Troubleshooting

Each entry below lists a message or symptom you can actually see, what causes it, and what to do.

The console will not open

"You are not authorized. Kindly enter the purchase code for the module on the License page to activate it."

Cause. The licence has not been activated, or it has lapsed.

Fix. Go to Webkul WC Addons → License, find Smart Barcode Scan and Ordering, enter your purchase code and activate it. Until the row shows Approved, the console and everything it does — scanning, saving, order creation, settings and logs — is refused.

"Smart Barcode Scan and Ordering is activated but not effective. It requires WooCommerce in order to work."

Cause. WooCommerce is not installed or not active.

Fix. Install and activate WooCommerce, then reload the admin.

Cause. Your account cannot manage WooCommerce, or the licence is inactive.

Fix. Sign in as an administrator or shop manager. If the licence is the problem, the menu item is there but its page shows the licence notice above.

Scanning problems

"Product or Order not found for the scanned barcode."

Causes and fixes, in the order worth checking:

The field holding that code is not being searched. Open Scanner Settings and tick the field your barcode actually uses — Product ID, Product SKU or Global Unique Identifier — or enter its meta key in Custom Meta Field Key.
The value does not match exactly. SKU and identifier searches are exact. A leading zero, a trailing space or a check digit the label adds will stop the match. Copy the value from the product editor and scan again to compare.
The product is not published. The fallback search by product name only looks at published products.
The scanner is adding characters. Scan into a plain text field first and check what actually arrives; some scanners add a prefix, a suffix or a newline that needs configuring out.

The scan box does not receive anything from the scanner

Cause. Focus is somewhere else on the page.

Fix. Click the barcode graphic above the scan box to put the cursor back, then scan. Inside the scan popup, make sure the cursor is not sitting in a text field — the popup only captures scanner input when no field has focus.

Cause. The scanner is typing into an open text field, such as the SKU or price box.

Fix. Click on an empty part of the popup to remove focus from the field, then scan again.

No scan tone

Cause. Audio Feedback is off, the popup's speaker button is muted, or the browser is blocking audio until you interact with the page.

Fix. Turn on Audio Feedback in Scanner Settings, check the speaker button at the top-left of the popup, and click anywhere on the page once so the browser allows sound.

Product problems

A product I saved is suddenly out of stock, or has started tracking stock

Cause. Saving a product from the Inventory tab always enables WooCommerce stock management for it and stores the value shown in the Stock field. A product that previously did not track stock will begin doing so, at that quantity.

Fix. Open the product in Products → Edit, turn Manage stock? back off on the Inventory tab, and set the stock status you want. Use the WooCommerce product editor rather than the scan popup for products that should not track stock.

The EAN code disappeared from a product

Cause. The EAN Code field was blank when Save Product was clicked, which clears the stored identifier.

Fix. Re-enter the identifier in the popup or in Products → Edit → Inventory, and save.

Ordering problems

"Variable product cannot be added directly. Please scan a specific variation."

Cause. The scanned code matched the parent of a variable product, which has no single price or stock level.

Fix. Scan the barcode of the specific variation. If your variations have no barcodes, add a SKU or global unique identifier to each one in the product's Variations tab.

"Out of stock" / "Max available stock is `<n>`"

Cause. The product's recorded stock is zero, or the cart already holds everything that is available.

Fix. If the stock figure is wrong, correct it in the Inventory tab, save, then re-scan the product so the cart picks up the new figure.

"No shipping methods available for this address."

Cause. No WooCommerce shipping zone matches the billing address you entered — or the address is incomplete.

Fix. Check the country and state values (use the two-letter country code and the state code), then click Calculate Shipping again. If they are correct, add a shipping zone that covers the destination in WooCommerce → Settings → Shipping.

"Please add products to cart first."

Cause. Calculate Shipping or Apply (coupon) was clicked with an empty cart.

Fix. Scan at least one product first.

A coupon is refused

The console shows the reason. The common ones:

Message	Meaning
Invalid coupon code.	No coupon with that code exists
This coupon has expired.	Past its expiry date
Coupon usage limit has been reached.	Its usage limit is exhausted
This coupon is already applied.	It is already in the list below the field
A WooCommerce validation message	The coupon's own rules — minimum spend, product restrictions, email restrictions — exclude this cart or customer

Fix. Check the coupon under Marketing → Coupons. If it is restricted by customer email, attach the customer or fill in the billing email before applying it.

The city and postcode ended up in the wrong fields on the order

Cause. More than one line was typed into the Enter billing address or Enter shipping address box. The console maps the address block onto WooCommerce's fields by position, so an extra line shifts everything.

Fix. Correct the order in WooCommerce → Orders, and keep the address box to a single line in future — see Billing & Shipping.

Editing an order's address wiped its city, state and country

Cause. The Billing and Shipping boxes in the Orders tab are free text. Saving stores the first line as the name and the rest as address line 1, and clears the company, address line 2, city, state, postcode and country.

Fix. Re-enter the address in WooCommerce → Orders, where each field is separate. Use the popup only for quick corrections where the individual fields do not matter.

The customer did not receive an order email

Cause. Almost always your site cannot send mail — WooCommerce records the failure in the order's notes, for example "Email 'New order' failed to send".

Fix. This is a site-wide mail problem, not a scanner problem. Configure an SMTP plugin or your host's mail service and test with WooCommerce → Status → Tools.

Status problems

"Shipping code is required."

Cause. The tracking-code prompt was confirmed with an empty box. An order cannot become Shipped without one.

Fix. Enter the carrier's tracking code and confirm.

Scanning an order again does not advance it

Causes.

The order is not open in the Orders tab — scanning from another tab loads it instead of advancing it.
The order is already Completed, which is the end of the chain.
The order is Cancelled, Refunded, Failed or Draft, which are outside the chain.

Fix. Open the order in the Orders tab first, then scan it. For a status outside the chain, set the status in the dropdown and click Save Order.

Bulk-shipped orders have no tracking code

Cause. The WooCommerce bulk action Change status to shipped is a plain status change and does not prompt for a code.

Fix. Use the scan flow, or the Status dropdown in the console, whenever the tracking code matters.

Log problems

Nothing new appears in Activity Logs