How to cancel an order
How to cancel a WooCommerce order, what happens to inventory and payment, and what the customer sees.
Occasionally you need to cancel an order — because stock ran out, the customer changed their mind, or something went wrong. This guide shows you how to cancel an order correctly and what to watch out for.
Quick summary
Open the order, change its status to Cancelled, and click Update. WooCommerce will ask if you want to restock the items. Cancelling does not automatically refund the customer — if they paid, you need to issue a refund separately. The customer does not automatically receive a cancellation email unless you configure one.
Before you cancel
Ask yourself two questions before cancelling:
- Has the customer already paid? If yes, cancelling alone won't return their money. You'll need to issue a refund after cancelling. See the guide on refunding an order.
- Has the order already shipped? If the goods are on their way, cancellation doesn't stop delivery. Contact the carrier and arrange a return.
How to cancel an order
Open the order. Go to WooCommerce → Orders and click the order number.
Change the status dropdown from the current status (e.g., "Processing") to Cancelled.
Click Update (the blue button on the right). WooCommerce saves the change.
Decide about restocking. If stock management is enabled, WooCommerce will ask if you want to restock the cancelled items. Click Yes if the products are going back into your inventory.
Refund separately if the customer paid
Changing the status to Cancelled does not send money back to the customer. If they paid, go back into the order and use the Refund button to return their payment. See How to refund an order.
Notifying the customer
WooCommerce does not send a cancellation email to the customer by default. If you want to notify them, you have two options:
- Add a customer note. On the order page, scroll to "Order notes," write a message, select "Note to customer," and click Add. This sends an email with your note.
- Email them directly. Use the customer's email address shown on the order to send a personal message.
Enable a cancellation email
If you cancel orders regularly, we can set up an automatic "Cancelled order" email under WooCommerce → Settings → Emails. Ask us about this.
Can customers cancel their own orders?
By default, customers can request a cancellation on "Pending payment" orders from their My Account page. They cannot cancel "Processing" orders themselves — only you can do that. This is to prevent accidental cancellations after fulfillment has started.
Bulk cancelling orders
To cancel several orders at once:
Go to WooCommerce → Orders.
Tick the checkboxes next to the orders you want to cancel.
Select "Cancel" from the Bulk actions dropdown at the top of the list.
Click Apply. All selected orders are set to Cancelled. Remember to process any refunds manually for paid orders.
Common questions
Related guides
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