The Follow Me Notification Button - Episode 51

https://linktr.ee/KarriKennedy

This is only about this button and what Whatnot says about it and what we should think about it. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:29

Hey there guys. I hope everybody is doing really well. This is a different episode today. I am just going to do it really short and reply to a question that somebody had because I always, you know, I I do pride myself on integrity and honesty and telling you guys like the best practices, what I know, giving you the best advice. And uh if I screw up, I definitely want to find out, say it, make things right. That's just the way I am. And uh so to the other day, I guess this is yesterday, somebody sent me this following message, and I want to tell you why I think it's important. And so here we go. It says, I was listening to your Whatnot show this morning, and you suggested that people should put the price for the alert bell listings as$9,999. I have heard recently that Whatnot has been cracking down on listings like that. I don't know the details yet, but I think it's in the terms of service. And then I said, Oh, thank you. I'll check into that. And then the person goes on, you know, to say that they're not trying to be nitpicky or whatever. They just wanted to inform me. And I'm like, absolutely, no problem, you know. That's basically my thoughts on this. So I honestly, here's the deal. When I got onto whatnot, I did what everybody else did, right? If there's not a traffic sign posted that you see or you don't know if you're in like a different town or something, you're supposed to drive the same pace or average with the rest of the cars that are driving. I mean, that's just the the case in all of it. Um, if you're, you know, everybody else is going 30 miles per hour, you're supposed to be going 30 miles per hour if you cannot see the sign somewhere. And um, so I think I did that. I just got on whatnot and I was like, okay, well, you know, what is what does that look like? And let me get the best ideas and whatever. So I would go into people's shows and they had this little follow the bookmark kind of thing. And it's it's just like a regular listing for you guys who don't know. Um, but instead it has like a cute little thing that says, you know, follow me. Mine says ring my bell. Um, and some people say, you know, click to notify, whatever. Basically, it's not an item that you're actually selling, and everybody knows that because it doesn't say, here's said item for something. So um, you know, to me, when I had it on, I've this has been like the least three or four times. I I think I had like a 50 or a hundred, and then a five hundred, and then I went to a thousand dollars and they kept getting bought. And it never even occurred to me, quite honestly, to go into my inactive after it was sold, and I called the person and said, please cancel it. And you know, we we went through that. I didn't actually call them on the phone, but you know, we went back and forth through that. They have asked for cancellation and I cancel. Um, but this was like, I guess, I don't know, a week or two ago, I guess a week or two ago, that I put it in there for a thousand dollars, this little notification, so that when you click on it, people will be notified that you're having a show. It especially works well, like if you're having a pop-up and you're not regular and consistent, because it gives all the people who bookmarked it a notification. And I was in this guy, I think it's general auctions or something, and I talked about him the other day, but he said, watch what happens when I click this bell, and he did it, and all these people just started pouring into his show because he's been using that tactic. This, you know, I guess I don't know who came up with it, guys, but it works, right? You have enough people click on that bell. And I I can think of a lot, a whole lot of people who have this. So when it came to my attention that, oh, this, you know, they they might be cracking down on this, it might be in terms of service, which I've never heard. I thought, well, I better go fact check because I like learning, and I thought, hey, I'll go fact check. So I did, and here's the answer, right? There is no clear black and white rule that specifically says that you can't create a thumbnail listing like this. It doesn't say that. But some people um think of it as like a gray area, okay? You know, it falls into the gray area, and um, sometimes people argue about that. Um, and it just depends on your personality and how hard you want to come down, you know. Some people are hardcore with that 70 miles per hour speed limit and they will not go over it. Some people drive 80 down the road, you know. I think it's just uh potatoes, potatoes, however you want to see it kind of thing. Um, but here's basically what what not policies say on the relevant pieces of this, right? Listings must have a legitimate item and transaction, and it must be real. So, like for right now, if you want to do a consultation with me, there's a three dollar, you can buy