How much whatnot sellers make
A worked night of sales, taken from gross down to profit per streamed hour, and the four numbers that say whether a show was worth doing.
Updated · 6 min read
Take sales, subtract fees, labels, refunds, giveaways and stock cost, and divide by hours. On the made-up night below, $855.00 of card sales left $343.62 profit.
$114.54
Profit per streamed hour: $855.00 of card sales over 3 hours, after every cost.
One night, worked through
Made-up numbers. A seller buys 60 trading cards for $360.00 ($6.00 each), streams 3 hours, sells 57 and gives 3 away. One card ships a day late with no drop-off scan and never arrives, so the refund is billed back. Every sale is $15.00, and buyers pay $4.47 shipping plus 8% tax.
Buyers paid $1,178.19 for $855.00 of cards. After fees, giveaway labels and the refund, $703.62 reached the balance.
- Sales that stood, 56 cardsThe refunded sale comes off, fees and all
- $840.00
- Commission8% of each card's price
- -$67.20
- Processing2.9% of what each buyer paid, plus $0.30
- -$50.40
- The refundThe buyer's shipping and the processing fee, billed back
- -$5.37
- Giveaway labels3 labels at $4.47, paid by the seller
- -$13.41
- Cost of the cards soldAll 57, the lost one included
- -$342.00
- Cost of the cards given away
- -$18.00
- Net profit
- $343.62
That's $114.54 an hour on camera, or $85.91 with an hour of packing. Fees use the standard 8% card commission. From September 21, 2026, $15,000 or more of sales in four weeks earns lower commission for the next four; processing is the same at every tier.
Four numbers that decide it
Change any of these and profit per hour moves:
- Average sale. At $15.00, the fixed $0.30 is 2.0% of the price, and fees take 14.0% in all. Cheaper cards pay a bigger share.
- Stock cost as a share of price. Here 40%. Each $15.00 sale adds $6.90 profit.
- Sales per hour. 19 here. Each extra one adds $6.90 an hour.
- Giveaways and refunds. The 3 giveaways cost $31.41, about the profit of 5 sales. The refund cost $11.37 with the lost card, about the profit of 2 more.
Work out your own
- Record what each lot, case or collection cost when you buy it. Cost per card follows from the count.
- Note when each show starts and ends. Reports record order times, which differ from how long you were live.
- Count giveaways and refunds against their show, even when a refund posts weeks later.
The profit calculator has this night filled in, minus the refund. For real shows, whatROI reads your Weekly Orders Report and Show Reports, spreads each lot's cost over what sold, and gives each show its profit per streamed hour.