Order cancellation email templates for online stores

When a customer asks to cancel, the right reply depends on one fact: has the order shipped? If it hasn't, cancel it, refund it and tell them both are done; if it has, say so and give them the return route instead.

Below are four replies for the cases a small store meets, the steps to cancel and refund in your Shopify admin, and the US rule that applies when the cancellation follows a delay. Words in double braces, like {{order_number}}, are blanks: fill each one from the order, never from memory.

Check the order before you reply

Open the order in Shopify and look at three things before you write a word:

1. Fulfillment status. Unfulfilled, partially fulfilled or fulfilled decides which template you use.
2. Who ships it. If a third-party fulfillment service is processing the order, Shopify's help centre says you might need to cancel it in that service's system before you cancel in Shopify. Ask them first, or you may cancel an order that is already in a box.
3. Shipping label. If you bought a label for the order, void it once the order is cancelled, so you're not paying for a parcel that never goes.

Then pick the reply:

What you find in the order	Reply
Nothing has shipped	Template 1: cancelled and refunded
Everything has shipped	Template 2: it's on its way, here's how to return it
Some items have shipped	Template 3: cancel what's left, return what's sent
They want a different size, colour or address	Template 4: change the order instead

Template 1: not shipped yet, cancelled and refunded

Do the cancellation first, then send this. Never write "it's cancelled" about an order you haven't cancelled yet.

Hi {{first_name}},

Done: I've cancelled your order {{order_number}} and refunded {{refund_amount}} to {{refund_method}}. You'll also get an automatic confirmation email from us.

{{refund_timing_sentence}}

Thanks for letting us know in time.

{{your_name}}

Delete the second sentence if you untick Send a notification to the customer when you cancel (see the steps below). The refund timing sentence is the one place stores guess. Write only what your payment provider tells you about how long a refund takes to reach the customer, or leave the sentence out.

Template 2: already shipped, so return it instead

Once the parcel is with the carrier, nothing in your admin brings it back. Say that in the first line, then make the return easy.

Hi {{first_name}},

I'm sorry — your order {{order_number}} left us on {{ship_date}}, so I can't cancel it any more. You can track it here: {{tracking_link}}.

When it arrives, you can send it back within {{return_window}} and we'll refund you once it reaches us. How to return it: {{return_instructions_link}}.

{{your_name}}

If the customer is in the EU or UK, the law there has its own rules on cancelling online orders. Before you send this, read the EU right of withdrawal or UK refund rules for online orders, and make sure what you write in {{return_window}} matches them. For the refund side of the conversation, see refund request email templates.

Template 3: part of the order has shipped

This is the case most replies get wrong, because the order can't simply be cancelled in Shopify (see the steps below). Tell the customer exactly which items you can still stop and which are already on their way.

Hi {{first_name}},

Part of your order {{order_number}} has already left us: {{shipped_items}}, sent on {{ship_date}} ({{tracking_link}}).

The rest — {{unshipped_items}} — hadn't shipped yet, so I've cancelled it and refunded {{refund_amount}} to {{refund_method}}.

If you'd like to return the items that are on their way, you can do so within {{return_window}} of delivery: {{return_instructions_link}}.

{{your_name}}

Check {{refund_amount}} against the refund screen, not your head: whether part of the shipping charge goes back depends on how you charge for shipping.

Template 4: they want to change the order, not cancel it

Often "please cancel" means "I picked the wrong size". If the order hasn't shipped, an edit is quicker for both of you than a cancellation and a new order.

Hi {{first_name}},

Your order {{order_number}} hasn't shipped yet, so I don't need to cancel it — I can change it instead.

I've swapped {{old_item}} for {{new_item}}. {{price_difference_sentence}}

If you did want to cancel the whole order after all, just reply and I'll do that instead.

{{your_name}}

Shopify lets you edit an order before fulfillment: add or remove products, change quantities and update shipping fees. To swap an item, you remove the unwanted one and add the new one. If the total drops, the order shows a refund owed, and Shopify's help centre is clear that the refund isn't complete until you issue it — editing the order alone doesn't send the money back. For a swap after delivery, use the exchange request replies instead.

How to cancel an order in Shopify admin

These steps are from Shopify's help centre, for one order at a time:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Orders.
2. Click the order you want to cancel.
3. Click More actions > Cancel order.
4. In Refund payment, choose Original payment method (a full refund to the card or wallet they paid with), Store credit, or Later (no refund now).
5. Choose a Reason for cancellation.
6. Optional: add a Staff note for your team.
7. Leave Restock inventory ticked unless you don't want the items back in stock. It's ticked by default.
8. Leave Send a notification to the customer ticked if you want Shopify's cancellation email to go out. It's also ticked by default.
9. Click Cancel order.

A few things the help centre warns about:

• Partly shipped orders can't be cancelled. After an order is partially fulfilled, the Cancel order option goes. You can cancel the fulfillment to make the order eligible again, or refund the unshipped items instead. Refunding an unfulfilled item removes it from the order, so it won't be shipped later by mistake. That is the route for Template 3.
• Later means no money moves. Use it when you want to give a partial refund or look into the order first, and keep track of these orders so none is left unrefunded. Shopify's page itself warns that untracked non-refunded orders can lead to chargebacks.
• A refund can't be undone. Once you start a refund in the admin, you can't cancel or reverse it.
• Fees. If the order went through Shopify Payments, the card fees aren't returned to you when you cancel or refund.
• Already refunded orders. Don't cancel these in bulk; cancel them one at a time and choose Later, or the customer may be refunded twice.

If you'd rather customers asked for cancellations themselves, Shopify has self-serve returns and cancellations: the customer asks from their order status page, and you approve or decline in the admin.

The US rule when they cancel after a delay

A customer who cancels because you're late is a special case. The FTC's Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule applies to most goods ordered online, and its business guide says you must cancel and give a prompt refund when "the customer exercises any option to cancel before you ship the merchandise" — the option your delay notice had to offer.

When that refund is required by the rule:

• It must go out within seven working days after the order is cancelled for most payment methods, or within one billing cycle if you extended the credit yourself.
• It must be the whole amount paid, including shipping, if nothing was shipped.
• It can't be store credit. The guide says you "cannot substitute credit toward future purchases, credit vouchers, or scrip." So in step 4 above, choose Original payment method, not Store credit.

If the order is late and the customer hasn't asked yet, write first: see shipping delay email templates and the FTC's 30-day shipping rule.

When AI drafts the cancellation reply

A cancellation reply has two traps for an AI drafting tool: it can't see whether the order has shipped, and it is happy to write "I've cancelled your order and refunded you" when nobody has.

Corresso drafts every reply from the documents your store approved, such as your returns policy, and a rule written in code holds any draft that promises a refund without citing a document allowed to offer one. Order numbers, tracking numbers and dates stay blanks. With your Shopify store connected, the customer's orders appear beside the email, read live, and one click fills the order details into the draft. The cancellation itself stays in your Shopify admin, and a person always presses Send. How Corresso works with Shopify.