Meet the Creator of Thrift Shop Cards
Meet Darren Millar — @THRIFTWORXUSA — the creator of Thrift Shop Trading Cards.
About 18 months ago, Darren had an idea: create fun collectible trading cards for himself and a handful of friends he'd made on the Whatnot app. He'd watched the success of Pokémon and sports card sellers and wondered — why can't we turn ourselves into collectibles?
He reached out to a few of his new friends on the app and told them he was going to make trading cards of them. The reaction was mixed. Nobody was quite sure what crazy idea he'd come up with this time.
The eureka moment
The first cards landed. Kristine at @THEHODGEPODGEPLACE received her box while she was live on Whatnot. She opened it on stream and immediately sold one card for $78. That was the moment everything clicked.
Orders started coming in for card sets, and the project quickly grew into a 100-strong community.
Hitting 200, then 500
Fast forward twelve months to the start of 2026 and the series hit the 200 card mark. With it came new design variations for the fronts and backs, refreshed criteria, and a more streamlined production process. With AI handling the image generation and some additional work in Photoshop, cards now come to life quickly and go to production within 48 hours.
As we approach June 2026, the series has surpassed the 500 card mark, with over 650 individual cards in the community once variants are counted.
The raid train
For anyone new to Whatnot — a raid train is when a group of sellers each run their own show, and at the end of each show the host transports their viewers straight into the next seller's stream. That hand-off creates a continuous train of raids that can roll through the day or deep into the night. It's one of the best tools on the app for community building, gathering new customers, and picking up first-time buyers and followers.
A recent Thrift Shop Cards raid train hosted by @CEEGEE_BOOMERANG_ECHO showed exactly how alive this community is — 30 sellers over four hours sold 461 cards, generating $5,625 in revenue at an average selling price of $12.20.
Shout-out to the first 10
None of this would exist without the original ten who took a chance on a strange new idea. Huge thanks to @THRIFTWORX (№01), @THEHODGEPODGEPLACE (№02), @LIVINGBLISSVINTAGE (№03), @MOXIEANA (№04), @DEE_ARCHIVIST (№05), @GEORGEOUSFINDS (№06), @BUG (№07), @HO_2_THE_MO (№08), @PHILLYPHLIPPER (№09), and @SQUISHWORX (№10) — you helped start it all.
A Scotsman in France, trading worldwide
Darren is a Scottish man living in France, trading on Whatnot internationally across borders from Europe to the USA. Recently he took a trip to Austin, Texas for the Whatnot Seller Summit and presented the founder's card to co-founder Grant LaFontaine in person.
Grant's excitement for the product was unmistakable. He signed copies of the card for eager onlooking sellers, and signed cards for sellers who had brought their own to show him. It felt like a real turning point for the project.
What's next
The hope is to watch this community keep growing over the next six months. Who knows — maybe we'll even hit the 1,000 card mark before the end of 2026.
Want your own cards?
If you'd like to get your cards made, just click either of the links on the homepage. They'll take you directly to the Whatnot listing you need to buy, and Darren will be in touch promptly to gather your details and get your cards into production.