Trust and Safety Team Lead - International
About the job
- You have 5+ years of trust, risk and safety support operations experience, the majority of which spent managing team KPIs.
- You are an experienced leader with a strong desire and natural ability to motivate a team, set and achieve targets, and manage career growth and team performance.
- You have driven operational excellence, quality improvements, and performance-managed multiple agents.
- You are analytical and data-driven, with experience distilling large data sets to actionable insights.
- You have proven experience successfully co-ordinating business critical escalations to resolution.
- You are an owner, always looking for opportunities to better your work, team, product or customer experience.
- You have strong judgment and are comfortable making tough decisions that balance the trade-off between quality and quantity.
- You have knowledge of Zendesk, data platforms such as Sigma, familiar with excel/google Sheets.
- You have worked within multichannel support operations (chat, email, sms, phone).
- You have the flexibility to occasionally work evenings, holidays, and outside of standard schedule.
- You have fluency in either French or German languages, in addition to English (preferred).
- Lead team performance and drive results in team productivity, quality, and customer experience.
- Manage, coach, encourage, and be responsible for the performance and culture of a team of agents.
- Maintain functional knowledge of, and act as a subject matter expert of processes, product, and projects related to day-to-day operations.
- Drive accountability on policies and other guidelines.
- Manage T&S incidents on the platform.
- Create new and use existing reporting to identify areas to improve performance metrics and productivity.
- Build a culture of insights generation to improve product, process, experience and overall business by reviewing Sigma & Zendesk metrics regularly.
- Identify and report on trends early and often.
- Partner with training and content to reinforce compliance with new launches, processes, and policies.
- Address and resolve critical issues from partners and other teams.
- Identify and call out areas of opportunity for Whatnot, helping improve or develop new processes to improve the user experience and business by understanding customer needs.
- Other ad-hoc project work as the business requires.
- Knowledge of SQL is preferred.
- Experience in startups, marketplaces, or e-commerce is preferred.
- Familiarity with working with large, diverse customer support, and operations organisations is preferred.
About the company
Whatnot runs a live shopping app where independent sellers host video shows and auction off trading cards, collectibles, clothing, and other goods to viewers who bid in real time. It is the largest live shopping platform in the United States and grew from a marketplace for Funko Pop vinyl figures into hundreds of categories, from Pokémon cards to designer handbags and fresh seafood. Sellers mix fast auctions with fixed-price sales during their shows, while Whatnot handles payments and buyer protection and earns a commission on the price of each item sold. Whatnot was founded in 2019, is based in Los Angeles, California, and also runs its marketplace in Canada, Europe, and Australia.
Company Size
1,001-5,000
Company Stage
Series G
Total Funding
$1.5B
Headquarters
Los Angeles, California
Founded
2019
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Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- August 2026 results: Whatnot sellers exceeded 2025's $8 billion sales total during the first half of 2026.
- Private valuation climbed: Whatnot rose from $11.5 billion in October 2025 to $20 billion in August 2026.
- Learn the product firsthand: every Whatnot employee buys on the app, hosts live seller shows and helps with support.
What critics are saying
- Gambling claims are piling up: by June 2026, nearly 70 customers had sought arbitration, calling paid card-pack openings illegal lotteries.
- A giant is catching up: eBay Live's sales grew about 8 times year over year in the June 2026 quarter.
- Don't expect an IPO soon: in August 2026, CEO Grant LaFontaine said he prefers staying private as long as possible.
What makes WhatNot unique
- Its biggest team polices the marketplace: about 1 in 3 Whatnot employees work in Trust and Safety.
- It's rated a top place to work: Forbes named Whatnot America's best startup employer, first of 500, in March 2026.
- It dominates live shopping: Whatnot says it holds nearly 60% of the $22 billion market in North America and Europe.
