Automatic cancellation of unpaid orders

You can set Shoporama to automatically cancel orders that aren't paid for within a certain number of minutes. This keeps your order list clean, releases inventory reservations, and saves you from having to clean up manually.

How to enable automatic cancellation

1. Click the gear icon and go to Webshop
2. Select the Finance and Inventory System tab
3. Find the “Auto-Cancel Order” section
4. Enter the number of minutes in the “Number of minutes ” field (minimum 30)
5. Click Save

If you leave the field blank, no orders will be automatically canceled. So you can safely turn the feature off again.

Practical Examples

Here are some typical values converted to human time, so you can easily see what you’re actually entering in the field:

• 30 corresponds to 30 minutes (minimum). Aggressive: releases inventory quickly after a canceled card payment.
• 60 corresponds to 1 hour. Suitable for most shops that accept card payments.
• 120 corresponds to 2 hours. A slightly longer grace period, e.g., if MobilePay or card payments are experiencing issues.
• 1440 corresponds to 1 day (24 hours). Suitable if you offer bank transfers.
• 4,320 equals 3 days. A long grace period, e.g., for EAN or invoice payments.
• 10,080 corresponds to 7 days (1 week). Maximum patience.

Which orders are canceled?

The auto-cancellation feature is intentionally conservative. It only affects orders that are clearly abandoned and unpaid. Specifically, all of these conditions must be met before an order is canceled:

• The order has the status “ New”
• The order is not marked as paid
• At least your selected number of minutes has passed since the order was created

This means that orders with other statuses (e.g., Pending, Ready for Pickup, Shipped, or Completed) are not affected. The same applies to orders marked as paid, even if their status is still “New.” This feature is therefore safe to enable, even if you have a mixed order pipeline.

What happens when an order is canceled?

• The order’s status automatically changes to Canceled
• Any inventory reservations are released so the products can be sold again
• The order is not deleted. It remains in your order list with the status “Canceled”
• The customer does not receive an automatic notification. If you want to notify the customer, you must do so manually

When is this useful?

• "Pink" orders. Orders where the customer started the checkout process but never completed payment, e.g., because the card was declined.
• Bank transfer. Customers who place an order but never transfer the amount.
• Invoice and EAN. Unpaid orders that are sitting there gathering dust without resolution.
• Abandoned carts. Without auto-cancellation, inventory remains reserved for orders that are never completed.

Frequently Asked Questions

I want orders to be canceled after 7 days. What should I enter?

You need to enter 10080, because 7 days is 7 times 24 hours times 60 minutes. If you just enter 7, it won’t work: the field is in minutes, not days.

Can I turn the feature off completely again?

Yes. Just delete the number in the field so it’s empty, and click Save. Then no orders will be canceled automatically, and you can clean up manually as before.

Will my shipped or processed orders also be canceled?

No. Only orders with the status “New” that aren’t marked as paid will be affected. As soon as you change the status (e.g., “Pending,” “Ready for Pickup,” “Shipped”) or mark the payment as complete, the system won’t interfere.

Will the customer be notified when the order is canceled?

No. The auto-cancellation does not send an email or any other notification. If you want to inform the customer, you can open the order and send a message manually, or wait for the customer to respond on their own.

How often does the system check for unpaid orders?

Auto-cancellation runs as a scheduled task every few minutes. Therefore, it may take a few extra minutes from the time the deadline is exceeded until the order’s status actually changes. This is completely normal and not an error.

How does an automatic cancellation appear in the accounting records?

The order is retained in the history with the status “Canceled.” It is not included in your revenue because it was never paid, and therefore does not affect VAT or bookkeeping. You still have full documentation of what happened.

Where exactly do I find the field in the admin panel?

Click the gear icon at the top, select Webshop, and open the Finance and Inventory System tab. Scroll down to the Auto-Cancel Order section. The field is called “Number of Minutes.”

We have 8 online stores. Do I need to set this up for each store?

Yes. The setting is specific to each individual online store, so you can customize it based on the type of customers, payment methods, and inventory for each store. For example, it makes sense to set it to 60 for a B2C store and 4,320 for a B2B store that uses invoice payment.

Does this also immediately release inventory on the inventory page?

Yes. When the order status changes to “Canceled,” any reservations on the products are released, and the stock is counted as available again. This is especially important for popular items with limited stock, where an abandoned order might otherwise block sales to other customers.

Can I undo an automatic cancellation?

You can always open the canceled order and reset the status to “New.” However, if the inventory reservation has been released in the meantime and the product has been sold to another customer, you’ll need to work out a solution with the customer yourself.

Need help? Email us at support@shoporama.dk.