Whatnot Order Management for Sellers: Orders, Shipments, Cancellations and Getting It All Packed

Whatnot order management lives in Seller Hub: Orders for each purchase, Shipments for each package, plus the Show Report, packing slips and video receipts. How cancellations work for sellers, when the cancellation fee applies, what to do when you can't ship on time, and how Backstage keeps a show's orders sorted by buyer as they happen. From Whatnot's help center as of October 2, 2026.

Whatnot order management happens in Seller Hub, in two places: Orders and Shipments. Orders is every purchase. Shipments is every box. Bulk labels and shipment changes happen on whatnot.com; cancellations work in the app or on the site. Backstage keeps the show itself organized while it’s happening, so when you open Seller Hub the orders are already sorted by buyer on your table.

Here’s how each piece works. Whatnot’s rules are from its help center as of October 2, 2026.

Orders and Shipments: what’s the difference

Orders lists each individual purchase: the buyer, the number of items, the price, the sales channel and the status. It’s where you cancel an order, answer a cancellation request and message a buyer.

Shipments lists each package. One shipment can hold one purchase or several from the same buyer, because Whatnot bundles a buyer’s purchases together in most cases. It’s where you check what goes in each box, fix weights, bundle or unbundle, and print labels and packing slips.

App or website? You can review orders and shipments in the app, cancel orders, answer cancellation requests and print one label at a time. Adjusting a shipment and printing in bulk are on whatnot.com.

Seeing what sold in a show

• The Show Report is a CSV you download on whatnot.com: open the Shipments page, pick the show, open the sidebar, and choose Export Show Report under Show Actions. It lists the purchases, items, buyers and shipment details for that show.
• Packing slips, printed with your labels, list the buyer’s username and the items for each shipment. You can tuck one in the box.
• Video receipts show when an item was featured in the show, such as when it was auctioned or pinned, and they’re kept for 60 days. Good for settling “which one was it,” slow for packing a whole show.

This is the gap Backstage fills. All three are built for after the show. Backstage records the show while it happens: every sale by buyer name (with a photo on most sales once you turn on sale screenshots), a bin number for each buyer on their first win, a label as the item sells on the Plus plan with a label printer, and a packing manifest sorted by bin at End Show. Sort the manifest by buyer name and it lines up with the Shipments page.

Cancellations

When you cancel as the seller:

• You can cancel any time before the order ships, even after the label is made. Once it’s in transit, it can’t be canceled.
• The buyer gets a full refund, the earnings are reversed, and shipping is refunded to whoever paid it. Other items in a bundle stay active.
• Orders are canceled one at a time; there’s no bulk cancel, and a cancellation can’t be undone.
• A fee may apply when the reason was in your control: missing or misplaced inventory, wrong listing details, a condition mismatch, changing your mind about the price, unexpected shipping costs, or canceling after you’ve made the label. It’s the higher of $3 or 3% of the order total. Your first one is waived, and you see whether it applies before you confirm.

When a buyer asks to cancel:

• Buyers can request it within 24 hours of purchase if it hasn’t shipped. You have 48 hours to accept or decline.
• All bids are binding, so in most cases it’s your call. If you decline or don’t answer, the sale stands and you ship it.
• Whatnot can still approve a few itself: a bidding error in an auction, a one-time exception for an eligible buyer before a label is made, or an EU or UK buyer’s legal right to cancel.
• You can’t print a label while a request is pending. On the Shipments page, a ! marks a shipment with a request waiting.
• Accepting a request doesn’t affect your Account Health and doesn’t bring the seller cancellation fee.

Fewer cancellations start before the show: confirm your inventory, make sure conditions match the listings, and set shipping you’re sure of.

When you can’t ship on time

Ship within two business days of the sale. If something comes up:

1. Message the buyer from the order in Seller Hub with when you expect to ship.
2. Turn on Vacation Mode to stop new orders on items listed outside shows.
3. For a serious delay, email [email protected] with your username, the reason, your estimated ship date, and the show titles and dates, or the order numbers for marketplace orders.

Your average ship time is a 30-day rolling number, so it improves as you ship on time again. Whatnot doesn’t list reporting a delay as a protection from a refund, though: for US domestic orders, a late shipment with no proof of drop-off can be refunded and billed back to you if the buyer escalates. See returns and refunds on Whatnot.

After it ships

Confirm drop-off with the in-app scanner so the buyer gets a photo and your ship time counts right away. If a buyer reports a problem after delivery, see returns and refunds on Whatnot. For when the money lands, see Whatnot payouts, explained.

Next steps

• Labels, slips and drop-off: the Whatnot shipping tool.
• A sale whose card declined: Whatnot pending payment.
• Sort as you sell: the Whatnot bin system.
• Every job in one place: Whatnot seller tools.
• What to buy, by job: the Whatnot seller toolkit, from label printers and bins to mailers and lights.