Troubleshooting

Most NotBot problems fall into a handful of patterns. Find your symptom below. The first sections (labels not printing, Buyer Only repeat-buyer behavior, auto-print resets, missed Whatnot events, the Mac "Too many active jobs" error, the Whatnot mobile layout issue) come from real support investigations. The thermal-printer calibration and sleep-mode sections are generic starting points. Your printer's manufacturer documentation is the source of truth for those.

My labels won't print

This is the issue we hear about most, and it almost always comes down to one of a few causes. Work through this section top to bottom. Most of it you can do without waiting for a live show.

Run a Test Print first

Settings → Test Print (the Test Auction Label button, plus Test Buyer Label in Buyer Only / Every Item + Buyer modes). This sends a sample label to your printer through the exact path NotBot uses during a show. What happens next tells you where the problem is:

• The test label prints. Your printer and NotBot are talking to each other. Your issue is almost certainly about when labels print (print mode) rather than whether they can. See "It prints a test label but nothing during my show" below.
• The test label does not print. The connection between NotBot and your printer is broken. Keep reading.

Don't use Preview Mode to test. Preview Mode opens a PDF on screen instead of printing, so it never proves your printer works. Use Test Print.

Check your computer's print queue — the diagnostic that finds most problems

When you run a Test Print (or when a buyer wins), open your operating system's own print queue and watch what happens. This is the fork that tells you which side the problem is on.

• Mac: System Settings → Printers & Scanners → select your printer → Open Print Queue.
• Windows: Settings → Bluetooth & devices → Printers & scanners → select your printer → Open print queue.

Now look:

• A job appears in the queue but never prints (or says "Paused", "Offline", "Error"). NotBot is doing its job. The problem is between your computer and the printer. See "Jobs pile up in the queue" below.
• No job ever appears in the queue. NotBot isn't reaching the printer at all. This is almost always the wrong printer selected or the wrong driver. See "Nothing reaches the printer" below.

That single check (jobs in the queue versus no jobs at all) saves the most back-and-forth, so do it before anything else.

Nothing reaches the printer

No job shows up in your operating system's print queue when you run a Test Print. Work through these in order:

1. Confirm the right printer is selected. Settings → Print Settings → Printer. If you have more than one printer (or a duplicate entry), the test may be going to the wrong one.
2. Click Refresh. NotBot only sees printers your computer already recognizes. If yours isn't in the dropdown, click Refresh in Print Settings.
3. Make sure your computer can print to it at all. Try printing a normal document to it from TextEdit (Mac) or Notepad (Windows). If your computer can't print to it either, fix that first. NotBot reads from the same printer list your computer uses.
4. Install the manufacturer's driver. This is the most common root cause by far. The generic operating-system drivers ("Generic / Text Only", "Generic Text Printer", AirPrint) do not work with NotBot on either Mac or Windows. Download the actual driver from your printer manufacturer's website, install it, then run the Test Print again. A Windows test page printing with a generic driver does not mean NotBot will work; NotBot needs the real driver.
5. Use USB if you can. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth thermal printers work, but they drop out more often during long shows. A USB cable is the most reliable connection.
6. Quit NotBot fully and reopen it, then run the Test Print one more time.
7. Windows only: check your antivirus. Some antivirus tools quarantine NotBot's printing helper, which silently stops anything from reaching the printer. Open your antivirus quarantine list, restore anything NotBot-related, mark the NotBot folder as safe, and reinstall NotBot if needed.

Jobs pile up in the queue

A job appears in your operating system's print queue but doesn't come out, or the queue shows "Paused", "Offline", or "Error". The problem is on the printer side:

1. Clear the stuck jobs. Delete every job sitting in that print queue.
2. Un-pause and un-hold the printer. If the queue says "Paused", resume it. On Windows, turn off Use Printer Offline if it's set.
3. Power-cycle the printer. Turn it off, wait ten seconds, turn it back on. Check the USB cable is firmly seated at both ends.
4. Run the Test Print again and watch the queue.

On Mac, the "Too many active jobs" error is this same situation; see that section below.

