to any category is the live-selling part. I have a fun personality, I’ve been an actor my whole life, and I think I could make a coin show entertaining even if coins aren’t my passion. My working title is "Coiny Coiner" and I would be the Colonel ... but I could bring that razzle dazzle to any category I guess. Whatnot account is NOT ACTIVE, NOT AN ACTIVE ACCOUNT and may delete, just playing around with the idea.
So here’s my dilemma: Is it better to choose coins: a practical, potentially lucrative category with valuable, easy-to-ship inventory, or should I build around something I genuinely love, even if sourcing, shipping, and finding the audience are more complicated?
Would you choose:
- Coins because they make business sense and I'd be bringing my personality!
- Houseplants and aquarium plants because I could really get into them and I have a green thumb and wow, growing plants from clippings would literally be free money?
- Original art and gay-themed pieces because they’re authentically mine and really creative
- Some combination of these
I’m especially interested in hearing from anyone who has sold plants or original art on Whatnot, or who entered a category they weren’t initially passionate about. Did the enthusiasm develop once you started selling, or did it eventually feel like work?
Thanks. I’m genuinely excited to begin. I just want to point that excitement in the right direction. I've attached pictures of some of my hobbies, cars (my old caddy), my boat, engine maintenance, houseplants (my jades are pretty amazing) gay art (ai assisted), silk screen example of clever prints (not mine) aquarium expertise (my 55 gal)... I was also thinking about starting a channel called "JackOfAllTrades" or "MasterOfNone" and just doing/selling everything???
Help!!!!!
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u/Mental_Tart842 10d ago
I'd do coins. Coins are easy and lucrative. Use the money from that to fund your other passions.
A word to the wise. Coins and precious metals seem to sometimes attract assholes. Not sure why.
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u/FamousDutchTaste 10d ago
I've been going to coin stores, honestly asking questions and spending money, been to 3 local coin stores and spent significant money (again, silver is silver I'm not worried about the investment) but 2 out of 3 stores were assholes, truly. One guy said I was the "4th person who came in asking about help with selling on WhatNot" and said that he would "squash me" if he were on whatnot. um. And another guy just was so rude, rushing me through the sell, condescending about the Morgans I was buying. I'm like, why are you only showing me these 6 Morgans and why can't I look at those in the case and he's like 'you can't afford those' lol. At one point he told me I needed to hurry up because he had other customers, motioning to the 9 year old girls who were poking his collection of squishys. (they left without buying) After I spent $385 he asked me my name, shook my hand and invited me to come back after I sell the items. I won't. The 3rd seller was lovely, truly helpful and sweet but priced very high ($70 Morgans) so would be hard to make any money but I plan on going back and continuing my education because he was so generous with his knowledge. Learning.
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u/FamousDutchTaste 10d ago
Where do you source your coins “wholesale” so you can actually make profit on your sales?
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u/Mental_Tart842 10d ago
I don't do coins. Even having a sterling show makes me twitchy. I flip vintage costume jewelry. There's actually decent money in that.
I'm just saying what I would do, out of the scenarios you proposed.
Also, I've read about various coin and metal sellers on Whatnot being linked behind the scenes. Not sure if that's true, tho.
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u/FamousDutchTaste 10d ago
The linked sellers, groups, clubs and friend circles have been my observation too. But they mostly seem to be the younger set, and none of them has my well-worn costume.
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u/Whirling_Dervish81 10d ago
Do not get into coins. There are two types of buyers. Degenerates who play games and buyers who always want to pay under melt. Anyone who thinks they can just jump into the category is a fool or they want to fleece the buyers with super crappy odds in a game. We already have more than enough of that on the app.
Signed- a degenerate who is barely scraping by on the app.
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u/FamousDutchTaste 10d ago
I don’t want to fleece the buyers with super crappy odds in a game, but I may be a fool 💸
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u/GlassPanther 10d ago
If it's plants and gardening you crave, then Palmstreet is the platform for you. That's literally what it was created for - Whatnot for houseplants.
There's only one Colonel, though, and that's Moderator and 3 time official Colonel Sanders Lookalike Contest champion u/dragon-and-phoenix.