Quickfire lots fuel a booming business, but critics condemn gambling-style features and popularity with ‘scalpers’
Christmas is fast approaching, the shopping days are ebbing away, and in one corner of the internet, the rush to grab highly prized Pokémon trading cards is boiling over into a competitive frenzy.
“Got any cheap Mew?” asks one buyer, deploying the frantic tone of an addict, albeit one craving a rectangle depicting a creature from the all-conquering Japanese media franchise.
Yet more buyers are gathering for a “break” – a session in which they can bid for merchandise such as cards featuring Pokémon or elite footballers, drawn at random from a real or virtual box.
This is the little-known but fast-growing empire of Whatnot, a “live auction” website and app startup that might best be described as a cross between eBay and the time-honoured cable TV shopping channel.
