Shopify x Whatnot Integration

Whatnot integrates directly with Shopify, making it easier to sell live while keeping your operations streamlined. Products, inventory, and orders automatically sync from Shopify to Whatnot, so you can manage everything in one place without manual updates.

How does it work? 

Whatnot’s Shopify Sales Channel app connects your Shopify store to Whatnot. Upon connecting, your products sync over automatically in the auction format, using the pre-existing price you set for that item.

When products are synced, key details, including titles, descriptions, variants, pricing, and inventory, stay up to date on both platforms. Shopify remains the source of truth for synced fields, helping prevent conflicts and ensuring consistency. Whether you’re selling through Buy It Now (fixed-price listings) or live auctions, this integration helps you move inventory faster, without adding extra manual work.

Where is it available? 

In the Shopify App Store across the U.S., UK, Canada, Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, Germany, and France.

Here is how to get started:

• Step-by-step setup instructions
• Product FAQs
  • Setup & general
  • Pricing & metafields
  • Inventory sync & troubleshooting
  • Orders, bundling & fulfillment
  • Orders from inventory created on Whatnot
  • Duplicate listings & bulk editing
  • Data & privacy

Step 1: Install the Whatnot Sales Channel App 

Search for “Whatnot” in the Shopify App Store, or visit https://apps.shopify.com/whatnot in your web browser and click Install.

Once it’s successfully downloaded, you'll see an installation confirmation screen.

Step 2: Connect your Whatnot account to Shopify and import your products. 

After installation, the Whatnot Sales Channel will appear in the bottom-left sidebar of your Shopify admin. Click Whatnot in your sidebar, then select Connect to Whatnot.

*If you don’t have a Whatnot account, you will be prompted to create one. 

A window will open asking you to authorize the connection between your Whatnot account and Shopify. Please note: you must use an account that has either Owner or Manager level permissions to authorize the connection.

Click Authorize. The window will close and your accounts are now linked and your products are synced. You can verify the connection by clicking the Whatnot app in Shopify and checking your account details.

Step 3: Confirm your products synced correctly.

In your Shopify admin, open the Whatnot Sales Channel from the sidebar. Then go to the Sync Statistics section to confirm that your products synced successfully.

You can also click Inventory in the left sidebar to see all synced products.

If any products failed to sync, they'll appear under Inventory → Failed Inventory with an explanation of what needs to be fixed.

Step 4: Set your Whatnot-specific prices and info using product metafields

The "Whatnot Auction" and "Whatnot Buy-It-Now" price metafields let you set Whatnot-only prices without changing anything on your Shopify site or other channels. Leave a field empty and Whatnot will just use your regular Shopify price for that format. To find these fields, scroll down on the product page.

Whatnot-specific pricing matters most for auctions. When your products first sync over, they default to auction format at your full Shopify price, but most auctions need to start below retail to encourage people to bid. Therefore, most Shopify sellers set a lower Whatnot auction price. If you also plan to sell some items as buy-it-nows, you can set a separate price for that too if it deviates from what exists on Shopify.

Key detail: you can't change prices on Whatnot itself, only on Shopify. So filling in both metafields ahead of time is what gives you flexibility during the show. If you decide to switch a product from auction to buy-it-now (or vice versa) mid-show, Whatnot pulls the right preset price instantly. Skip this step, and you lose that flexibility and have to go back into Shopify to alter your prices.  

Step 5: Configure listings in Whatnot

By default, new products synced from Shopify to Whatnot will be available as Auction in your Inactive inventory tab on Whatnot. 

Buy It Now lets buyers instantly purchase an item at a fixed price during a show or from your profile, instead of bidding in an auction. 

You can then activate your Shopify products as an active Auction listing by adding them to a live show. Shopify-synced listings can be identified by the Shopify icon on the bottom-right corner of the listing image.

To change a product to an auction, open the listing detail page in Whatnot, update the format to auction, and either assign it to a scheduled show or save it as a draft.

For bulk format changes, use the bulk edit tool – then use Force Sync All Products in your Whatnot channel app settings to restore the correct prices.