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Benefits
Competitive base salary and stock options
Unlimited Vacation Policy and No Meeting Holidays
Health Insurance options including Medical, Dental, Vision, Life, Short term disability & Long term Disability
Work From Home Support
Up to $500 monthly to spend within Whatnot App
Care benefits
Growth & Insights and Company News
6 month growth
0%1 year growth
0%2 year growth
-2%StockX Live expands into sports trading cards, adds seller & bidding features. Published: Oct 8 2026 Updated: Oct 8 2026 StockX is expanding its Live shopping platform into sports trading cards, adding NBA, NFL and MLB collectibles along with new features that allow buyers to follow sellers, get show reminders and place automatic max bids. Starting October 8, sellers can auction graded slabs, raw singles and sealed products, including card breaks, with a four-day launch event featuring prominent sports card sellers and $10,000 in giveaways running through October 11. StockX first announced plans to enter the live shopping market in June, joining competitors like Whatnot, Poshmark, TikTok Shop and eBay Live. The platform officially launched at the end of July with sneakers, apparel and vintage fashion and initially supported US buyers on iOS, but expanded to desktop and mobile browsers in September, just six weeks after launch. Earlier this week, the company introduced the ability for buyers to follow their favorite sellers, view upcoming scheduled shows directly from seller profiles and set reminders to receive notifications when those shows begin. StockX has also added automatic max bidding, allowing buyers to set the highest amount they're willing to pay for an item and have the system increase their bid only when someone else bids against them, without going over the maximum they entered. The expansion brings StockX Live into more direct competition with eBay and Whatnot in one of the most popular livestream selling categories. The company's Live division is led by VP Ryan Larson, who previously spent nearly three years at Whatnot in go-to-market and category expansion roles. StockX says native card-breaking tools are still in development, so sellers will initially have to manage breaks using their own methods, subject to the company's new Card Breaking Policy. The policy allows breaks where buyers purchase specific teams, players or other clearly defined slots, but prohibits random team or player assignments, wheels, dice, random number generators and other methods of determining what buyers receive by chance, even when those tools are operated through third-party services. StockX also bans chance-based bonuses, bounties and games tied to the outcome of a break, as well as selling spots in advance or carrying breaks over between shows. Sellers must disclose how cards will be distributed and provide an alternative card, sealed product or refund if no matching card is pulled for a buyer's slot. All breaks must take place entirely on camera, with the sealed product, seller's hands and opening of every pack visible throughout the process. Participation in card breaks is also limited to US buyers and sellers who are at least 18 years old, or the applicable age of majority if higher. The company does allow "Open Til You Hit" breaks, where sellers open packs until a qualifying card is found or a disclosed limit is reached, with requirements to clearly state the minimum and maximum number of packs and what the buyer receives if no qualifying card is pulled. Card-breaking practices have also faced increasing legal scrutiny, including multiple arbitration claims against Whatnot alleging some breaking and repacking activities on the platform amount to illegal gambling. The company has strongly denied those allegations and says it prohibits gambling and enforces its rules. Repacks are permitted too, but sellers can't simply assemble their own mystery packs and offer them for sale. Instead, repacks must come from independent, established businesses with at least six months of verifiable experience producing sealed repackaged trading card products, public product checklists and documented sourcing and sealing procedures. Sellers cannot know the specific contents in advance. Other live shopping platforms have also been tightening restrictions on repacks. eBay began limiting trading card repack sales to preapproved Live sellers in June, while Whatnot previously introduced approval requirements and additional safeguards for certain repack products, including audits and public checklists. Unlike eBay and Whatnot, which have introduced approval requirements for certain repack sellers and products, StockX leaves it to sellers to verify that repack manufacturers meet its requirements. It does not review or approve those manufacturers in advance, though it reserves the right to limit card-breaking privileges to preapproved sellers. StockX built its reputation around authentication and verification, particularly in sneakers, with products typically passing through a verification facility before being delivered to buyers. But Live purchases ship directly from sellers to buyers rather than automatically going through that process, with transactions instead covered by the StockX Buyer Promise. The company made a similar change when it launched StockX Listings in June, opening the marketplace to used sneakers, vintage apparel and other unique items that don't fit its traditional product catalog. Listings also uses direct-to-buyer shipping, though optional verification is available for eligible purchases. Liz Morton is founder and editor of Value Added Resource. She spent 17+ years operating ecommerce businesses before launching VAR. Her reporting focuses on seller experience, marketplace strategy and corporate accountability.
