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Refunds and cancellations

Refund all or part of an order through Stripe, put returned items back in stock, and cancel orders that haven't been sent.

How-to guide4 min read

Refunds give money back. Cancelling stops an order that hasn't been sent. Only Admins can refund, because a refund moves money. Editors can cancel an order without a refund.

Refund an order

  1. Open the order and select Refund.
  2. Under What came back, choose the items and how many, if the refund is for goods. Leave it empty for a refund that isn't about items, such as shipping or a goodwill gesture.
  3. Enter the Amount. It can't be more than what is left after earlier refunds.
  4. Choose whether to put the returned items back in stock. They go to your default location.
  5. Add a Reason for your records, such as "The Fjell GTX boots were a size too small".
  6. Select Refund.

For an order paid by card, the money goes back through your Stripe account to the card or method the customer used. Stripe usually takes 5 to 10 working days to get it there. The customer gets the Refund email with the amount, your team gets a notification, and the order's history records who refunded what.

The payment status becomes Partly refunded or Refunded. Refunded items no longer count as still to send.

When the refund doesn't go through

  • "Connect Stripe again before refunding a card payment": your Stripe key isn't working or is missing a permission. Fix it under Stripe, then try again. See Connect your Stripe account.
  • "Stripe said: …": Stripe refused, for example because your Stripe balance can't cover it. The message is Stripe's own. Nothing was refunded.

Refunds on orders paid with a gift card

The money goes back the way it came: first to the bank card, up to what the card paid, then back onto the gift cards, the last one used first. What goes back on a gift card is there straight away, and shows in the card's history under Gift cards. See Gift cards.

Refunds on edited orders

If the customer paid extra after an order edit, that is a second payment in Stripe. A refund comes off the order's own payment first, then off the extra payments, the latest first, so you never need to refund anything in Stripe by hand. Money from an edit that the customer hasn't paid yet can't be refunded, and cancelling the order withdraws the payment link.

Refunds on invoice orders

An order on invoice has no card payment, so a refund there moves no money: it records that the customer owes less, or that you paid them back yourself. A partial refund keeps the order On invoice. See Invoices.

Refunds made in Stripe

If someone refunds a payment in the Stripe Dashboard instead, Commerce Orbit hears about it and adds it to the order as Refunded in Stripe, with the same notification. Stock isn't put back for these, as Commerce Orbit doesn't know which items came back. Adjust the stock by hand if you need to.

Cancel an order

Select Cancel order in the order's More actions menu. You can cancel an order as long as nothing has been sent. Once part of it has gone out, refund what comes back instead.

If the order started a subscription, cancelling it, or refunding it in full, cancels the subscription in Stripe straight away, so nothing more is charged. The order's history says so, and the email to the customer tells them too.

When you cancel, choose:

  • a Reason for your records, such as "The customer ordered the wrong size"
  • whether to refund what was paid. Only Admins can do this; it refunds the full amount still paid, through Stripe.
  • whether to put the items back in stock. This is on unless you switch it off.
  • whether to email the customer the Order cancelled email. When you refund, it says how much is on its way back.

A cancelled order shows Cancelled, stays in your orders and drops out of your sales figures.

Cancelled orders and MAM

If the order was still waiting to go to MAM, or MAM hadn't taken it, Commerce Orbit stops trying to send it. If MAM already has it, cancelling here doesn't change MAM: cancel the document in MAM as well. See The MAM integration.

Cancelled by Commerce Orbit

An order paid by card that isn't paid in time is cancelled by itself, and its stock goes back on sale. In time means within the minutes under Hold stock for in Shop settings, 15 unless you change it. Nothing was charged. The history says The payment wasn't finished in time. If the shopper changes their cart and checks out again before paying, the first order is cancelled the same way and replaced by a new one.

Disputes

When a customer disputes a card payment with their bank, the order's history says so and Admins and Editors get a notification. Answer the dispute in your Stripe Dashboard; Commerce Orbit doesn't send evidence for you.

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