Amazon Suspended Him. He Made $350K on Whatnot Instead

About this episode

Kip Roland discusses his transition from Amazon wholesale to live selling on Whatnot after facing a suspension.

He was doing $1.7M a year on Amazon wholesale. Then a counterfeit complaint got his account suspended for 180 days. Instead of folding, he pivoted to live selling on Whatnot and did $350K in under 10 months.Kip Roland (https://x.com/kip_roland) is one of the early movers in live selling on Whatnot and TikTok live auctions. He built nearly 37,000 followers, runs 3-5 hour live shows 6 days a week selling liquidation clothing at $1 starting bids, and is already top 15 in live generated revenue on TikTok after just two weeks on the platform. Today we're breaking down what live selling actually looks like as a business, how the economics compare to Amazon FBA, and whether this is something Amazon sellers should be paying attention to. TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 - Meet Kip Roland: From Amazon Wholesale to Live Selling 02:14 - The Origin Story: Flipping Sneakers to Product Manager to Full-Time Seller 09:45 - The Amazon Suspension That Changed Everything 14:11 - "It Was Like Being Fired" (With a Newborn at Home) 19:11 - What Is Whatnot and Why Should Amazon Sellers Care?24:16 - First Shows Were Brutal: Building an Audience From Zero 27:07 - Selling 60 Items Per Hour: The Proof of…

People in this episode

Hosts: Chris Grant, Chris Racic

Guest: Kip Roland

Topics covered

• live selling
• Amazon suspension
• Whatnot
• TikTok auctions
• entrepreneurship
• business pivot

Keywords

• live selling
• Amazon FBA
• Whatnot
• TikTok live auctions
• entrepreneurship
• business pivot
• suspension

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Whatnot, TikTok, Amazon

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