NYCC 2026: Whatnot brings Nas, Marvel comics, F1 exclusives and appearances to New York Comic Con with 5,000 sq ft presence. 1 October, 2026 Remember the days when it was Funko that was the hot topic - no pun intended - on everybody's lips and taking up the massive footprint on a comic con floor? Well, it's looking like collecting, collectables, and online bidding on a wider, more accessible scale is the latest way for fans to get their hands on those prized goodies with Whatnot positioned as the premier go-to retailer - and they're making their presence known at New York Comic Con next weekend (Javits Centre NYC, Thurs 8th-Sun 11th October) with a mammoth 5,000 square foot 'mall-inspired space' coined WHATNOT HOUSE with appearances from the worlds of comics, music and even sport. Fans will get their chance to meet and greet with the likes of Nas, Slick Rick, Havoc, Anderson .Paak, Cordae and Busta Rhymes in a dedicated MASS APPEAL space under the Whatnot umbrella; Todd McFarlane and Peach Momoko will be representing the comics and gaming side of things; and the world of F1 comes to NYCC with the launch of an exclusive MARVEL X WILLIAMS RACING comic featuring drivers Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz on the cover (no confirmation if the chaps themselves will be in attendance but, with Whatnot, anything is possible!). More details below - if you're heading to NYCC 2026, do swing by WHATNOT HOUSE at location #1000. Something tells me you're not going to be able to miss it if you tried. WHATNOT at New York Comic CON 2026 - headline moments. * MASS APPEAL X WHATNOT: MASS APPEAL will have its own store in Whatnot's space, with appearances from Nas, Slick Rick, Havoc, Anderson .Paak, Cordae and Busta Rhymes. Exclusive releases include: ~ a black and white sketch poster featuring cover art for the upcoming LEGEND HAS IT Vol 2 album ~ a Marvel comic tied to Anderson .Paak and Cordae's upcoming album, HEAVY IS THE CROWN ~ a reimagined INCREDIBLE HULK #1 featuring Busta Rhymes and J Dilla * LIVE FROM THE FLOOR: Whatnot sellers will go live from the convention floor with signings, artist appearances and exclusive releases: ~ Todd McFarlane will release a signed two-pack of NYCC-exclusive comics celebrating the announcement of Spawn's appearance in the DIABLO video game franchise. ~ Marvel artist Peach Momoko will appear with Trinity Comics for a signing and an art exhibition. ~ Gary Vaynerchuk will join VeeFriends and PSA programming over the weekend. * 500+ EXCLUSIVE DROPS: Sellers and partners will offer releases in person and on the app, including: ~ AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #1001: A special cover celebrating Jalen Brunson's championship run, reimagining the iconic Avengers #4 cover with Brunson as Captain America and Miles Morales striking Brunson's signature celebratory pose. ~ a brand new NYCC-exclusive edition of the first MARVEL X WILLIAMS RACING comic where F1 drivers Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz team-up with the Avengers to stop Doctor Doom! ~ a Whatnot-exclusive THRILLJOY BLOO PIX! figure ~ a New York Mets Edition of MACHO MAN RANDY SAVAGE BIG RUBBER GUY Programming will also stream on Whatnot through BEYOND THE CON, giving fans at home access to the action.
The future of card breaking and repacks - insights from California litigation. Wednesday, September 30, 2026 This is the second in a series of client alerts examining legal developments in the trading card repack and card-breaking space. Our first alert, "The Chase Is On: Trading Card Repacks Face Growing Legal Scrutiny," provided an overview of the key legal risks. This alert takes a deeper look at the distinction between card breaking and card repacks, examines the pending Whatnot and Fanatics Live litigation, and offers practical compliance steps to differentiate their products in light of these claims. When we published our first alert in August, we noted that legal scrutiny of repack products was moving from theoretical concern to active dispute. Now, nearly 70 Whatnot customers have filed arbitration demands alleging the platform's randomized card breaks and repack breaks violate California lottery and gambling laws, the federal RICO statute, and state consumer-protection standards. A separate qui tam lawsuit under the California False Claims Act, filed in July 2025 and recently unsealed, names both Whatnot and Fanatics Live, alleging the companies operate unlicensed box-break lotteries and have failed to pay required gambling taxes and obtain mandatory licenses. California's Department of Justice has declined to intervene in the qui tam action, but the plaintiffs may proceed on the government's behalf. No arbitrator or court has ruled on whether randomized card breaks or repacks constitute illegal gambling. Whatnot has denied the allegations, stating that "gambling isn't allowed on Whatnot, and we strictly enforce this policy." These matters remain pending, and the outcomes are uncertain. But the theories of liability and the compliance gaps the complaints identify deserve attention from every operator in this space. Because federal law largely defers to the states on gambling regulation, there is no single national definition of gambling. Instead, each of the fifty states applies its own statutory framework, meaning the legal risk profile for card breaks and repacks can vary significantly from one jurisdiction to the next. California is used here as an illustrative example because it is the jurisdiction