Blank labels come out

The printer feeds and labels come out, but they're blank. Thermal printers have no ink. They print by heating one side of the label, so a few specific things cause blanks:

• The roll is loaded upside down. Thermal labels only print on one side. Scratch the label with a fingernail; the side that leaves a dark mark is the printable side, and it has to face the print head. Reload the roll the other way.
• The labels aren't direct-thermal stock. Regular sticker paper won't work in a thermal printer. You need direct-thermal labels.
• Darkness is set too low. Most thermal printers have a darkness or density setting in their own software or driver. Turn it up.
• The printer needs calibration. See "My printer feeds extra labels or skips after a paper change" below.

It prints a test label but nothing during my show

If the Test Print works but labels don't appear when buyers win, the printer is fine. This is about when NotBot prints:

• Buyer Only mode (the default) is working as designed. It prints one label the first time a buyer wins an auction, then nothing on that buyer's later auction wins. If you want a label for every win, switch to Every Item or Every Item + Buyer. See Print Modes.
• Check that auto-print is on. If you see "Auto-print disabled" in the Live Activity panel, click the toggle to turn it back on. See "I see Auto-print disabled mid-show" below.
• Make sure your show is actually open in NotBot. NotBot prints for whatever stream is loaded in its built-in browser. If the show isn't open in NotBot, there's nothing for it to print.

See When NotBot Prints for the full decision table.

Labels print at the wrong size or get chopped off

• Check Settings → Printer Configuration → Media / Roll. Switch from Auto-detect to the exact label roll loaded in your printer. This is the single most common fix for misaligned prints.
• Check Feed Direction. Landscape (Rollo, Munbyn-style) versus portrait (DYMO, Brother-style) matters. If everything is rotated, this is the toggle.
• On Mac with 4x6 labels, the default Feed Direction is portrait, not landscape. This is intentional and matches how 4x6 shipping rolls feed on Mac. Other sizes default to landscape.

Labels print rotated 90 degrees

Switch Feed Direction in Settings → Printer Configuration. If they're rotated the other way after flipping, switch back and check that the Media / Roll size matches your actual paper.

My printer feeds extra labels or skips after a paper change

Most thermal printers need a calibration routine after you swap roll sizes. The exact method varies by manufacturer. Check your printer's manual or the manufacturer's support page. As a starting point, common calibration triggers are holding the feed button for a few seconds while powered on (Rollo, Munbyn) or pressing the power button rapidly (Jadens-style). If your printer feeds extra blanks or misregisters, run the calibration the manufacturer prescribes.

My printer prints a few labels, then waits, then prints them all in a batch

Some thermal printers enter a deep-sleep mode after a short idle period. When the next print arrives, the printer wakes up, then prints both the new label and any backlog that built up while it was asleep. Some printers expose this as a sleep or power-saving timeout in their settings; some don't. Disabling deep sleep or extending the timeout fixes this on printers that expose the option.

"Too many active jobs" error on Mac

If labels start failing mid-show on Mac with a "Too many active jobs" error, your Mac's print queue for that printer has hit its job cap. This happens when the printer stalls (sleep, USB drop, paper jam, out of paper) and jobs pile up behind it.

To fix:

1. Open System Settings → Printers and Scanners.
2. Select the printer and open its print queue.
3. Delete every job in the queue.
4. Resume or restart the printer if it's on hold.

Then resume the show. If a show is in progress and you can pause new bids while you do this, do. Otherwise NotBot's automatic retries will pile back on top of the cleared queue.

I see "Auto-print disabled" mid-show

Auto-print resets when NotBot detects a stream change. A brief connection drop can cause this reset and silently turn off auto-print. Wins that fired before the reset are unaffected. To resume, click the Auto-print toggle in the Live Activity panel.

A stable internet connection (wired ethernet if possible, otherwise a strong Wi-Fi signal) reduces how often these drops happen.

I see the orange "connection lost" banner

The banner appears when NotBot's connection to Whatnot's live feed drops. The cause can be either Whatnot's servers or your computer's internet. The banner's wording reflects both possibilities.

• If only Whatnot is broken and the rest of your internet works fine, Whatnot itself is having an issue. Wait for them to reconnect.
• If multiple things on your computer are also broken, your internet is the problem. Switch to wired ethernet if you're on Wi-Fi, or restart your router.

Auctions are missing from a Whatnot show

If you see a gap in your auction numbers on a Whatnot show (#3 followed by #5, with no #4), the missed win almost certainly happened during a brief connection drop. Whatnot does not re-send dropped events when the connection comes back, so NotBot has no way to retroactively pick them up.

