A customer emails ten minutes after checkout: wrong size, wrong address, or they have changed their mind. Shopify lets you edit or cancel an order after it is placed, with some limits. If they still want something from you, edit the order. If they want out entirely, cancel it. This guide covers where to click, what can and can't be changed, and what happens to the payment. The details below come from Shopify's help center.
How to edit an order
In your Shopify admin, go to Orders, open the order and click Edit. You can add or remove products, adjust quantities, update shipping fees and apply a manual discount to a line item. There is an optional Reason for edit note, which customers don't see.
- Add an item: Click Product, search for it, select it, then click Done
- Change quantity: Enter the new number in the Quantity column
- Remove an item: Removed units are restocked unless you deselect Restock units
- Permission: You need to be the store owner or have the Edit orders permission
What you can't edit
Edits apply to unfulfilled items. Once an item is fulfilled, it can't be removed and its quantity can't be changed. Some orders can't be edited at all.
- ❌ Fulfilled items: no removal or quantity change
- ❌ Orders imported into the admin or created by an app
- ❌ Orders paid with Shop Pay Installments
- ❌ Orders with local delivery
- ❌ The delivery method, such as switching shipping to pickup
- ❌ The billing address
Shipping methods and rates aren't recalculated when you edit, though you can add a custom shipping charge. For a Shop Pay Installments order, Shopify's guidance is to refund it and create a new order.
After an edit: collect or refund
The order total updates when you save. Check it before you do anything else, because not all discounts are recalculated.
- Total went up: Send the customer an invoice with a checkout link, or accept payment for the order
- Total went down: Issue a refund. Updating the order and notifying the customer doesn't complete the refund
Change the shipping address
Open the order, go to the Customer section, open the menu and choose Edit shipping address. You can also edit contact information from the same menu. Shopify recalculates taxes after an address change for unfulfilled orders.
How to cancel an order
Open the order and click More actions, then Cancel order. Under Refund payment, choose Original payment method, Store credit or Later. Pick a Reason for cancellation, then confirm.
- Restock inventory: Selected by default
- Send a notification to the customer: Selected by default
- Later: No refund is issued yet, useful when you need a partial refund
- Partially fulfilled orders: Can't be cancelled. Cancel the fulfillment, or use refunds and returns instead
- Permission: If you don't see Cancel order, your account lacks the required Orders permissions
Shopify states that a refund can't be cancelled or reversed once it is initiated, so confirm the amount before you click.
Doing this at scale
Change and cancel requests are time-sensitive, because the window closes when the order is fulfilled. Reclaim triages each support ticket by intent, sentiment and urgency, and drafts a reply grounded in the real order, tracking and refund history. Today it builds its queue from recent orders and does not connect to a helpdesk or inbox. See Reclaim.