Your first show, the 2-minute version.
Backstage does a lot — but you don't need most of it tonight. This is the whole path to running your first show cleanly. No rocket to launch, no plane to fly. Just five steps, then go sell.
Open Lite on your live show
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). On your live dashboard it connects to your show on its own — you'll see "Connected · Capturing." Sign in once with your Backstage email and you're set.
Nothing to configure. If it says Capturing, you're good.
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 — what goes where, and why
Each buyer gets a bin the first time they win that night, and every item they win afterward drops into that same bin — so at the end you pack one box per buyer instead of cross-referencing a spreadsheet at midnight. Seen them before? They get a repeat-buyer badge so you recognize a regular on sight.
You don't assign anything. The whole point is that it groups itself — that's the magic.
Labels — only if you print
Added Backstage Print? Install the little print host once (macOS), and every sale auto-prints its label as it happens — nothing to click. No printer? Skip this entirely: at the end you'll save a Manifest PDF and Bin Labels PDF you can print on anything you already own.
Set your label size in Settings, then run a test print or two before you go live — once one comes out looking right, you're good.
End the show
When you're done, hit End Show / Save Manifest. You get your manifest — every sale, grouped by bin — and it lands in your portal recap: real net (after fees), gross, items, and how many first-time buyers you pulled in. Reviewable from your phone days later.
That's it. You ran a Backstage show.
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.
Stuck on anything? Email [email protected] — we read every message.