Home Troubleshooting
🛟

Troubleshooting

Fixes for the problems merchants hit most — sign-in, orders not refreshing, printing, menu changes not appearing.
Help Desk
By Help Desk
• 7 articles

I cannot sign in to the merchant portal

"Invalid username or password" Check the obvious things first: - The first box is Username, not your email address. If you have been typing an email, that is likely the problem. - Check for a trailing space from a copy and paste. - Check caps lock. If the credentials are right and it still fails, your user may have been set to Inactive, or the store itself may be inactive. Either way the message is the same, so an admin at your store should open Users and check your row, and contact us if it looks fine. "Maximum login attempts reached. Try again later." Too many failed attempts in a row. Wait, then try again with a password you are confident about — repeated guessing extends the block. If you are not sure of the password, get it reset first rather than guessing again. There is no "forgotten password" link The merchant login screen has no self-service reset. Your options are: 1. Ask a colleague who is an Admin. They can open Users → Backoffice logins, select Edit on your row, and set a new password. See Add a backoffice login to the merchant portal. 2. Contact support, if nobody at your store can get in. The Forgot password link your customers use is on the diner sign-in, not the merchant one — it will not help you. "You are already logged in!" Not an error. A session is still open. Select Dashboard to carry on, or Logout to sign in as someone else. The POS or kiosk asks you to sign in The POS and kiosk don't use your merchant portal login. Each device signs in on its POS Device Sign In or Kiosk Device Sign In screen with its own email and password, set under Users → POS devices or Kiosk devices. See The POS or Kiosk asks to sign in again. A staff member forgot their PIN Staff PINs for the POS and kiosk aren't passwords, and there is no reset link. An admin sets a new one under Users → Staff, with Edit on that person's row. See Give staff their own PIN for the POS and Kiosk. Half the portal is missing after you sign in You are signed in as a non-admin user. Settings, Users, Billing, POS Integration, printer settings and the Transactions report are removed from the page entirely for Admin: No users. See Find your way around the merchant portal.

Last updated on Oct 16, 2026

The Orders screen says it cannot check for new orders

The red banner The application was unable to check for new orders and will automatically try again every N seconds. Last successful update: HH:MM The portal has lost contact with us. It keeps retrying on its own, so you do not need to restart anything — but until the banner clears, the list on screen is stale and new orders may already be waiting. Check, in this order: 1. Your internet. Load any other website on the same machine. 2. Reload the page. A tab that has been open for days is the most common cause. 3. Your router or Wi-Fi, if other devices are also struggling. 4. A second device — a phone on mobile data. If orders come through there, the problem is your shop's connection rather than us. Watch Last successful update. Once it starts moving again, the connection is back. While the banner is up, run the shop from a phone on mobile data, or from your POS if orders route there. The blue banner is not an error There are currently no orders awaiting fulfilment. Last updated: HH:MM This is the normal idle state — the portal is talking to us fine and there is simply nothing waiting. Orders never arrive at all If the screen is refreshing happily and orders are genuinely not coming: - Check the badge at the top of the screen says OPEN. See Open or close your store for online orders. - Check today is ticked in the Trading Hours grid, and that a Special Date has not closed you. See Change your trading hours. - Check your menu is published — the Dashboard setup checklist shows Publish your menu with a Not live yet chip if it is not. Never miss one again Turn on Order Notifications so a new order reaches you by email or SMS regardless of what the Orders screen is doing — see Get an email or SMS on every order.

Last updated on Oct 16, 2026

Menu changes are not reaching your customers

If your store is connected to a POS Look at the top of Menu Builder → Menu. On a POS-linked store there is a blue banner naming your system: Use this area only to deactivate menu items that you do not want customers to order online, or to change the order in which they appear to your customers. Kounta is the master of your menu, so all other product, modifier, optionset and price changes should be performed in Kounta and then sync'd to mypreorder (Settings > POS Integration). The same banner exists for Square, Vend and Tyro Connect. Safe to do in the portal - Deactivate an item or mark it sold out — see Mark a menu item sold out. - Reorder items with the up and down arrows. Do in your POS instead, then sync - Prices - New products, groups or modifiers — the New Menu Item, New Menu Group and New Modifier buttons are hidden on these stores for exactly this reason - Optionsets and modifier changes Run the sync from Settings → POS Integration — see Sync your menu from Kounta, Square, Vend, Tyro Connect or Deliverect. It can take several minutes on a large catalogue. If you are not on a POS Work through these: - Is the item Active? Select its Status label and check. - Is the fulfilment type ticked? An item with Available for set to pickup only will not show to a customer ordering delivery. The Available for column in the menu list shows TA, DI, DY, SO, ALL or N/A — select Key below the list for the legend. - Is it time-restricted? The Available section of the item editor limits it to certain days or hours. - Is it VIP, Wholesale or Staff only? Those statuses hide it from ordinary customers. Photos are not appearing Product photos only show to customers if Display Images is ticked in Menu Builder → Menu Settings. It is also a row in the Dashboard setup checklist, Show your product photos. The Save buttons are missing Some stores are set so only Admin users can change the menu. A non-admin sees the screens but not the New or Save buttons.

