Cancel an order when the customer changes their mind, an item cannot be supplied, or the order should never have been placed. You give a reason, the customer gets an email with it, and the stock, discount code use, gift card balance and loyalty points on the order are given back.
When an order can be cancelled
You can cancel an order while it is Awaiting payment, Awaiting confirmation, Confirmed, Preparing or Ready to ship, as long as the delivery provider has not collected a parcel for it.
Once the provider has the parcel, or the order has been delivered, completed, refunded or returned, it can no longer be cancelled, and Cancel order is not shown. What to do instead:
- The parcel is on its way, or the customer refused it at the door. Record what happens to the shipment. A parcel that comes back before any cash was collected cancels the order for you when you mark it Returned to sender, and puts its items back in stock. See Update a shipment’s status.
- The customer has the order and wants to send it back. See Handle a return.
- The customer paid and should get money back. See Refund an order in full or in part.
If the order has a shipment the provider has not collected yet, at Label created for example, cancel that shipment first: choose Cancelled for it on the Fulfilment tab. Until you do, cancelling the order is refused with Cancel or delete active shipments before cancelling the order. See Update a shipment’s status.
Cancelling orders needs the Cancel orders permission, on the order’s page and in the orders list alike. A role without it is not offered Cancel order or Cancel selected. On an order whose only possible change is cancelling, such as one ready to ship, its Manage order card shows No next status instead. If a cancel is refused anyway, for example after your role changed while the page was open, you see Cancelling orders needs the permission to cancel orders. Ask the store owner to add it to your role. See Staff roles: what each one can see and do.
Cancel order: the reason
- In the sidebar, open Orders and open the order.
- Select the Operations tab.
- In the Manage order card, select Cancel order.
The Cancel order prompt opens. It reminds you that the customer gets an email if their address is on file. Cancel order stays greyed out until you give a reason.
- In Cancellation reason, type why the order is cancelled. It is required. Write it for the customer, because it goes into their email, for example: "The customer called to cancel — she found the jacket elsewhere."
- Select Cancel order.
The message Order cancelled. confirms it. The Manage order card now reads No next status: This order has reached its final status, so there is no next status to apply.
Warning
A cancelled order cannot be reopened. If you cancel by mistake, ask the customer to order again.
What happens to stock, discount code uses and gift card balances
When you cancel, everything the order was holding is given back:
| What | What happens |
|---|---|
| Stock | If the items were taken out of stock when the order was confirmed, they go back in stock. An order that was never confirmed had not taken any stock. |
| Discount code | The use of the code is given back, so it counts towards the code’s limits again. See Track, deactivate and delete discount codes. |
| Gift card | Any amount the customer paid with a gift card goes back onto that card. In the card’s History, it shows as Returned from an order. See Check, edit or deactivate a gift card. |
| Loyalty points | Points the customer spent on the order go back to their balance. See Reward customers with loyalty points. |
| Card payment | Not sent back by cancelling. See below. |
| Cash on delivery | Nothing was collected, so there is nothing to give back. |
A card payment is not refunded by cancelling. If the customer paid by card, refund the payment after you cancel, from the Refund payment card on the same Operations tab. Cancelling already put the stock back and gave back the gift card and points, and the refund adds neither a second time. See Whether stock comes back. The order then shows Refunded, or Partially refunded if you give back only part. See Refund an order in full or in part.
What the customer receives
If we have the customer’s email address, they get a cancellation email from your store, in your store’s language:
- the subject “Order #… cancelled”, with the order number
- a line saying their order has been cancelled
- the reason you typed
- a button to view their order on your storefront, where it shows as cancelled
When you cancel with Cancel selected an order whose card payment was taken, the email also says the refund follows the payment provider’s rules.
If we have no email address for the customer, nothing is sent, so let them know another way, for example on WhatsApp. See Emails your customers get about orders.
The cancelled order page
On the order’s Overview tab:
- The stage is Cancelled, with The order was cancelled before completion.
- The fulfilment status is Cancelled. A cash on delivery order shows the payment Not collected.
- The progress bar ends in a red Cancelled.
- A Cancelled box beside Created, Product count and Total shows the date and time it was cancelled.
Further down, Order notes shows the Cancellation reason in a red box, so anyone on your team can see why.
The Activity timeline records Order cancelled, with the reason, and Order cancelled by staff, with who did it. You can still download the order’s invoice from the Fulfilment tab. In your orders list, the order moves to the Cancelled view.
Cancel several orders at once
On Starter and up, you can cancel several orders together from the orders list with Cancel selected, giving one reason for all of them. Each order gives back what cancelling it on its own page would: stock, discount code uses, gift card balance and loyalty points. Each customer gets the same email. See Update several orders at once.
What to do next
- Give a card payment back: Refund an order in full or in part.
- Open your orders list (opens in a new tab).