Smart Bundling™ is Whatnot’s automatic shipping optimization system.
It helps lower shipping costs for buyers and simplifies fulfillment for sellers by automatically grouping eligible purchases into shipments designed to ship more efficiently.
In most cases, you don’t need to manually bundle orders. Smart Bundling™ automatically evaluates purchases and determines how orders should be packaged and shipped based on factors like:
- shipment weight
- package dimensions
- carrier pricing
Smart Bundling™ is available in all markets where Whatnot operates.
What to expect as a seller
When a buyer purchases multiple items from you, Smart Bundling™ automatically determines the most cost-effective way to package and ship those purchases.
Many purchases will be combined into a single shipment. In some cases, orders may be split into multiple shipments if that results in lower shipping costs or a better shipping configuration.
When shipments are split:
- buyers will see multiple tracking numbers (one for each shipment)
- you’ll need to generate multiple shipping labels in Seller Hub
After a sale, you can review bundled shipments from the Shipments page in Seller Hub to see which items were grouped together for shipping.
Buyers can also view bundled purchases from their order details.
Note: If you’re shipping multiple packages to the same buyer, make sure each package matches the shipment grouping shown on the Shipments page in Seller Hub. This helps buyers track items accurately and helps make sure you’re paid on time.
Which purchases can bundle together
Purchases can automatically bundle together when:
- they’re made by the same buyer
- they’re made within the same sales channel
- the item’s shipping profile doesn’t include a maximum bundle size restriction
At this time, in-show and out-of-show purchases can’t bundle together.
If the same buyer makes multiple out-of-show purchases from you, those purchases may continue bundling together until you generate a shipping label.
Some offer purchases may still ship separately, including:
- out-of-show purchases accepted through offers
- live show offers accepted after shipping labels have already been generated for that show
Incremental weights
Some product categories automatically use incremental weights to help calculate bundled shipping costs more accurately.
Instead of applying the full shipping profile weight to every item in a bundle, Smart Bundling™ may apply a smaller incremental weight to additional items from the same category.
This helps keep bundled shipping costs lower for lightweight items that are commonly purchased together.
Smart Bundling™ can still bundle eligible purchases across different categories and shipping profiles. Incremental weights only apply to certain categories when bundled shipping weights are calculated.
Categories that use incremental weights include:
| Category | Shipping profile | Incremental weight |
| Trading Card Games | 0–1oz (0–28 g) | 0.5 oz (14 g) |
| Sports Cards | 0–1oz (0–28 g) | 0.5 oz (14 g) |
| LEGO | 0–1oz (0–28 g) | 0.5 oz (14 g) |
| Comic Books | 4–7 oz (113–198 g) | 2.5 oz (71 g) |
| Diecast Cars | 4–7 oz (113–198 g) | 3 oz (85 g) |
You can also create custom shipping profiles to override the system’s incremental weights and define your own bundling rules.
Example: If a buyer purchases 3 comic books listed using the 4–7oz shipping profile, the final shipment weight would be:
7oz (first comic) + 2.5oz (second comic) + 2.5oz (third comic) = 12oz
The first item in the bundle uses the full shipping profile weight. Additional items from the same category use the smaller incremental weight.
Manually bundling or unbundling shipments
Smart Bundling™ works automatically, but you can still manually combine or separate shipments after a sale when needed.
Learn how to manually bundle and unbundle shipments in Seller Hub.
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