Last updated on Oct 05, 2026

Order dockets are not printing

First: reprint by hand Open Orders and find the order. - Android Quick Printer stores have a Print button in the order's main button row. - Epson ePOS stores have Print Order in the order's More menu. If the manual reprint works, the printer is fine and something upstream did not trigger it. If it does not, work through the checks below. On the POS: Printer status Every POS at a store with a Star printer has a printer button at the top, beside Help: Printer status. Select it to see each of your Star printers and what it last reported: - Ready: it's checking in and can print. - Out of paper, Cover open or another fault: the printer says it can't print. Fix it and the waiting orders print by themselves. - Not checking in: nothing from the printer for 3 minutes. Turn the printer off and back on again: that usually fixes it. If it still isn't checking in, check it's connected to your network. Under a printer that isn't ready, it lists the orders waiting for it. The number on the button counts what hasn't printed; a ! means a printer needs looking at before anything is waiting. When you take a sale and its docket waits at your counter's printer because of one of these, the POS tells you straight away. Which printer do you have? Look at Settings. Only the printer types enabled for your store are listed. You may see Star Cloud Printer, Epson ePOS Printer, Android Printer, or none at all. The settings tabs are admin-only. Star CloudPRNT The commonest causes, in order: 1. The printer is on USB. CloudPRNT needs ethernet — Star does not support it over USB. 2. The Server URL is wrong. In the Star Intelligent Network Utility it must be exactly https://merchant.mypreorder.com.au/services/s/starprint.php 3. CloudPRNT Service is not enabled on the printer. 4. The MAC Address in the portal does not match the printer, character for character. 5. The printer is printed by the POS, and no POS is open. When Printed by is The POS, over your network and Keep printing through CloudPRNT is off, nothing prints there until a POS device is open. Tick Keep printing through CloudPRNT, or open the POS. See Print straight from the POS to your printer. 6. The polling time is wrong. It should be 5 seconds for a printer at a POS counter, 10 seconds for a kiosk printer, and 30 seconds for any other printer. 7. The printer's Status is Inactive in the portal. Inactive printers receive no orders. 8. No item on the order names this printer. A docket printer only receives an order when at least one item's Printer(s) setting in Menu Builder names it, and a label printer only labels the items that name it. This usually happens after renaming a printer from 1 to something like KITCHEN without updating the menu, or after adding a label printer without adding its name to any items. 9. It is a KIOSK printer. A printer named KIOSK prints only orders placed on your kiosk, never online orders. See Set up a Star CloudPRNT docket or label printer. A printer the POS prints to When Printed by is The POS, over your network, the Printer status button at the top of the POS, beside Help, also counts any docket the printer didn't print. Select it to see them. Fix the printer (paper, cover, power), then select Print again there. Not confirmed means the POS never heard back from the printer: check whether it printed before printing it again. If the POS can't reach the printer at all, use Manager → Printers → Check. See Print straight from the POS to your printer. POS till slips and the cash drawer The POS's X and Z reports and tax invoices print on the printer with its cash drawer, or else on the printer named 1. If the drawer doesn't open or the till won't print, see The cash drawer doesn't open, or the till won't print. Epson ePOS 1. Use Test Connection on Settings → Epson ePOS Printer. It tells you immediately whether the printer is reachable. 2. Check the Printer IP Address is still correct. A printer on DHCP can be given a new address after a power cut — set a static address or a DHCP reservation. 3. Check ePOS-Print is enabled in EpsonNet Config, and that the Device/Printer ID there matches the portal. The Epson default is usually local_printer. 4. Check the Printer Port. Common ports are 8008, 8043 and 9001. See Set up an Epson ePOS receipt printer. Android Quick Printer 1. Check the Printer Name in Settings → Android Printer matches the name in the Android Quick Printer app exactly. The default is receipt. 2. Check the app is still running on the device — Android battery saving closes it. 3. Check the device is awake and on the network. Still nothing Note which printer type you have, what the settings screen shows, and whether Test Connection passes, then contact support with those details.