a three dollar item for me to click on that, and then I'll send you paperwork that says, or like it, you know, a note or something with a card and a 3D printed bookmark, and it says, Hey, call me and text me at this number and we'll set up a time. I actually did send that out to somebody, and they still have yet to get to me, I think, unless I'm just forgetting one of the people. But I'm still sending an item. And so on those notifications, I think just to be clear, if you're gonna do that, which I think is good, I'm gonna say, I do think you can do it. I think it's good. I think it's a way for us to advertise when we are on. And I've never heard or seen anybody get in trouble for it or get kicked off for it. So that's why I did this. But I think if you do it to get around the gray area, if you're worried or concerned, you might say, you know, please do not click on this in your thumbnail, in your description. Say this is only when the lady bought it for a thousand dollars the other day. I don't know what she was thinking. She just swiped and I didn't even think about it. You know, I was like, How the heck did that happen? I was just showing it to her. So swipe happy people on whatnot. What a shocker. Um, but she bought it and she was worried. Oh my gosh, am I gonna get my thousand dollars back? And I was like, yes, as soon as the show is over, I will cancel it. It'll be no big deal, which it wasn't. I canceled it, moved on. But it went into my inactive and I could have gone in there and I could have maybe changed the quantity. I don't know. I go in my inactives after every show, um, the and I look at the sold items and I delete them just to help me with keeping up with my inventory and I get rid of them. And so just out of habit, I deleted it by the time somebody told me that idea. So it is gone. The you know, 100 some odd followers, however money it was, I don't know, it's gone. And so I've done this so many times. My advice is still going to be the same. I think you should do this and you should um put 9,999 because I'm doubling down on that. I I am because I do think that their bank would get notified or something, maybe like, is it fraud, or they would check it, might not go through. Now, has anybody tried to buy it when it's almost 10,000? No, they have not. Um, so I can't say for certain, but that's what I'm gonna say. Okay, let me get back to the policies because I kind of I'm reading here. Um, okay, so the first one is if you have a listing, it must be a legitimate item and transactions must be real. Well, that's true in every case that I have something that's for sale, I'm sending something, and I put in the description, you know, even on my giveaways, if you win this, you're getting a 3D bookmark or you're getting iMask or some lightweight item like that. You know, I say what it is, and you're supposed to hold up your giveaways. I know that's an area that isn't gray. It really does say when you have a giveaway, you're supposed to be honest and tell people what you're giving them and show it. And most of the time I do, unless you know something's going on with the 3D printer and I don't have it. And then I show them something very similar. Um, anyways, it says you cannot mislead buyers or misrepresent what is being sold. And I I haven't. I think you shouldn't do that either. I'm sure that stuff like that probably happens on here. Um, I'm probably gonna do episodes on scammers or something, but no, I'm not misleading anybody. It literally says click to be notified. It's a notification. I don't think that's misleading anybody. Nobody's saying if you click on this$9,999 thing, you're gonna receive something for that. I I think most people on Whatnot, for the most part, are intelligent people and that they can read and that they understand. Um, the next thing is you cannot manipulate or abuse platform systems or fees. I don't even know how to manipulate or abuse platform systems or fees. I think that there's some big buyers who do that with shipping somehow. Um, I don't know. I I truly I don't even know how to do that. Um, you cannot redirect or game engagement in a way that harms marketplace trust. So um, you know, the the basic language quote violations can lead to reduced visibility, feature restrictions, or bans depending on severity. So obviously, this is a very minor thing. I mean, I think this might be, you know, you forgot to, I don't know, you know, stop and count to we have a we have a cop in our air, in our HOA, and he drives around on his little motorcycle, you know. And um, I once stopped at the stop sign, but I didn't count. He says you have to count one 1,000, 2100, 31000. It's like, really? I've been driving for a really long time. I don't remember that at driver's ed. He's like, yes, you have to count to three three thousand on that thing. And I was just like, okay, but my stop wasn't long enough. And he pulled me over for that. I feel like this is the same level of worry that we have to um, you know, I I don't think this is anything you guys need to worry about. I just wanted to look it up. Okay, now what the rules