Run your first show with NotBot

This guide walks you through your first live show with NotBot, from opening the show to finding it again afterwards. You open your show inside NotBot, check two things, and then sell the way you always do. NotBot prints your labels on its own as the sales come in.

The pictures show our practice show site so they never show a real seller. Your show looks like Whatnot (or the platform you sell on), but every step in NotBot is the same.

Before you start

• You are signed in to NotBot. If not, follow Sign in to NotBot.
• Your printer is set up and a test label printed. If not, follow Connect and test your printer.
• Your show is live, or about to go live, on your selling platform. You can still run the show from your phone or tablet as usual. NotBot only needs the show page open on this computer too.

Before the show

Step 1: Open NotBot

Open NotBot on the computer that is connected to your printer.

The NotBot window has two parts:

• The large area on the left is a built-in web browser. Your selling site opens here, in a tab (circled at the top left), the same way it would in Chrome or Safari.
• The panel on the right is the NotBot panel. Before you open a show it says No Active Stream.

NotBot can only see a show that is open in its own built-in browser. A show open in Chrome, Safari or on your phone is invisible to NotBot.

Tip: To make the NotBot panel wider, drag the thin grey line between the two parts to the left. NotBot starts with the panel at its narrowest.

Good to know: If the left side shows a page that says Where are you going?, type whatnot.com (or your platform's address) in the box and click Go. Sign in to your selling account there the first time.

Step 2: Open your show

In the built-in browser on the left, go to your show the way you normally do on your selling site, and click it to open it.

On the practice site in these pictures, your live show sits at the top of the page. Click Open your show.

Step 3: Check that NotBot found your show

Look at the top of the NotBot panel on the right. Within a few seconds it changes from No Active Stream to LIVE STREAM, with the name of your show underneath.

That means NotBot has found your show and is listening for sales. You do not need to click anything to start it.

Step 4: Turn on auto-print

Auto-print is the switch right under the show name, next to the small printer picture. It must be purple (switched on) for labels to print on their own.

When you move from one show to a different one, NotBot turns auto-print off, so a label never prints by accident for the wrong show. When that happens you see the message Auto-print disabled for new stream, the switch in box 1 turns grey, and a red box says Printing is disabled (2).

Click the switch in box 1, or click the red box (2). The switch turns purple and the red box goes away.

Tip: Make checking this switch the first thing you do at the start of every show.

Step 5: Click the printer picture

Now check that NotBot can reach your printer. Click the small printer picture to the left of the auto-print switch.

When auto-print is on and the printer is fine, the thin box around the picture and the switch is green. When no printer is chosen or the printer needs attention, the box turns orange. When the printer is offline, the box turns red and pulses.

Step 6: Check that your printer says Ready

A box opens under the switch with your printer's name. A green dot and Ready mean NotBot can reach the printer and you are set.

If it says Offline or Warning instead, fix the printer before you start selling: see Labels are not printing: step-by-step fixes.

Click the printer picture again to close the box.

During the show

Sell the way you always do. You do not need to click anything in NotBot for labels to print. The steps below show what appears in the panel as your show goes on.

Step 7: Watch bids come in under Live Bids

When an auction is running, every bid shows up in the Live Bids column on the right of the panel. The newest bid is at the top, with the item, the bidder's username, the amount, and which bid it was (#1, #2 and so on).

You do not need to do anything here. It helps you keep an eye on the bidding without looking away from NotBot.

Step 8: Check the label in Recent Labels

When the auction ends, NotBot prints the winner's label right away. A small picture of the label appears at the top of Recent Labels, on the left of the panel, with the buyer number and username.

A small star with a number means the platform says this buyer has never bought from you before. The number is their place among this show's first-time buyers: 1 for the first, 2 for the second, and so on.

Under the picture, the status changes from Sending to printer to Printed once your printer has taken the label. The paper label comes out of your printer at the same time. Put it on the item or the bag for this buyer.

Tip: Click any label in Recent Labels to print it again.

Good to know: Each time someone wins, NotBot also shows a small winner popup on your screen with the buyer's username and number. To change how it looks, or switch it off, see Set up winner popups.

Step 9: Know what happens when a buyer wins again

NotBot starts in Buyer Only mode: for auctions, it prints one label per buyer per show, the first time they win. When the same buyer wins again, they keep the same buyer number, and no new label prints, because their items all go in the same package.

The skipped label still appears in Recent Labels, faded, with Skipped, repeat buyer. Tap to print. Click it if you want that label printed anyway.

To print a label for every item instead, change the print mode: see Choose which labels print.

Step 10: Run a giveaway

Run your giveaway on your selling site as usual. When it ends, NotBot prints a label with the giveaway item's name and the word GIVEAWAY, so you know which package it goes in.

The giveaway also appears under Giveaway History, lower down in the panel, with the winner and how many people entered.

Step 11: See your Buy It Now sales

When someone buys an item with Buy It Now, NotBot prints a label with the buyer's username, the item's name and BUY IT NOW.

Buy It Now sales are kept apart from auctions. Scroll down the NotBot panel to the tabs near the bottom and click Purchases to see them. The number next to it is how many Buy It Now sales this show has had.

After the show

Step 12: Leave the show and open Show History

There is no button to end a show in NotBot, and you do not need one. When your show is over, go back to your selling site's home page. About 10 minutes later NotBot closes the show on its own, and uses the time of the last thing that happened in your show as its end time. If you close NotBot instead, it closes the show after you open NotBot again.

Everything from the show is saved on this computer. To look back at it, click Show History in the purple bar at the top of the NotBot window.

Step 13: Find your show in the list

Your show is at the top of the list, newest first, with its date and time, its total sales (Revenue), the number of Auctions and Buyers, and how long it ran. The show that is in the NotBot panel right now (usually the one that ended most recently) has a green LIVE tag.

Click View to open the show and see every sale and every buyer number. Each auction also has a photo of your show, taken the moment it was won. NotBot saves these photos unless you switch off Save a photo of each auction win (in Customize › Advanced Settings › Capture & photos). Look back at a show in Show History explains that page.

If something looks different

The panel still says No Active Stream after I opened my show

The show must be open in the built-in browser on the left of the NotBot window, not in Chrome, Safari or on your phone. Open it there. If it is already open there, click the round arrow button at the top of the NotBot window to reload the page, and wait a few seconds.

A red box says Printing is disabled

Auto-print is off. Click the red box or the switch next to the printer picture until the switch is purple. NotBot can turn auto-print off when you move to a different show, so check it at the start of every show.

Someone won, but no label came out of the printer

Look at the newest label in Recent Labels. Skipped, repeat buyer means the buyer already has a label this show (Buyer Only mode). Click it to print one anyway. Check printer or Failed means the printer did not print the label. Follow Labels are not printing: step-by-step fixes.

I don't see a winner popup

Popups may be switched off, or showing on a different screen if you use more than one. Both are set in Customize › Advanced Settings › Winner popups. See Set up winner popups.

A message says This show is already open in another tab

The same show is open in two tabs of NotBot's built-in browser. NotBot follows only the first one. Close the extra tab with the small x on it.

My connection dropped during the show

See When the show connection drops. Sales that happen while the connection is down can be added by hand: see Add a sale NotBot missed.

Where to next

• Use the live dashboard during a show
• Choose which labels print
• Look back at a show in Show History
• Labels are not printing: step-by-step fixes