Last updated on Oct 16, 2026

I cannot tick the SMS or email option on an announcement

Both channels run through your own provider account, not ours. Until yours is connected and switched on, the controls stay visible but disabled with the reason beside them in red. Email is missing or disabled Until your store has its own verified email service, the Send email box under Email (optional) can't be ticked. The red note beside it gives the reason, for example "This store has no email service configured." or "The store email service has not been verified by a successful test send." Go to Settings → Email Settings and look at the Configuration Status box at the bottom: - Verified: No — you saved settings but never proved them. Select Send Test Email. - Verified: Yes, Active: No — the test passed but you never finished. Select Activate Service. Saving alone never enables sending. The Dashboard checklist calls this out as Finish setting up your email service — "Your settings are saved but not switched on yet. Send a test email to activate them." See Send email from your own business address. SMS is disabled Go to Settings → SMS Settings. The banner at the top tells you which state you are in: - No SMS provider configured for your store yet. — set one up. - Inactive: Configuration exists but is not active. Activate it (after an optional test) to start using your gateway. — select Activate. - Active: Your SMS provider is active and used for your store's SMS. — the gateway is fine, so read the next section. "Can send promotional SMS: No" The Configuration Status box on the SMS settings page names the cause on the same line: - — activate this gateway first. Select Activate. - — clear the Sender Name to enable. You have set a Sender Name. Customers cannot reply STOP to a name, so a name turns promotional SMS off. Empty the Sender Name box and save. Your messages then send from a number customers can reply to. Note that a Sender Name overrides a Sender Number, so having a dedicated number does not rescue it — the name has to go. See Connect your own SMS provider. The whole Announcements form is replaced by a notice The Customer Announcements module is not enabled on your store. The screen offers a contact us link. The SMS count looks wrong The SMS (optional) label changes meaning with your other choices. With Push Notification also ticked, SMS goes only to customers not registered for push. With push off, it goes to every targeted customer who has a mobile — so the estimate beside it jumps.

Last updated on Oct 16, 2026

I cannot find a setting somebody told me about

It may not be under Settings Several of the most-asked-about settings live in Menu Builder or Users, not Settings: | What you want | Where it is | |---|---| | Trading hours | Menu Builder → Menu Settings | | Public holidays and special-date surcharges | Menu Builder → Special Dates | | Online payment and pay at counter (moved from Menu Settings on 3 October 2026) | Menu Builder → Order Types & Payments | | Pickup, dine-in, delivery on or off, and ordering ahead | Menu Builder → Order Types & Payments | | What the POS and Kiosk offer: order types, EFTPOS, Cash, Other | Menu Builder → Order Types & Payments | | Surcharges (moved from Menu Settings on 3 October 2026) | Menu Builder → Order Types & Payments → Surcharges | | Show product photos | Menu Builder → Menu Settings → Preferences | | Guest checkout | Menu Builder → Menu Settings → Preferences | | Promotion codes | Menu Builder → Promotion Codes | | Loyalty rewards | Menu Builder → Loyalty Rewards | | Backoffice logins for this portal | Users → Backoffice logins | | POS and Kiosk devices | Users → POS devices, or Users → Kiosk devices | | Staff PINs for the POS and Kiosk | Users → Staff | | Kitchen display PINs | Users → Kitchen Display (KDS) | | Cash management (the till) | Users → POS devices → Cash management | | Cash drawer | Settings → Star Cloud Printer → Edit on the docket printer | | Cash-ups | Reports → Cash-ups | | EFTPOS pinpads | Settings → Eftpos Integration | | Order alert colours | Settings → Orders Screen | | Lead times | The + and − counters on the Orders screen | | Bank details | Settings → Billing | | Logo and banner | Settings → Brand | | Your own email provider | Settings → Email Settings | | Your own SMS provider | Settings → SMS Settings | | Mailchimp / MailerLite | Settings → Mailchimp Integration / MailerLite Integration | | Menu sync from Kounta, Square and other point-of-sale systems | Settings → POS Integration | Some on-screen messages say "Settings > Printers" or "Settings › Printers". There is no tab by that name: they mean Settings → Star Cloud Printer. Reason one: you are not an Admin A user with Admin set to No cannot reach Settings, Users, Billing, POS Integration, printer settings, email and SMS settings, the Transactions report or the setup checklist. Those controls are removed from the page rather than greyed out, so there is nothing to click and no message explaining why. Ask an admin at your store to open Users and check your row, or to make the change for you. Reason two: the module is off for your store Catering, delivery areas, delivery slots, delivery stops, pickup locations, stock control, wholesale ordering, standing orders, customer import and export, QR codes, promotion codes, loyalty schemes, surcharges, kiosk ordering, the POS, EFTPOS integration, POS integration, Mailchimp, MailerLite and each printer type are enabled per store. Cash-ups appears under Reports only once cash management is on. When one is off you usually get a note rather than silence, along the lines of "The Customer Import module is not enabled on your account. For more details or to enable this feature please contact us." A surcharge dropdown showing only Not available on your plan is the same thing. Reason three: it belongs to your catering menu If your store has a catering menu, its settings are a separate Catering Menu section at the bottom of Menu Builder → Menu Settings, with its own payment options and availability. Order Types & Payments is for your main menu only. Still stuck Help → Contact Support at the top right of the portal. Include the version number from the footer next to Merchant Portal V.

Last updated on Oct 16, 2026