Reselling News: Whatnot Buys an AI Search Startup and eBay's Depop Deal Clears Its Last Hurdle

Two moves on the same day, July 15, tell you where the resale marketplaces are heading. Whatnot spent money to make its live shopping smarter, and eBay cleared the last big obstacle to owning Depop. Neither one is a chore on your to-do list, but both change the map you are selling on, and one of them opens a fee window worth using now.

Whatnot bought an AI startup to sharpen live-shopping search

On July 15, Whatnot acquired Shaped, a machine-learning company that builds real-time search and recommendation systems, according to TechCrunch. Whatnot did not disclose the price. Shaped's founder and nearly a dozen engineers are joining to lead a new applied AI research group. The goal is to help buyers find the right item while auctions, inventory, and demand shift second to second, which is the hardest problem in live commerce.

Here is why that matters to you. Whatnot says its sellers have now passed 1 billion orders, and the platform is trying to turn casual scrollers into buyers by putting the right show in front of the right person faster. Better discovery means more eyeballs on your stream without you paying for ads to get them there.

This lands the same week eBay published a public fee card for eBay Live that undercuts standard selling, laid out by Value Added Resource. Two of the biggest names in the business are competing hard for livestream sellers at the same moment, and competition between platforms almost always ends up in the seller's favor.

What to do: if you have inventory that shows well on camera, like trading cards, sneakers, collectibles, or streetwear, this is the year to test a live format. Run one short show, watch how discovery treats you, and compare the result against your flat listings.

eBay's Depop purchase cleared its last major hurdle

Also on July 15, the UK Competition and Markets Authority cleared eBay's 1.2 billion dollar acquisition of Depop from Etsy, as reported by Inside Retail. That was the final significant regulatory obstacle, and eBay is expected to close the deal in the coming weeks. Depop will keep running under its own brand and app for now.

Here is the part that matters for a US seller. Depop still charges 0 percent selling commission for sellers based in the United States, a structure it adopted in 2024 to hold onto Gen Z sellers against Vinted. You still pay 3.3 percent plus 45 cents in payment processing on the total order, and an optional 12 percent only if you choose to pay to boost a listing, per Shopfront. But there is no listing fee and no seller commission, which is rare in this business.

What to do: if you move Gen Z apparel, streetwear, Y2K, or vintage, list some of it on Depop while the 0 percent commission holds. New ownership does not change the fee today, but eBay is a company that charges around 13.6 percent on a standard sale, so treat the free selling window as something to use now rather than something you assume will last forever.

The takeaway

The resale platforms are consolidating and fighting over sellers, and that fight is handing you cheaper fees and better reach if you go where the competition is hottest. Test a livestream while eBay and Whatnot are both courting live sellers, and put some inventory on Depop while its US selling fee is still zero. Which platform fits which kind of inventory, and how to run a live sale that actually converts, is what we break down inside The Income Lab.