A good Whatnot show is mostly decided before you go live. This guide covers the week before, a pacing target for the show itself, and a simple run of show you can copy.
Whatnot's Seller Academy recommends scheduling your show about a week in advance, so you have time to promote it and viewers can bookmark it. Two more things it calls out:
Whatnot also suggests pre-loading your inventory so you can spend the show talking with chat instead of typing listings.
Pre-loading is only half the job. The other half is being able to find any item in seconds while chat is moving. Sort physical inventory by category, load every item into one searchable list with a photo and a floor price, and test the list on your phone. The inventory management guide walks through this, and the sports card checklist has a version for cards.
Whatnot does not publish a show-length or pacing target. Reseller guides fill the gap. Underpriced suggests about 1.5 to 3 minutes per item including the auction countdown, which works out to 20 to 40 items an hour. It says most shows run 60 to 120 minutes and, depending on pace, plans for roughly 25 to 80 or more items. Treat those as one source's estimates and measure your own pace across your first few shows.
A quick way to size a show: take the minutes you want to run, divide by your average minutes per item, and load 20% extra as a buffer. A 90-minute show at 2.5 minutes per item is 36 items, so load about 43.
This is a suggested template, not a Whatnot rule. Adjust the minutes to your show length.
| Segment | Minutes | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Open | 0 to 5 | Greet viewers, say what the show covers, ask what people are hunting for |
| Warm-up items | 5 to 20 | Lower-priced items that move quickly and get people bidding |
| Main block | 20 to 70 | Your core inventory, mixing price points, taking requests from chat |
| Premium items | 70 to 85 | Highest-value items, with an announcement before they start |
| Close | 85 to 90 | Thank buyers, announce the next show, remind people to follow |
Requests are where shows stall. A viewer asks for something, you say you have it, and then there is a minute of silence while you look. Our dead air post covers ways to fill gaps. The faster fix is to stop searching by hand: Caddie Watch reads chat, spots the request, matches it against your inventory, and puts the item on screen for you to push live.
Using only Whatnot, you can do a fair amount once the stream ends. Seller Analytics lets you review individual shows from the last 30 days, with metrics like estimated sales, earnings, order count, average order value, buyer count, follows, max concurrent viewers, and your top buyers by sales and by orders. From Seller Hub you can export a Show Report (CSV) with item-level sales, fees and totals, buy shipping labels, print packing slips, and check video receipts for 60 days after a purchase. Use all of that to note which segments sold best and where chat went quiet. Those notes make the next run of show better than the last. The catch is that these tools are built around the buyers who paid and the orders you now have to ship.
Caddie has been reading chat and tracking every push, bid and sale the whole time you were live. So when the stream ends, you do not start from a blank spreadsheet. You start from answers. Here is what you get.
Caddie's Analytics tab has 24 built-in analytics, and the post-show ones are the ones that change what you do next week:
Caddie also gives you a recap and a show log for the whole broadcast in one click, so you can review what happened without scrubbing through video.
Every auction ends with someone who bid and lost. That buyer already wanted the item, already has a card on file, and is the warmest lead you will get all week. Caddie's Lost bidders list shows who they were and what they were chasing. Click message and Caddie drafts a note that names the exact item, copies it, and takes you to their Whatnot profile. You paste it in and send it. Caddie writes the message and you stay in control of every send, so it still sounds like you.
A Buyers to message list tells you who else is worth a follow-up, and your top buyers by spend and your audience breakdown show you who to take care of first. Whatnot's own tools tell you who bought. Caddie also tells you who almost did.
Run your next show with Caddie and the follow-up list is waiting when you end the stream. Start the 14-day free trial below. It is full Pro, and no card is required.
Whatnot details above are from the help center articles on Seller Analytics, Show Reports, and managing orders.
Full Pro, no card required. Caddie reads your chat, matches requests against your inventory, and puts the item on your stream.
Start your free trial← Back to all guides