In a interesting twist, Whatnot updated their policy to remove bounties and their gambling atmosphere.
Will this change their reputation in the hobby? Will people still sell on the platform? Will people take their business elsewhere?
Rhetorical questions, it won’t. They will always be synonymous with cheap thrills and negative publicity. Gambling and Pokémon should never mix.
Agreed. The closest thing to gambling in Pokémon should be just opening a pack of cards. I still have no desire to use Whatnot and will continue to have a negative connotation with the name…
Dang I just made the same thread at the same time! 
We can just use this thread for the topic! Really curious what everyone thinks about the update. If Raffles are truly banned that would be massive. I personally never liked any of these chance gimmicks.
Yeah, raffles just allow children to gamble…Now I’m not sure what the age restrictions on Whatnot were, but I’m sure some kids have bought into breaks just because they want that chance to win something big.
lol great minds think a like
I’ve been following this closely because, as I’ve mentioned before, I consigned my lifelong collection through Blake’s Breaks about a year ago. I have a lot of complicated feelings and anxiety about that.
The big thing at the time that I discussed with Blake was that I did not have any faith in this new platform. I had never even heard of WhatNot. I didn’t understand the business model. I said that regardless of how much experience or confidence he had, I didn’t have any at all. It was asking a lot of me to consign my cards through him utilizing such a novel and unfamiliar medium.
He assured me the auctions would be successful, he guaranteed me a minimum payout, he was positive this would be the best way to maximize the cards. We signed a contract giving me a safety net and I trusted him. It was slow going and entirely out of my view, but he delivered on his promises.
Now it feels extremely weird to reflect that the model he used to sell my cards no longer exists. That this method he touted and sold me as the future of the hobby (bravado, of course) has crashed and burned under his weight. The entire thing is so extremely fucking weird.
As much as the story is not about me, I can’t help but think about how lucky I was to not be one of those people where something went wrong. I really hope there was nobody just like me who got caught in this bear trap right as it snapped shut. If this all played out while he had my cards, I’ve have been devastated. I can’t even imagine that.
This is huge. Pokemon WhatNot is synonymous with gambling. I wouldn’t be shocked if some of the big WhatNot streamers took their business to Drip or other platforms.
Have not participated in whatnot auctions before, did whatnot say why they cancelled offering this? Seems chance games made their business and core client sellers
I would have treated your cards better! 
Glad you shared that experience! There are a lot of people who got caught in the “guarantee” or other too good to be true sales tactics. I’ve probably lost multiple consignees by being brutally honest about no price guarantee, even though their cards would probably hit at or above their expectations. Anyway its another chapter of too good to be true.
The platform is synonymous with dumb garbage like this, and attracts a lot of people who love dumb garbage like this. It will be really interesting to see how many people continue to use the platform now that it can’t be used for what probably brought them to the platform in the first place.
I know you would have. But my cards weren’t graded, and I wasn’t a Patreon member. He used his connections at CGC to get my cards graded in a week at no cost to me. What he was offering at the time was an ultimate convenience because I couldn’t afford to grade my own cards.
I actually told him that I’d really be more comfortable doing business with someone like yourself, or Rusty - who I have a history with. But the fact he was willing to grade my cards for me when I otherwise couldn’t afford to do so was huge.
But yes - I wish in retrospect I’d just been more patient and worked with a trusted name who respected my collection.
Reminds me of the OnlyFans debacle where they temporally restricted p on their site. Maybe they’ll follow in those footsteps and walk back on these policies when they see revenue drop.
policy versus implementation… interested to see any results
Good riddance.
The platform is a shit show anyway. There have been a couple of instances too where people take advantage of people’s ignorance of a non-tcg item and claim it’s super rare and expensive when it is at most slightly uncommon and cheap. The platform continues to feel like it supports predacious people looking to exploit the masses so this feels like a step in the right direction.
I still refuse to have anything to do with it though.
I just hope it doesn’t move onto ig
It’s been on IG for years unfortunately
I guess I don’t follow many people who do that. I know a few live box breakers but I’ve never once seen a bounty.
I realize raffles are all over ig
Whatnot sounds like infomercials from the 90/00s targeting young people, but even scammyer.
Banning raffles is always good!
Stopped opening packs since months ago. Now mainly buying singles.
Opening packs is technically gambling. It corrupts your mind and lures you to keep on buying more and more packs.
That’s why it is better and wiser to just buy singles.
