I see on Reddit a lot of people are going on TikTok now because they have like insane coupons for getting modern for 25-30% off MSRP and live breaks happen exactly like Whatnot.
Maybe unpopular opinion: I’m sick of all these live breakers, it just promotes gambling… especially underaged gambling
I would not be shocked if TikTok overtakes WhatNot. It’s becoming the go-to app for entertainment and live shopping. Like QVC for young people.
It is only going to get bigger with time. I believe it is an under-utilized marketing tool. The amount of traffic a livestreaming online seller can get basically for free is just astounding.
I hate the gambling games as well, but what can you do? People want to be exploited. I had a ~2k sub YouTube channel in the diecast car space and called out a gambling scheme one time. All of the people that participated vehemently defended the guy that was running it saying he was doing a good thing for the community. Like drug addicts protecting their dealer. I don’t know what to do with people that behave like that.
opening packs is gambling to start with. it’s just a matter of how convoluted the scheme is after that
I truly hope this isn’t an unpopular opinion.
I personally cannot withstand almost any tcg content on reddit, youtube and absolutely not TikTok. It’s not my cup of tea.
But I think we all agree that the way this gambling in disguise is trying to reach younger audiences is deprecable: pack opening, lootboxes, here in Italy even people encouraging underage to play lotteries, scratch cards, football bets.
Maybe i’m a boomer inside lol, but isn’t this stuff literally frying the dopamine receptors of younger generations?
How about selling stickers for something like $5 each and oh by the way with each sticker you also get a raffle entry to win something that’s been hyped to the moon lately?
And all of this in a hobby where blind boxes aren’t really a thing- you just buy whatever car you want if you manage to find it. Even the Hot Wheels mystery bags have codes printed on the outside that tell you what car is inside.
Sorry for the ranty attitude. It’s not directed at you, rather this whole situation/culture.
lol yeah its pretty bad. gambling addiction is a serious problem (that i’ve dealt with multiple times throughout my life). for many, these types of services like box breaks, etc, are a rush… and there will be people to exploit it
The biggest social media platforms are competitors to all other social based platforms. It’s true for whatnot, rare candy, e4, even for the larger platforms against each other.
The barrier to entry is not only low, it’s negative. The amount of times I’ve ended up on the “install tiktok app” page (not by my choice) is unreal.
If tiktok wants to lean into the live selling model, the chance of survival for whatnot is nil