at issue in the pending Whatnot and Fanatics Live litigation, but operators should be aware that other states may define gambling differently and impose distinct requirements. Card breaking and Card Repacks are not the same thing. Industry participants often use these terms interchangeably, but they describe different activities with different legal profiles. Card breaking involves opening factory-sealed, manufacturer-issued product on a livestream. Participants buy a "spot," and a randomized tool, a wheel spin, dice roll, or digital selector, may assign each buyer a team, a player, a numbered slot, or a draft position. In the most common randomized formats, the buyer has no control over which team or player they receive. Card repacks involve cards that were previously pulled from manufacturer-issued products and reassembled into new mystery packages by a third-party seller or distributor. Because the operator directly controls the contents, repacks raise distinct concerns around informational asymmetry: the seller may know which packages contain high-value cards. In California, this distinction has direct statutory consequences. California Penal Code Section 319.3 defines a sports trading card "grab bag" as a sealed package containing sports trading cards removed from the manufacturer's original packaging. That definition squarely describes a repack product but does not appear to reach a manufacturer's original, factory-sealed pack. Legal challenges to card breaking using factory-sealed product must instead rely on the general three-element lottery test under California Penal Code Section 319 - consideration, chance, and a prize - which applies more broadly but requires a more fact-intensive analysis. Other states may classify these products under different statutory schemes, and the outcome of such an analysis will depend on the applicable state's legal framework. Operators should understand which category their products fall into and assess their risk accordingly. What the complaints actually allege. We reviewed the arbitration demand against Whatnot in California and qui tam lawsuit and they identify several specific practices that operators should evaluate against their own businesses. Randomized team assignment as the element of chance. The complaints frame randomized breaks as a game of chance, not a retail transaction: buyers are paying for a spot that gives them a random chance of receiving a desirable team, not purchasing identified goods. The complaints do not target all forms of breaking, they focus on formats where the buyer has no control over which team or player they receive. Lack of consumer safeguards. The filings allege Whatnot operated for years without self-exclusion tools, enforceable spending limits, or addiction-support resources, protections that licensed gambling operators are required to provide. The complaints draw explicit comparisons to DraftKings and state-regulated casinos, arguing the platform creates a "carnival-like" environment that encourages compulsive spending. Informational asymmetry and insider knowledge. The complaints allege that some sellers shared information about which repacks contained valuable cards with favored participants and engaged in shill bidding to inflate prices. These allegations highlight the unique risk that arises when the seller controls and knows the contents of a mystery product. Failure to obtain licenses or pay gambling taxes. The qui tam action alleges that Whatnot and Fanatics Live knowingly failed to obtain mandatory gambling and business licenses and failed to pay required taxes, while profiting from what the complaint characterizes as an illicit enterprise. The regulatory direction. The trading card disputes are part of a broader enforcement trend against digital platforms that deliver varying outcomes in exchange for payment. Operators that wait for an adverse ruling before adapting their practices may find themselves responding to enforcement actions rather than preventing them. The time to evaluate your product design, disclosures, marketing, and consumer protections is now. Current public notices. Published: 29 September, 2026 Published: 25 September, 2026 Published: 24 September, 2026 Published: 22 September, 2026 Published: 21 September, 2026 Published: 17 September, 2026 Published: 9 September, 2026
New gambling rules end randomized card breaks on TikTok. September 29, 2026 TikTok restricts randomized card breaks on its platform. TikTok Shop has recently implemented stricter regulations concerning gambling and randomized sales, specifically targeting how trading card breaks operate within the United States. Changes to random team breaks and TikTok's Gambling Policy. Since May, TikTok has updated its Gambling Policy multiple times. Under the new guidelines, random team breaks are only allowed through TikTok Shop's Surprise Sets feature, using TikTok's own randomization software. This contrasts with previous practices where card breaks - which involve opening sealed trading card packs during livestreams and distributing contents to buyers - could assign teams or categories randomly without standardized tools. The May policy removal banned random card breaks, draft-style formats, and bounty breaks, while a June update expanded restrictions to additional formats such as pull games and King of the Hill challenges. The August 31 revision permits eligible sellers to conduct random team breaks solely within Surprise Sets and mandates all random draws to be performed