Recovery options:

1. Look up the winner in your Whatnot seller dashboard.
2. Use the + Add missing auction button at the top of the auction history in NotBot. Enter the item name, winner, and price. NotBot will assign a buyer number and print the label as if the win had been received normally.

For future shows, a stable wired internet connection significantly reduces the rate of dropped events. The same general principle applies on Poshmark Live and eBay Live, but their support is in beta and the exact recovery flows are evolving.

The Whatnot Auction and Giveaway seller tabs are missing

If you log into Whatnot inside NotBot and the Auction and Giveaway seller controls aren't visible, the browser has switched to a mobile layout because the panel is too narrow.

• Make the NotBot window wider. Full screen is ideal.
• Drag the divider between the browser and the dashboard further to the left to give the browser more space.
• If the tabs still don't appear, check your operating system's display scaling. Scaling of 150% or higher can force the mobile layout even when the window looks large enough. Lower the scale setting and refresh the Whatnot page.

A platform login is stuck or won't sign me out

Settings → Advanced has a Clear browser cache and restart button. This wipes the built-in browser's cookies and storage and relaunches NotBot. You'll need to sign back in to your platform afterwards. Your NotBot account, settings, and show history are unaffected.

Print Queue shows lots of "Stuck" labels

A label goes to Stuck when your operating system held it in the print queue for more than two minutes without finishing. The usual causes:

• Printer is offline, out of paper, or jammed.
• Printer was unplugged or its USB cable was bumped during the show.
• Printer's network connection (Wi-Fi or Bluetooth) dropped.

Fix the physical printer issue, then tap to retry the stuck labels from the Recent Labels panel.

I have multiple printers and prints are inconsistent

If you have several printers configured and prints sometimes go to one, sometimes to another, sometimes fail, that's per-event printer routing in action. Either:

• Pick one printer as your main and stabilize on it (the simplest path), or
• Configure per-event routing intentionally so each event type goes to the right printer. See Settings Reference.

NotBot won't print a label for a returning buyer's auction win in Buyer Only mode

That's intentional. Buyer Only mode prints one buyer label the first time a buyer wins an auction, then nothing on later auction wins by the same buyer (they reuse the box that already has their label on it). If you want a label per auction, switch to Every Item or Every Item + Buyer. See Print Modes.

If you want extra reprint labels for heavy spenders every N events, turn on Reprint at purchase milestones in Settings → Advanced.

Buy It Now and giveaway events in Buyer Only mode follow the Purchase labels and Giveaway labels settings. The default for both is Item label, so returning buyers still get an item label for those events. See When NotBot Prints for the full decision table.

NotBot isn't printing buyer/box labels for giveaway winners or Buy It Now buyers in Buyer Only mode

That's expected. In Buyer Only mode, giveaways and Buy It Now sales default to Item label. NotBot prints an item label and does not print a separate buyer/box label. To change this, go to Settings → Advanced → Buyer Mode Labels and set Giveaway labels or Purchase labels to Buyer label only or Buyer + item labels. See Print Modes.

My computer went to sleep mid-show

If your computer sleeps, NotBot loses its connection to the live feed and any wins that fire while you're asleep are missed. This applies on Mac and Windows, on battery or plugged in.

• Mac: System Settings → Lock Screen → set "Turn display off when inactive" to Never. System Settings → Battery → Options → enable "Prevent automatic sleeping when the display is off". Plug in if you're on a laptop.
• Windows: Settings → System → Power & battery → Screen and sleep → set both Screen and Sleep to Never while plugged in, and the same for On battery power if you're on a laptop.

I want to test my labels without doing a real show

Use Settings → Test Print. This sends sample labels to your printer through the same real print path you'll use during the show. It's the right way to verify your printer setup before going live.

Preview Mode opens labels as PDF files in your system viewer instead of printing them. That's useful when designing templates but doesn't validate your printer setup. Don't use Preview Mode as a substitute for a real Test Print.

Something else

Email support at support@mellowtools.com. If you can include rough timestamps for when the issue occurred and your NotBot version (Settings → About), we can usually pull the relevant diagnostic logs and identify the cause quickly.

See also

• Settings Reference for every setting and what it changes.
• Print Queue for what each queue status means.
• Privacy for what's in the diagnostic logs we look at when you email support.