Let customers cancel orders when appropriate, prevent unnecessary chargebacks, and recover costs using smart cancellation rules and restocking fees.

⭐ Why This Matters

Order cancellations are inevitable — but uncontrolled cancellations lead to lost revenue, inventory issues, and support overhead.

Account Editor lets you:

• Allow customer-initiated cancellations when it makes sense
• Block cancellations when fulfillment has started
• Apply restocking fees automatically
• Maintain full visibility in the Shopify order timeline

✅ 1. Enable Customer Order Cancellations

When enabled, customers can cancel eligible orders directly from the order editing interface.

What this does

• Removes the need for support tickets
• Prevents manual refunds
• Gives customers instant resolution

🧱 2. Cancellation Eligibility Rules

Cancellation availability depends on order state and your settings.

Unfulfilled orders

• Cancellation allowed (if enabled)
• Restocking fee can be applied
• Refund method follows your configuration

Partially fulfilled orders

• Cancellation blocked
• Reason: fulfilled items cannot be reversed safely

Fully fulfilled orders

• Cancellation disabled
• Customers see Contact Support or Reorder options only

💰 3. Apply Restocking Fees on Cancellations

Enable restocking fee

When enabled, Account Editor can automatically deduct a restocking fee when an order is cancelled.

Restocking fee options

• Percentage-based fee
• Fixed amount
• Fee applied before refund is issued

Common use cases

• Packaging & handling costs
• Payment gateway fees
• Inventory handling

🔄 4. How Refunds Are Processed

When an order is cancelled:

• Shopify handles refund processing
• Refunds follow the original payment method
• Refund timing depends on the payment gateway
• Account Editor records the cancellation action

Refund logic can be customized based on your internal workflows.

🎯 Cancellation Retention (Prevent Lost Orders)

Cancellation Retention helps you save orders before they are cancelled by showing an incentive when a customer attempts to cancel.

Instead of losing the order, you can offer value and keep the customer.

✅ Enable Cancellation Retention

When enabled, customers who click Cancel Order will see a retention offer before the cancellation is completed.

Supported retention offers include:

• Discount
• Free gift
• Free shipping
• Gift card
• Store credit

⚙️ Retention Rules

Retention offers are controlled using rules, similar to upsell targeting.

Each rule defines:

• Offer type (e.g. gift card, discount)
• Offer value
• Eligibility
• Conditions

Example: Gift Card Retention Rule

• Offer type: Gift card (fixed amount)
• Value: $100
• Eligibility: Customer segments
• Redemption limit: Unlimited per customer
• Conditions:
• Minimum order amount: $500

The offer is shown only when all conditions match.

🧠 When Retention Offers Are Shown

Retention offers appear:

• When a customer starts the cancellation flow
• Before the order is actually cancelled
• Only if the rule conditions are met

If the customer accepts the offer:

• The cancellation is stopped
• The order remains active
• The incentive is applied automatically

📝 Cancellation Reasons

You can ask customers why they want to cancel, helping you understand cancellation patterns.

Default reasons can include:

• Found a better price
• Changed my mind
• Item no longer needed
• Shipping cost too high
• Order was incorrect

Multi-language support

To translate cancellation reasons:

• Search localization keys using the tag cr
• Update translations in Language & Localization Settings (ONLY FOR SILVER AND GOLD PLAN)

💸 Auto Refund Settings

Control how refunds are handled when customers downgrade or cancel orders.

✅ Enable Automatic Refund

When enabled:

• Refunds are processed immediately
• Customers are refunded as soon as a credit is created
• No manual action required

⏸ Automatic Refund Disabled

When disabled:

• Refunds are calculated but held
• Credits are stored temporarily
• If the customer adds items later, the credit is adjusted automatically
• Helps avoid multiple charges and refunds

This is useful when:

• Customers frequently modify orders
• You want to encourage retention or upsells after changes

🧠 Best Practice

• Enable Cancellation Retention to reduce lost revenue
• Use minimum order value conditions to protect margins
• Enable automatic refunds for fast resolution
• Disable auto-refunds if customers often continue editing orders.

🧾 5. Taxes, Shipping & Discounts on Cancellation

When an order is cancelled:

• Taxes are reversed automatically by Shopify
• Shipping charges are refunded based on Shopify rules
• Discounts are reversed or adjusted automatically

Account Editor does not override refund calculations — Shopify remains the source of truth.

🧱 6. Product Types & Special Cases

A. Bundles

• Cancelling a bundle cancels all included components
• Restocking fee applies to the bundle total
• Partial bundle cancellation is not allowed

B. Subscription Products

• Cancellation rules depend on the subscription app
• Some subscription orders may block cancellation
• AE respects subscription locks

C. Digital Products

• Cancellations Available

D. Pre-orders

• Usually cancellable until fulfillment
• Refund behavior depends on deposit rules

🧪 7. Real Merchant Scenarios

Scenario A — “Customer cancelled immediately after checkout”

Result:

Order cancelled → restocking fee applied → refund processed automatically.

Scenario B — “Customer cannot cancel order”

Possible causes:

• Order already fulfilled
• Cancellation disabled in settings
• Subscription app restriction
• Cancellation disabled using Shopify Flow

Scenario C — “Refund amount looks different”

Cause:

Restocking fee or gateway fee deducted.

Result:

Expected behavior.

⚙️ 8. Recommended Setup (Best Practices)

• Enable cancellation only for unfulfilled orders
• Apply restocking fees to reduce abuse
• Disable cancellation after fulfillment
• Clearly communicate cancellation rules to customers
• Monitor cancellation analytics regularly

❓ 9. FAQs

Q: Can customers cancel orders after fulfillment?

A: No — Shopify does not allow cancellation of fulfilled orders.

Q: Can I charge a restocking fee automatically?

A: Yes — enable restocking fees in Account Editor settings.

Q: How is the refund issued?

A: Shopify processes refunds using the original payment method, Shopify Flow And Store Credit too.

Q: Can I disable cancellations completely?

A: Yes — you can turn off customer-initiated cancellations.

⚠️ 10. Common Issues & Fixes

🔗 Related Guides

• Item Editing (Variants, Quantity & Attributes)
• Address Editing (Suggestions & Validation)
• Shipping Editing & Recalculation Logic
• Integration Troubleshooting

Updated on: 17/12/2025