Products from Shopify will have a shipping profile automatically assigned based on the weight set in Shopify. If you'd like to create a custom profile that better suits your fulfillment needs, you can do so on Whatnot and attach it to your imported Shopify listings.

Note: Changing the weight of a product in Shopify will reattach a Shopify-based shipping profile to your listing and you would have to manually re-attach any custom shipping profile you had previously assigned to that item.

Step 6: View your Whatnot orders in Shopify

After you make sales on Whatnot and your live show ends, the orders will appear in your Shopify orders page with the sales channel as “Whatnot.” During the live show, orders are first created as draft orders in Shopify (visible here).Once the live show ends, those draft orders are automatically converted into full orders.

Product FAQs

Setup & general

Can I link one Shopify store to multiple Whatnot accounts, or multiple Shopify stores to one Whatnot account?

At this time, only a one-to-one connection (one Shopify store to one Whatnot account) is supported. We're working on expanding this.

Which platform is the source of truth — Shopify or Whatnot?

Shopify is the source of truth for product data and inventory. Changes made in Shopify sync to Whatnot. Edits to shared metadata fields like title, description, and price are not allowed within Whatnot. 

Use Whatnot-specific metafields in Shopify (like Whatnot Auction Price, Whatnot Buy–It-Now Price, Whatnot Title, Whatnot Description) to create overrides that only appear on Whatnot.

How often does inventory sync between Shopify and Whatnot?

Syncing is event-driven and near real-time — it triggers when a product is edited in Shopify or when a sale occurs on Whatnot. There's no scheduled batch. If you want to trigger a sync across your entire catalog, click Force Sync All Products in your Whatnot channel app settings.

Pricing & metafields

How do I set a different price for Whatnot without changing my Shopify price?

Use the Whatnot Auction Price and Whatnot Buy-It-Now Price metafields in Shopify. When set, the integration will display that price on Whatnot instead of your main Shopify price. If you change your Whatnot item from auction to buy-it-now, or back again, it will pull from the appropriate metafield. If you don't use these metafields, any change to your Shopify price will override your Whatnot price on the next sync.

To set Whatnot price across multiple products at once, use the Shopify bulk editor: go to Products, select items, click Bulk Edit, add the Whatnot Buy-It-Now Price and Whatnot Auction Price columns, and enter the desired values.

Can I also customize my listing title and description for Whatnot?

Yes. Use the Whatnot Title and Whatnot Description metafields in Shopify. If those fields are left blank, the listing will use your standard Shopify title and description.

How do the Whatnot Auction Price and Whatnot Buy-It-Now Price metafields and Sales Delta interact?

The Whatnot Auction Price and Whatnot Buy-It-Now Price are applied first, and then the Sales Delta setting is applied on top of it. For example: a product priced at $100 in Shopify, with a Whatnot Auction Price of $50 and a Sales Delta of -10%, would import to Whatnot at $45.

Can I sync both an auction price and a BIN price for the same product?

Yes. Fill in the “Whatnot Auction Price” and “Whatnot Buy-It-Now Price” on the product page metafields. The product will only show up as one format or another, but when you edit the format on Whatnot, it will automatically grab the right price. 

Inventory sync & troubleshooting

Why aren't my Shopify listings syncing to Whatnot?

Check the Failed Inventory section in the dashboard of your Whatnot Sales Channel app — it will show which listings failed and why. 

Common causes include:

• Missing required fields: Every product must have a title, at least one image, a price, an inventory quantity, a valid weight, and a valid shipping profile.
• Product not active or not published to Whatnot: The product must be set to Active (not Draft) and published to the Whatnot sales channel in Shopify.
• Country/region mismatch: Your Shopify store's primary region must match your Whatnot seller account's country (e.g., a U.S. Whatnot account requires a U.S. Shopify store).
• Variant issues: Missing SKUs or prices at the variant level can block the entire product from syncing.

Why is my inventory not updating correctly between Shopify and Whatnot?

