Use Order Cancellations to let eligible customers cancel an order during the editing window. You choose whether Order Editing refunds the customer automatically or creates a support ticket for review, and whether the cancellation option is promoted in the customer experience.
Before enabling self-service cancellation, confirm your fulfilment process will not start work on an order that customers can still cancel.
Set up cancellations
- In Order Editing, open App Settings.
- Select Editing blocks.
- Open Order Cancellations.
- Turn on Allow customers to self-service cancel their order.
- Choose one refund method.
- Turn on Show cancellation options to customers if the Cancel order block should be visible in customer accounts.
- Review the cancellation reasons.
- Save the changes.
Choose a refund method
Refund method | What happens | Requirement or limitation |
|---|---|---|
Refund to payment method | Order Editing cancels the order and refunds the eligible amount to the original payment method or gift card. | Recommended for a direct self-service cancellation. Final settlement timing is controlled by Shopify, the gateway, and the customer's payment provider. |
Review manually with support ticket | The customer's request creates a support ticket for your team to review before refunding. | Your team must complete the cancellation and refund process. |
Refund to store credit | Order Editing cancels the order and issues the eligible amount as Shopify store credit. | Requires the Shopify store-credit permission and captured payment. It is unavailable while the store uses manual payment capture. |
Select a refund method whenever cancellations are enabled. Otherwise the page warns that refund handling is incomplete.
Control whether cancellations are promoted
Show cancellation options to customers controls the customer-facing Cancel order block. Turning it off hides the block while leaving cancellation processing available for workflows that invoke it another way.
Customers see this option only when the order is eligible under the current editing window and rules. Hiding the block does not extend or change order eligibility.
Edit cancellation reasons
Select Edit reasons & translations to reword, translate, or hide the reasons customers can choose. A selected reason prefills the cancellation message. Clearing a reason hides it from the customer list.
Keep reasons short and distinct. If every reason is hidden, customers will not be offered a reason chip and may need to use the free-text message when it is available.
Configure advanced options
Select Show advanced options for these controls:
Setting | What it changes |
|---|---|
Hide the order cancellation textbox. | Removes the extra free-text cancellation message. |
Allow customers to cancel their order without providing a message. | Lets the customer continue without entering extra details. |
Refund shipping insurance (if it exists) when an order is cancelled | Includes supported shipping-insurance fees in the automatic cancellation refund. |
Enable a restocking fee on order cancellations | Deducts the configured fee from the cancellation refund. |
When restocking fees are enabled, you can enter a Fixed Restocking Fee, a Percentage Restocking Fee, or both. The customer preview shows the configured currency and fee. Test the combined result before launch; do not assume the fee covers payment-processing costs or is permitted in every market.
Use Editing Rules for different cancellation forms
The related-settings section links to an Editing Rule flow that can tailor reason chips, custom fields, and the submit label for specific orders. Use it only when one global cancellation form is not enough.
There is also a ready-made EU cancellation template for adding confirmation checkboxes. The template is a starting point and does not determine whether your policy complies with local withdrawal law.
Offer an alternative before cancellation
Use Smart cancellation retention flows when you want to offer a relevant alternative after the customer selects a reason or enters a matching message.
- In Order Cancellations, find Related settings.
- Select Smart cancellation retention flows.
- Select Create retention flow or start with a template.
- Match a cancellation reason or a phrase in the customer's message.
- Add the headline, message, and optional Order Editing module to show.
- Keep the flow in Draft while reviewing it, then change it to Active so matching customers can see it.
For example, a delivery-cost reason can open the discount-code module, a wrong-address message can open Shipping Address Edits, and an accidental-purchase reason can offer quantity or product changes.
Retention flows do not prevent cancellation. If no flow matches, a flow cannot be loaded, or the customer ignores the alternative, the normal cancellation path remains available.
Check the customer experience
- Open an existing controlled order that is unfulfilled and inside the editing window.
- Open the order as the customer and select Cancel order.
- Confirm the intended reasons, message field, and fee appear.
- If retention flows are Active, select a matching reason or enter a matching phrase and confirm the expected alternative appears.
- Review the refund amount before confirming.
- Complete the cancellation.
- In Shopify, confirm the order status and the expected refund or support ticket.
- If using store credit, confirm the credit appears in the customer's account.
If customers cannot cancel
- Confirm self-service cancellations and Show cancellation options to customers are both enabled.
- Confirm a refund method is selected and any required Shopify permission is granted.
- For store credit, confirm payment was captured and manual capture is not enabled.
- Confirm the order is still inside the editing window and has not become ineligible through fulfilment or an Editing Rule.
- If using manual review, check the support-ticket workflow rather than expecting an automatic refund.