don't say uh say is that there is no line that says this, okay, in their published policies that you cannot list a high price item intended only for follows and bookmarks. You're not gonna find that in the verbiage, it's it's nowhere in there. Um, so it's not in the guidelines. Now, if somebody can find it somewhere that I'm not seeing it, you guys are more will, you know, more than willing to read whatever you guys send me in that aspect. Um, anyways, I think that the other thing is it whenever uh there is a violation and people get flagged or whatever, you're going to get in trouble for it. You're gonna get a letter, you're going to something is going to happen. And because I've never seen that in this case, I think you're fine. Now, is the algorithm not sending people to you because of that? That can't be the case because I saw it when he clicked on it. All the, you know, all the boys came to the park, you know, kind of thing when the bell was rung rang. So I don't think it's a big deal. I don't think we need to worry about this. I think it's a seller's tactic that we should try. And I once again think that a lot of everything in life comes down to intentions, right? Like, are your intentions negative to mislead or misrepresent or hurt somebody or steal from somebody or you know, har and no, I don't think any of us that do this have any bad intentions. Our intentions are good. We want people to come to our shows. We want to let people know when we're on. So I think that that's it. At the end of the day, I'm I'm not crazy for doing this. I'm not gonna get in trouble for this. I don't think whatnot's after everybody. I can't imagine how they would quote crack down on it in any way, form, or fashion, other than sending a note saying, hey, we're not doing this anymore, or you know, putting it in one of their onboarding, you know, classes. Hey guys, we don't do this. But like I said, I've never heard anything. I think it's safe. I said so just to be on the safe side so that you're not at risk, label it clearly. Say this is, you know, a support listing, you know, it is a promo slot, it is just a way to get you to come to the show. Put that in there, you know, nothing is being bought with the clicking of this, you know, whatever. And, you know, the physical value, there is no physical value. I mean, maybe you're getting$10,000 worth of fun in my show. I I don't know, but there it clearly says there's not a watch there. There's not, I'm not taking a picture with my store so that if you click on it, you think you're buying everything in the store for$10,000. And then the other thing is, you know, it's an optional button. You don't have to click on it. Nobody's forcing you to click on it. So, anyways, that's it. 14 minutes about a button and and misunderstanding about it. But I just wanted to clear that up for you guys. If you're on the fence of should I do it or should I not, I a hundred percent think you should. I think put it at 9,999 so that you nobody can buy it. Like I said, had I done this in the beginning, I've been on for two years. I probably would have like four or five hundred people at least following me that I would have kept, you know, connections with. Well, I say that, but I've changed categories too, and that's the the other bad thing. I've I've moved so many different categories. That's supposed to be in a category. It doesn't say every time you do a listing, you know, it's got a category associated with it. And so even for me, am I doing that in the estate sale category or am I doing that in the vintage category? You know, I guess I'm still in between on that. And so it's it's that's a horrible situation that you have to fix a category. I wish whatnot would actually fix this and that we could all have a bell that isn't associated with you have to purchase it, just a bell without a dollar amount, you know, so that I didn't have to find a category and I didn't have to worry about, you know, if somebody buys it. I think, you know, hey, whatnot? That's a great idea. So, anyways, that's it, guys. That's the only thing I want to talk about right now. Um, I am actually going through a lot of personal stuff. I am in the middle of just, yeah, a lot of stuff. I won't even say anything right now, but um, I am trying to do my best keeping up with things on the 23rd. I have my um season seller interview. And I guess a lot of people have clicked on um, you know, those, you know, shows where I the inside the shop shows, whether it be the socials or the snapshots or the interviews, whatever that looks like. Um, you guys are liking those. So I'm happy with that. And I hope uh that I can get some more stuff out here. But once again, balancing out things, deciding I'm gonna start canceling some shows. Well, not really canceled, don't ever cancel shows. But if I'm going to reschedule them, push them back. I I've just I've got a lot going on right now. So uh yes, if you're a Christian, you can definitely say a prayer for me. All right, guys. Thanks so much. And um, yeah, have fun buying and selling on whatnot. We'll talk to you next time. Bye bye.