ThredUp Launches Live Selling On Whatnot, Eyes Bigger Seller Partnership
ThredUp is officially entering live selling through Whatnot, bringing millions of secondhand items directly to livestream shoppers while also exploring ways to supply inventory and technology to other sellers on the platform.
The company announced the partnership September 29, with live shows originating from ThredUp distribution centers in Atlanta, Georgia and Dallas, Texas. Its first Whatnot show kicked off Tuesday afternoon, with more warehouse sales already scheduled on the company's new Whatnot account.
Buyers will eventually have access to secondhand items across value, contemporary and luxury brands, with the company planning to increase the frequency of live shows as it builds out the new channel.
But ThredUp appears to have bigger plans for the partnership than selling its own inventory. The company is also exploring ways to give existing Whatnot fashion sellers access to its inventory, along with data-driven tools that would help them curate products for their audiences and logistics support to get those products into sellers' hands.
CEO James Reinhart called the Whatnot launch "just the beginning," saying the companies are looking at additional ways their technology could be combined to support existing Whatnot sellers. ThredUp is already directing interested live sellers to a separate signup page to learn more about sourcing inventory through the company.
ThredUp has already been expanding beyond its traditional managed-consignment model through Direct Listing, the peer-to-peer selling option it opened to a broader beta in June. Direct Listing lets sellers create their own listings, set prices and ship directly to buyers while ThredUp provides the marketplace and optional returns infrastructure.
Despite Whatnot getting top billing in Tuesday's announcement, ThredUp doesn't appear to be limiting its live selling plans to one platform. The company is currently recruiting Live Seller/Hosts for its Atlanta and Dallas-area distribution centers, paying $25 to $30 per hour plus commission.
The job listing says hosts will run shows on "Whatnot and other live selling platforms," starting with an expected two to three shows per week and adding more as the program ramps.
Hosts will pull and prepare items from ThredUp inventory, present details about brands, sizing, condition and styling during livestreams, answer buyer questions and report sales trends back to merchandising teams. The roles are structured as independent contractor positions and call for hosts who can stay on camera for two-hour-plus shifts.
Whatnot has expanded well beyond the trading cards and collectibles categories that built its early business, with fashion now its largest category by order volume. The company reported more than $8 billion in live GMV in 2025 and said sellers generated more sales during the first half of 2026 than they did during all of last year.
That growth helped Whatnot raise another $545 million at a $20 billion valuation in August, nearly doubling its valuation from the previous funding round, as the company continues investing in category expansion, seller tools, international growth and trust and safety.
Whatnot has also been working to attract larger merchants and brands, launching a Shopify integration earlier this year that lets sellers synchronize inventory, product data and orders rather than maintaining separate systems for their Whatnot business.
Liz Morton
Chief Product Officer Tom Verrilli said at the time the company wanted merchants to understand Whatnot was no longer just for small sellers, with the platform increasingly targeting businesses that need to move large amounts of merchandise.
Whatnot has also been using pricing to court high-volume sellers, introducing new volume-based commission rates this month that can push fashion commission down from the standard 8% to 4.5% for sellers doing at least $500,000 in sales over four weeks, with even lower custom rates available to the platform's largest accounts.
Liz Morton
Other recommerce companies have also been moving further into live selling. Vinted Ventures joined a $26 million funding round for live auction app Tilt earlier this year, calling live selling a format with strong potential in fashion and beyond.
Poshmark has spent years building Posh Shows around its fashion marketplace and has increasingly brought brands and retailers into employee-run live events while courting larger enterprise sellers. eBay, meanwhile, has stepped up investment in eBay Live after a relatively slow start following its 2022 launch, including testing a “streaming as a service” model that connects sellers with third-party hosts to run livestreams on their behalf.
Liz Morton
Whatnot's own 2026 State of Live Selling report claimed women's fashion sales on the platform increased 223% year over year, part of a broader move into everyday retail categories beyond Whatnot's collectibles roots.
