Estate planning as a Whatnot account holder

Whatnot is a live-stream shopping marketplace where sellers run live video auctions and buyers purchase in real time. Sellers accrue an earnings balance from completed sales that is paid out to a bank account through a connected Stripe account. The estate-relevant asset is the unpaid seller earnings balance — money Whatnot owes the seller for completed sales — along with any inventory and the seller account itself. Whatnot does not publish a deceased-seller or estate-transfer process, and its Terms of Service make the account non-transferable. Buyer-side promotional credits have no cash value, cannot be transferred, and expire, so they are not a recoverable estate asset.

Whatnot Inc. reviews transfer requests for Whatnot earnings on a case-by-case basis after the account holder's death. Approval is at the company's sole discretion, and documentation requirements must be met before any transfer is considered.

What happens at death

Whatnot does not publish a dedicated deceased-seller or estate-succession process, and its Terms of Service make the account non-transferable — a user "may not sell or transfer" their account to another user. Whatnot also states it has no liability for suspending or terminating an account, restricting access to an account or to balances in the account, or terminating access to the app. There is no documented beneficiary designation and no self-service account transfer. The practical estate asset is the unpaid seller earnings balance — money Whatnot owes the seller for completed sales, processed into the Whatnot balance and payable to a connected bank account through Stripe. The estate may seek to recover that balance by contacting Whatnot support with proof of death and proof of authority to act for the estate. Because Whatnot reviews these situations individually rather than through a published procedure, the policy is classified as case-by-case: the earnings balance is a debt that may be claimable, but the timeline, documentation, and outcome are not publicly documented and are determined by Whatnot on request. Continuing to operate the seller account under a new owner is not provided for, as the account is non-transferable. Separately, buyer-side promotional Credits have no cash value, may not be transferred or exchanged for cash, and expire (90 days from issue for referral Credits), so they are not a recoverable money asset.