Pre-Stream Sports Card Inventory Checklist for Whatnot Sellers

The difference between a chaotic Whatnot show and a smooth, high-earning one usually isn't talent. It's preparation. Sellers who hit Go Live with their inventory organized, priced, and loaded into their dashboard move faster, answer buyer questions instantly, and lose far less time to dead air.

This checklist covers everything to do in the hour before you go live. Run through it before every show until it becomes muscle memory.

60 Minutes Out: Inventory Prep

Physical staging

• Sort cards into sell order. Box breaks follow naturally. Mixed lots should group by player, set, or price tier so you're not searching mid-show.
• Face out showcase cards. High-value pieces should be immediately reachable without fumbling.
• Clean your slabs. Fingerprints kill on camera. Wipe graded cards before the show, not during.
• Clear your table of no-sell cards completely. If it's on your sell table, chat will ask about it.

Pricing review

• Check eBay sold listings for any card you're unsure about. Two minutes here saves you from leaving money on the table.
• Update notes in your inventory dashboard. If your overlay shows notes, buyers see them live — keep them accurate.
• Set a floor on make-offer cards before the show. Mental math under chat pressure mid-stream is a recipe for underselling.

Load Caddie

• Every card you plan to sell tonight needs an inventory entry. Missing items mean dead air when a buyer asks about something you didn't load.
• Confirm images are attached. The overlay pulls card images — missing images mean blank cards on your stream.
• Double-check item numbers if you use them. Buyers reference the number on-screen when they're ready to buy.
• Set availability to available on everything in tonight's show. Mark anything you're pulling as unavailable.

30 Minutes Out: Tech Check

Overlay and OBS

• Open your Caddie overlay URL in a browser and confirm it loads. Five seconds now prevents a blank overlay surprise mid-stream.
• In OBS, select your Caddie browser source and confirm it's visible in your active scene.
• Send a test push from the Caddie dashboard. Confirm the card appears on the overlay in the right layout.
• If you changed your OBS scene layout since last show, verify the overlay isn't clipped or buried behind another layer.

Hardware and connection

• Check your camera angle. Buyers should be able to read card text when you hold a card up to the lens.
• Lighting is even — no glare on slabs or top loaders. Rotate a slab under your lights before the show, not while chat is watching.
• Test your microphone. Loud background noise kills engagement faster than almost anything else.
• Run a quick speed test. Under 10 Mbps upload means potential stream issues — switch to ethernet if you can.

10 Minutes Out: Final Prep

• Announce the show on Whatnot if you haven't already. Scheduled streams send push notifications to followers.
• Open the Caddie dashboard alongside your streaming setup so it's reachable without alt-tabbing around.
• Queue your first 3 to 5 cards in the search panel so you can push them the moment you go live.
• Water nearby. You'll be talking for hours.
• Pick your opening card — something clean, visual, and attention-grabbing. First impressions set the tone for the whole show.

The Quick-Reference Version

Pin this next to your setup:

• Cards sorted and staged
• Prices confirmed against current market
• All items loaded in Caddie with images and prices
• Overlay URL confirmed loading
• Test push sent and confirmed visible in OBS
• Camera, lighting, mic checked
• Stream announced to followers
• Caddie dashboard open alongside OBS
• First 3 cards queued in search panel