If this happens, there are a few common causes:

• Inventory tracking is not enabled in Shopify for that product. To enable it, open the product in Shopify and toggle on Inventory tracked in the Inventory section.
• Variant quantities or prices are missing.
• Inventory was changed directly in Whatnot and was then overwritten by the next Shopify sync. Always make inventory changes in Shopify.
• The product has incomplete required fields (see above).

Why do some items sync to Buy It Now but not appear in my livestream inventory?

Livestream listings have different requirements than Buy It Now:

• Inventory must be greater than 0
• All variants must have valid quantities and prices, meaning no negative inventory and price >$0
• The product must have a shipping profile
• Some categories require additional attributes; missing those can block livestream availability even if the product shows as a synced Buy It Now

How do I fix products where only some variants sync?

Ensure every variant has a price, quantity, active status, assignment to the Whatnot sales channel, and a weight. After fixing those fields in Shopify, re-sync from the Whatnot app. Problem variants will appear in Failed Inventory section on Shopify with specific error messages.

If I delete my Shopify listings on Whatnot, will that affect my Shopify inventory?

No, the items would only be deleted on Whatnot. All your Shopify inventory would remain as-is. If you wanted to recover the deleted inventory on Whatnot, you would need to resync it from Shopify.

Orders, bundling & fulfillment

Why do livestream sales create draft orders in Shopify?

During a livestream, purchases are accumulated as draft orders in Shopify to support bundling — so when a buyer purchases multiple items throughout your show, everything can be combined into a single shipment. When the show ends (or bundling is complete), the draft order is converted to a finalized Shopify order with all line items and quantities consolidated.

What happens if a buyer purchases multiple items during a livestream?

All items are combined into a single draft order, then finalized as one Shopify order per buyer per show. All variants and quantities are included, and inventory is decremented normally. If a particular item didn't sync correctly, it may appear as an unmapped line item and may need manual editing.

Why aren't my Whatnot orders showing up in Shopify?

• Country or currency mismatch between your Shopify store and Whatnot account
• Shopify settings or a third-party app blocking order creation
• If you sell internationally, confirm your Shopify store allows sales in all countries where your Whatnot buyers are located

Why aren't fulfillment updates syncing back to Whatnot?

Fulfillment syncs back when:

• The order originated from Whatnot
• The fulfillment includes a tracking number
• The order hasn't been manually altered in Shopify

If sync isn't working, try re-adding tracking or updating the fulfillment status to re-trigger it.

Can I use Whatnot labels and still manage orders in Shopify?

Yes. When you generate a label in the Whatnot Seller Hub, the label URL is stored in a Whatnot Label metafield on the corresponding Shopify order, and tracking is appended automatically. You can manage fulfillment from Shopify while still using Whatnot-generated labels.

Can I use my own labels to fulfill my Whatnot orders?

Yes, once you have been approved for our Bring-Your-Own-Label (BYOL) program. Sellers approved for BYOL can generate labels with Shopify or a 3rd party label generator (ShipBob, ShipStation, etc.) and the integration will automatically import the tracking info into Whatnot.

Orders from inventory created on Whatnot 

Are orders synced to Shopify from Whatnot for inventory not created in Shopify?

By default, inventory created exclusively on Whatnot are not synced back to Shopify. However, if you go to the Settings page in the Whatnot Sales Channel app there’s a toggle that you can enable to sync orders from Whatnot.

Duplicate listings & bulk editing

How do I remove duplicate listings after setting up the integration?

Use the Seller Hub inventory tools to identify and delete duplicates. All Shopify-synced listings are marked with a Shopify logo, making them easy to identify. Note that bulk editing is limited to 100 items per page (select "Show 100" to maximize each editing session).

If I bulk edit listing formats, will it affect my prices?

Yes. Bulk editing format will also update prices for all items in the batch. After bulk editing, use Force Sync All Products in your Whatnot channel app settings to restore correct prices from Shopify.

Data & privacy

Can I use buyer information from Shopify orders for email marketing or off-platform outreach?

No. Buyer contact information is passed to Shopify using aliased relay emails. Using these records to market to Whatnot buyers off-platform is a violation of Whatnot's policies. To read more about it please see our community guidelines.

Have a question not covered here? Reach out to Whatnot Support via Seller Hub.