Whatnot's New Commission Tiers, Explained (+ Free Calculator)

Whatnot emailed sellers this week: starting September 21, the flat ~8% commission is going away. In its place is a tiered structure where your total sales over the trailing 28 days sets your rate for the next 28 days. Sell more, pay less. Sell less, pay the top rate.

The tricky part is the mechanics. This isn't a rolling average that updates every time you make a sale. It's a lookback-then-lock system, and if you don't understand how the lock works, you'll misjudge your own rate all month. Here's exactly how it works, plus a calculator so you can see your number instead of guessing at it.

How the New Tiers Actually Work

Every 28 days, Whatnot looks back at your total sales across every category in the period that just ended. Wherever that number lands sets your tier, and that tier is locked in for the entire next 28-day period, no matter what you sell during it. Sell your way into a higher tier in period one, and you keep that rate for all of period two, even on a slow week. The reverse is also true: a hot 28 days doesn't help you until the period after it ends.

What This Means By Category

The rate you actually pay also depends on what you're selling. Whatnot uses one rate curve for Sports Cards and TCG, and a separate, steeper curve for everything else.

Sports Cards & TCG

Standard sellers pay 8.00%. That drops in steps as your trailing 28-day total climbs, all the way down to 6.50% at the top tier. Sports and TCG get the gentlest curve Whatnot offers, so grinding toward the next tier pays off faster here than anywhere else on the platform.

Everything Else (Comics, Video Games, Sneakers, Jewelry & More)

Everything outside Sports and TCG falls into Whatnot's Other Collectibles bucket, and the curve is steeper: 8.00% at Standard, dropping to 5.00% once you clear the middle tiers. You hit the floor rate sooner in dollar terms, but you're paying more at every tier below it than a Sports or TCG seller would.

A Worked Example

Say a Sports Card seller does $40,000 in trailing 28-day sales. That lands them at Tier 2, paying 7.50% instead of Standard's 8.00%. Sell $10,000 more before the period closes and they'd clear the $50,000 mark for Tier 3, locking in 7.25% for the entire next period. Miss it by a dollar, and they're stuck at 7.50% for another 28 days regardless of what they sell next.

Calculate Your Rate

Plug in what you sold over your last 28 days and your main category below, and see exactly what tier and rate that puts you in, plus how far you are from the next one.

The Bottom Line

The math rewards volume and punishes inconsistency. A seller who sells steadily every period earns their way into a better rate and keeps it. A seller who has one huge month and then goes quiet loses the discount right when they'd want it least. Know your trailing 28 days going into September 21, because that's the number that decides your first tier under the new system.