Your first show, the 2‑minute version.
Starting something new in the middle of a live show is a horrible feeling — so let's take that off the table. Backstage does a lot, but you don't need most of it tonight. This is the whole path to a clean first show. Five steps, then go sell.
Fixes only reach your shows once you've actually updated, and an out-of-date copy is behind a lot of “it didn't work for me.” Open the side panel before you go live — if there's a newer build it says so right at the top (“A newer Backstage for Whatnot is available”) with a Reload the extension button. Take the ten seconds.
Installed from a zip file rather than the Chrome Web Store? Then it will never update itself, no matter how long you leave it. You have to download the new one and load it again.
Open Lite, then press Start
Go live on Whatnot exactly like you always do. Then open the Backstage Lite side panel (click the extension, or pin it: puzzle-piece icon → push-pin) and sign in once with your Backstage email. Backstage puts up a short pre-flight card — it confirms it's looking at your show, tells you what bin number it's starting at, and warns you if buyers from your last show are still holding bins. Read it, then press Start at the top of the panel.
This is the step people miss. Backstage will not auto-start on your own show — it waits for you to press Start, and captures nothing until you do. Press it before your first item.
Just sell — Backstage watches
Every sale pops up the second it happens: who bought, what, and for how much. You don't click anything — the popup is just Backstage confirming it caught the sale. They're quick, and each one stacks into your Live Feed so you can glance back anytime.
Popups are brief on purpose so they don't cover the show. Want them to linger? There's a hold-time slider in Settings — but the default is fine for show one.
Bins and boxes — what they are
A "bin" is just wherever that buyer's things go while you sell. A numbered tote, a slot on a rack, a shelf, a gift bag, or honestly a pile on the floor with a sticky note on it — Backstage doesn't care what it physically is. It gives each buyer a number the first time they win that night, and everything they win afterward drops into that same one, so at the end you pack one order per buyer instead of cross-referencing a spreadsheet at midnight. If someone wins more than one box holds, they roll into a second box automatically — those print as BIN 4-2, BIN 4-3 and so on. You can set how many items fit a box in Settings under Bins and boxes.
Backstage remembers your buyers between shows, so a regular can keep the bin number they had last time. The pre-flight card in step one tells you when that's about to happen — and Buyer history → Clear starts everyone fresh.
Labels — only if you print
If you have a thermal label printer, add Backstage Print and install the little print helper once — Mac or Windows, both work — and a bin label prints itself as each buyer wins, nothing to click. No printer, or just a regular paper printer? Skip this step completely. It changes nothing about how the rest of the night works.
Before you skip it: Settings → By hand → Premade bin labels prints a sheet of blank BIN 01, BIN 02… labels on any printer, to tape onto your totes before the show. That's the no-thermal-printer route, and it takes a minute.
End the show — in this order
Save your Packing File first, while the show is still open. That snapshot is what keeps your bins and item references available afterwards. Then press End Show. Backstage asks "Finish and save this session?" and shows your item count and total — press Finish & Save. That stops live capture and files the show for fulfillment. Your manifest — every sale, grouped by bin — is on Save Manifest PDF at the top of the panel, and the whole show lands in your portal recap: real net after fees, gross, items, and how many first-time buyers you pulled in.
Packing File before Finish & Save, not after. Once the session is saved, the After Show tab opens Closeout for the packing and shipping side.
Your free trial doesn't start when you sign up — it starts on your first captured sale, so you're never burning trial days between shows. The catch is the other clock: you have 14 days from signing up to run that first sale. Leave it longer and access just expires. There's no charge and nothing to cancel — but Backstage stops working until you get in touch.
The rest can wait — really.
There's a giveaway-reminder scheduler, consignor splits and payout sheets, a live shipper board, pre-bid alerts, promotions, size tagging… none of it is required, and none of it is going anywhere. Add what helps when you want it. For your first show, the five steps above are the whole job.
Email [email protected] and tell me where you're stuck — I'll walk you through it, or get on a screen-share and do it with you before your next show. Every message gets read.