through TikTok's official system, prohibiting any manual or external selection methods. Additionally, raffling off unsold break spots is no longer permitted. Blind box promotions can only feature products originally manufactured as blind boxes by brands acknowledged by TikTok. Not all break types are banned; sellers who meet specific Shop Performance Score criteria may still host personal breaks, pick-your-team breaks, pull-until-you-win breaks, and case breaks, provided products are sealed before the stream and physically shipped to customers post-purchase. Updates to Surprise set guidelines amid gambling regulations. The platform also forbids gambling activities such as raffles, sweepstakes, wagers, and lucky wheels on its Shop service, where buyers pay for chances to win random prizes. TikTok's Surprise Sets extend beyond trading cards, offering categories like electronics, beauty products, toys, and fashion accessories. Previously, the policy set numerical limits on price variation within these sets and required a minimum proportion of higher-value items to ensure transparency of value. However, in September, those numerical thresholds were removed. The current rules instead emphasize fair price distribution and prevent scenarios where expensive items are excessively rare. Sellers must clearly disclose the potential items and quantities featured in Surprise Sets and present available products during livestreams. TikTok reviews these listings to guarantee compliance. Legal challenges and industry impact. These policy updates come amid ongoing legal scrutiny surrounding card breaks. Multiple lawsuits involving TikTok, Fanatics, Whatnot, and Fanatics Live question the legality of certain card break formats, alleging issues related to competition laws, gambling regulations, and lottery-style operations. In California, three break sellers have brought antitrust and unfair competition lawsuits against TikTok and Fanatics. Meanwhile, Whatnot faces legal claims accusing some of its break formats of operating as unlicensed gambling activities.
Autumn Fair partners with Whatnot. Partnership will offer retailers and brands and brands the opportunity to discover a new way to sell, see live shopping in action and have a go themselves at The Clubhouse. Autumn Fair is partnering with Whatnot, the live commerce platform, to give retailers and brands the chance to discover a new way to sell, connect with customers and build online communities, with a dedicated Whatnot experience at the buyer's lounge, The Clubhouse, in Hall 9 throughout the show. Whatnot is the largest live commerce platform in the UK, U.S. and Europe, where businesses showcase products, share their expertise and connect with buyers in real time across hundreds of categories. Through live shows, sellers can answer questions, build relationships with their communities and grow their businesses, bringing the trust and interaction of shopping in person to the online world. The Whatnot experience provides an opportunity to see live commerce in action, meet the experts behind the platform and explore how live selling can help reach new audiences, move more stock and create an additional sales channel. Live commerce is scaling rapidly, with Whatnot holding nearly 60% market share across its markets. The UK is its most established European market and its second largest globally, with sales up 281% year on year. The number of UK sellers has grown by 360% over the past year, while first-time buyers have increased by 374%. During Autumn Fair, Whatnot will create a live commerce studio for visitors to experience live commerce in-person with Whatnot sellers going live from the space, showcasing products and sharing their expertise with audiences in real time. Visitors can drop into The Clubhouse to watch experienced sellers run live shows, see how products are presented and sold, meet the Whatnot team and find out how to get started themselves. The activation is designed to make live commerce accessible and practical, giving retailers and brands the opportunity to see exactly how the platform works rather than simply hearing about the concept. Matthew Mein, Event Director at Autumn Fair & Glee said, "Live commerce is one of the most interesting developments in retail right now, and we wanted to give our visitors and exhibitors the opportunity to experience it for themselves. The Whatnot experience is particularly exciting because visitors can walk into The Clubhouse to watch a live show happening, talk to the experts, and even have a go themselves. For independent businesses in particular, finding new ways to reach customers and build communities is incredibly important. Whatnot offers a completely different way of putting products in front of people, and we're looking forward to offering our audience the chance to discover what it could do for their business." The Whatnot Takeover Join the Whatnot Takeover After Party on Monday 7 September from 4pm-8pm, when The Clubhouse will become a hands-on live commerce experience for buyers and exhibitors. Visitors can have a go at selling live themselves, with 1-to-1 support from the Whatnot team to help them experience the platform first-hand and understand how it could work for their business. There will also be food, drinks and a DJ, creating an informal opportunity to meet the Whatnot team and other retailers and exhibitors. Sign up to the Whatnot After Party and experience live selling for yourself at https://www.autumnfair.com/whatnot-takeover.