What Actions We Take

How We Enforce Guidelines

Our goal is to make Whatnot a fun, safe, and trustworthy community for all our users. When users violate our Community Guidelines, they may be subject to corrective action. We take based on the severity, frequency, and type of violations. 

For most violations of our Community Guidelines, we will be issuing one of the following actions:

• Warning: We’ll send a warning notifying you of the violation; no further corrective action will be taken at this time. 
• Early Payout Loss: If you’re a seller with early payout, you may lose EP for a period of time.
• Suspension: You will temporarily lose access to the platform for 48 hrs or 7 days, depending on the violation; this may be coupled with the loss of EP.
• Ban: For repeated or the most serious offenses, we will permanently ban your account.

• Increased commission: If you are a seller, you may be subject to an increase in the commission Whatnot takes

The action that a user receives depends on the severity and frequency of the violation. For less severe violations, we typically issue a warning on the first offense. 

Some violations may expire after a period of time if the user has since demonstrated good behavior.

* During ongoing investigations we may temporarily suspend your access to features, including your ability to go live.

Example

Let’s say a user is soliciting off-platform payment for the sale of an item. Here’s an illustrative example of the actions the T&S team may take:

• On the first offense, the user would just receive a warning.
• If this behavior continues, the user may receive a suspension for subsequent offenses.
• Upon continued negligence, a certain frequency, and/or severity of offenses may result in a ban.  

Appeals

Please note that you will have the opportunity to appeal any action against your account. You can respond directly to the email of the violation to appeal. If you have any additional questions, please reach out to trustandsafety@whatnot.com.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Will these violations be additive? (e.g., will a first offense for ‘high shipping delays’ mean I get a second offense action for ‘harassment’?)
  • Some distinct violations that describe similarly problematic behavior will be additive. For example, a first violation of ‘high shipping delays’ followed by a violation of ‘shipping pricing abuse’ may result in a second offense action for the latter violation, given both violations describe fulfillment issues. 
  • However, violations describing completely separate behavior – such as shipping issues and harassment – would not be additive. 

• If a seller violates a policy on another platform other than Whatnot, could they still be actioned on Whatnot? 
  • If we have irrefutable evidence that you’ve violated our Community Guidelines off-platform, we can action against you on Whatnot per our policy. We have this policy in place so that we can act against bad actors in the hobby more broadly in order to safeguard our community here at Whatnot.
  • For example, if you’ve knowingly sold counterfeit items, harassed other users, not honored purchases or giveaways, or defrauded customers in any way off-platform, you may receive action from the Whatnot Trust & Safety team.