Gambling, Purchase-Based Prizes, Break and Mystery Box Policy

Gambling

Facilitating or promoting gambling and selling gambling products is prohibited on Whatnot. Some examples include:

• No paid raffles or other randomized results. Paid entries to races, wheels, raffles, roulette spins, or other randomized results for a prize. For example:
  • Selling a spot in an online race between ducks for a cash prize
  • Auctioning raffle tickets to win a video game console
• No lottery sales: The sale of lottery tickets is not permitted 
• No Casino-style Games: Facilitating casino-style games, such as poker, blackjack, slots

Purchased Based Prizes

Whatnot strictly prohibits sales containing purchase-based prizes, where the purchase of an item qualifies the buyer for a chance to win an additional item (or items), entry into a game, or other prizes. Examples include:

• Paid bounties, or other sales where an item purchased also carries a chance at winning an additional item or prize. For example: 
  • Offering an extra box of cards if someone gets a holographic card in the break you are conducting
  • Offering to purchase or trade for a product if hit within a specific show  
  • Advertising to purchase or trade for a collectible product with contingencies on when or where the item will be purchased 
• “Guess games,” “mapping games,” or other sales offering a prize for someone correctly guessing the contents of a concealed purchase (such as a particular trading card in a sealed pack).
• Any game where the item purchased has a chance of “activating” the receipt of a prize or entry into another game of chance. For example:
  • Offering a raffle ticket for a prize each time a buyer makes a purchase, even if no additional cost is required     
  • Giving buyers who spend a certain amount of money an entry into a duck race for a prize, even if everyone in the race wins an item
  • Conducting a raffles or other games of chance for unsold spots in a break or game
  • Adding “golden tickets” or other items within a break or mystery game that further randomizes the team assigned or item received.
  • Games that provide a chance to receive an item from, or entry into a different game such as “cascading” mystery or pull games.
• Offering buyers an entry into a game of chance where they may win a prize based on the position of their bid. For example:
  • Advertising a prize for the best card pulled at the end of a day or night 
  • Providing a prize for the highest bidder of a stream, triggered at random 

We encourage you to consider alternative ways to engage and reward your viewers. Follower-only giveaways or other games that do not require a purchase or payment are permitted. Additionally, items such as gifts offering grading using our integrated grading service, or other rewards that are guaranteed upon purchase are permitted.

Breaks (e.g., Card Breaks, Box Breaks)

• Sellers may only sell as many spots as there are cards available, so that each buyer receives an item
• All buyers in a break must receive an item
• All breaks must be opened live
• Fillers, which are raffles used to fill unsold break spots, are not permitted on Whatnot
• Sellers, their family members, members of their household, or employees are not permitted to enter breaks they are facilitating on their own account.

Pull Games

• A pull game is where a buyer picks a number within a range that equals the total number of items in a stack and the seller pulls the corresponding numbered item from that stack   
• In pull games, sellers must show the entire set of items being pulled from on screen
• Similar to Mystery Boxes / Packs (see below), sellers must list the following details about the stack they are pulling from in the product's name / description:
• Floor price (minimum/lowest value item in the stack)
• Ceiling price (maximum/highest value item in the stack)
• Average price (average price across the stack)
• Total number of items in the stack

Pack Wars / Spot Wars / Box Wars

• A “pack war”, “spot war”, or “box war”  is a game where multiple people buy a pack / box / spot and use the cards from these purchases to compete against each other in a winner-takes-all scenario

• Wars of any type are prohibited on Whatnot

Mystery Boxes / Packs

• All Mystery boxes / packs must be opened and shown during the livestream
• All Mystery Boxes / Packs must be kept on screen during the show
  • If you are selling in a category outside of Sports Cards or TCG and have Early Payout, you are not required to have all Mystery Boxes on screen during the livestream. If you are found abusing this, Early Payout will be disabled and you may be banned from the Whatnot platform
    • However, you must have a proxy system on screen that denotes which mystery item a buyer has won, and the designated box/pack must then be shown and opened on-screen during the livestream
    • Again, the above does not apply to any Sports or TCG breaks and mystery packs - keep all packs visible and on camera at all times regardless of Early Payout status

• Across all categories, if you are found abusing mystery boxes to manipulate bids, you will be banned 
• Be Truthful about Pricing: Do not mislead buyers about the value of a box by mentioning the highest potential value of a mystery box
• As stated in the Community Guidelines, if you cite the value of an item, be prepared to back it up with real data on comparable market prices 
• Never inflate the market value of an item, including "mystery boxes" and other compilations. Market estimates of mystery boxes / packs must be available upon request; misstated values may lead to order cancellations, buyer refunds or platform banning
• List product category, along with 4 elements of market price in product name and description, using the mystery pack slider feature. Unless your mystery pack or mystery item is a professionally pre-packaged product (e.g., Hit Parade, Leaf, Target), you must list in the product's name/description the following four elements of market price of the product:
• Floor price (minimum/lowest value of the box/item)
• Ceiling (max/highest value of the box/item)
• Average price (average price across the box/items)
• The number of items that these statistics span

• Please see the example below:

Example of acceptable mystery pack description

Build Your Own Box

• For Build Your Own Box, all boxes are built once the purchase is complete or as buyers bid for the box / pack. Buyers should receive items with a combined fair market value that is in line with the winning bid. Violation of this policy may result in removal of your eligibility to run such sales or banning of your account from Whatnot.

If you have any questions, please click here to contact our Seller Support team.