Editing order items

After an order is placed, you can edit it by adding items, removing items, and adjusting item quantities.

Edit an order if a customer wants to change an item or if you need to add or remove an item. For example, a customer might want to change the size or color of an item on their order.

To edit orders, you must be the store owner or have the Edit orders permission. Learn more about Staff permissions.

The total cost of an order is updated as the order is edited. If the cost of the order changes, then you need to charge or refund your customer the cost difference.

Deciding to edit orders

Before you start editing orders, learn more about the possible impacts and decide if you want to edit orders in your store. Editing orders can affect the following areas in your store:

You can create test orders to see if editing orders works with your store.

Apps

Orders created by apps can't be edited in the Shopify admin or by other apps. Only the app that creates an order can edit the order. However, if an app creates a draft order and it's later converted to an order, then the order can be edited in your Shopify admin, and by other apps.

Additionally, some apps might not recognize order edits. After you edit an order, the data in your apps might be incorrect.

Order editing is more likely to affect fulfillment apps. For example, if you edit an order to remove an item, then your fulfillment app might not remove the item. You can accidentally ship an item that was removed from the order and not paid for.

You can check with the app's developer to verify if the app needs to be updated.

App developers can learn more from Editing orders using GraphQL.

Discounts

Some discounts aren't recalculated after you edit an order. To make sure your customer is paying the correct amount, check the Total carefully on orders with discounts.

The following discount types are recalculated when an order is edited:

  • Percentage discounts that apply to the entire order — These discounts are recalculated when you add new items or change item quantities.

  • Discount codes for a fixed amount that apply to specific products or collections — These discounts are recalculated when you adjust the quantity of an item that already has the discount applied. This type of discount is recalculated only if the discount code can be used more than once per order.

Shipping

Shipping methods and rates are not recalculated when you edit an order. If you swap or add items to an order and the weight or dimensions of the order increases, then you might need to charge more for shipping.

Orders that have local delivery as the shipping method can’t be edited.

Fulfillment services

Contact your fulfillment services to check if you can edit items that are fulfilled by them.

If your fulfillment services don't work with order edits, then editing an item can cause missed or incomplete orders.

If your fulfillment services do work with order edits, then new items or new quantities added to an order become new items to fulfill. Items that are removed from an order are no longer fulfillable items.

Risk analysis

If you collect payment from a customer after an order is edited, then the order's fraud analysis indicators and fraud protection status can change.

Accelerated checkouts

If you need to collect payment from your customer after you edit an order, then your customer won't have accelerated checkouts available through the new checkout. This affects checkouts like Apple Pay.

Local currencies

If the currency on the order isn't your default store currency, then you can't edit the order unless you're using Shopify's B2B feature.

If you edit a B2B order after it's paid, then the foreign exchange rate for the added, removed, or edited item might be different than the rate that was previously used on the order. The foreign exchange that's current at the time of the edit is used for edited items.

For orders that you can't edit, you can refund the order, then create a draft order using the market that you want, and email an invoice in your customer's local currency.

Analytics

If you edit an order after the day the order was placed, then the edit appears as a separate order in your reports. The reports display the edit as if it's a new order, even though a new order hasn't been created.

The affected reports are:

Edit an order

You can edit an order to:

The edits you can make to an order depend on the fulfillment status of the items. If an item is fulfilled, then you can't remove the item or adjust the quantity, but you can edit unfulfilled items and add products to the order.

If you want to swap items, then you need to remove the unwanted item and add a new item.

If you add items to an order, then you can email an invoice to your customer with a link to the checkout page, or you can accept payment for the order.

An order for local pickup can be edited either before or after you prepare that order. You can only edit local pickup orders in your Shopify admin or on Shopify mobile, not the POS app.

After you edit an order, you need to review and update the order.

If an order is in Pending payment status, then you might be unable to edit order items and discounts. Learn more about orders with pending payments.

Add products to an order

  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Orders.

  2. Click the order that you want to edit.

  3. Click Edit.

  4. In the Add product section, enter the name of the product that you want to add to the order, or click Browse to view a list of your store's products and collections. You can also create a custom item for the order by clicking Add custom item.

  5. Select the individual products or variants that you want to add to the order.

  6. Click Add.

  7. Optional: Add a note about the edit under Reason for edit. This note isn’t seen by your customer.

  8. After you finish editing the order, review and update the order.

Remove items from an order

  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Orders.

  2. Click the order that you want to edit.

  3. Click Edit.

  4. Under the item that you want to remove, click Remove item.

  5. Optional: If you don’t want to return the item to inventory, then uncheck Restock item. Items that you remove are automatically restocked to their original location.

  6. Optional: Add a note about the edit under Reason for edit. This note isn’t seen by your customer.

  7. After you finish editing the order, review and update the order.

Adjust item quantities on an order

  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Orders.

  2. Click the order that you want to edit.

  3. Click Edit.

  4. Under the item that you want to edit, click Adjust quantity.

  5. Enter a new item quantity.

  6. Click Done.

  7. Optional: If you don’t want to return the item to inventory, then uncheck Restock item. Items that you remove are automatically restocked to their original location.

  8. Optional: Add a note about the edit under Reason for edit. This note isn’t seen by your customer.

  9. After you finish editing the order, review and update the order.

Apply discounts to an item on an order

  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Orders.

  2. Click the order that you want to edit.

  3. Click Edit.

  4. Under the new item that you want to discount, click Apply discount. You can only apply discounts to new products and custom items that you add to the order.

  5. Enter the discount type, discount value, and the reason for the discount.

  6. Click Apply.

  7. After you finish editing the order, review and update the order.

Review and update an edited order

After you edit an order, you need to review the updated total to check that it's correct. Depending on the edits you made, the total cost of the order might increase or decrease from what your customer paid at checkout.

After you edit an order, do one of the following:

After you edit an order, you can customize the order edit invoice or notification that's sent to your customer by editing the template.

Collect payment because order total increases

If the cost of the edited order increases, then you need to collect payment from your customer. The Summary shows that there is an Amount to collect.

You can send an invoice to your customer with a link to the checkout page, or you can accept payment for the order.

Refund payment because order total decreases

If the total cost of the edited order decreases, then you need to update the order and issue your customer a refund. The Summary shows the amount to refund.

Steps:

  1. If you don’t want to send your customer a notification that the order has changed, then uncheck Send notification to customer.

  2. Click Update order to finish editing the order.

  3. From the order you edited, copy the amount that you owe your customer. You need this amount later.

  4. Click Refund.

  5. Optional: Add a note about the edit under Reason for refund. This note isn’t seen by your customer.

  6. Under Refund amount, enter the amount that you owe your customer.

  7. Optional: If you want to send your customer a notification, then check Send a notification to the customer.

  8. Click Refund.

Notify customer when there is no change to order total

If the order cost hasn’t changed, then you don’t need to refund or collect payment. By default, your customer is sent a notification about the edit. If you don’t want to send your customer a notification, then disable Send notification to customer.

Click Update order to finish editing the order.

Editing orders FAQ

Why don't I have the option to edit an order?

You might not be able to edit an order for the following reasons:

  • You don't have the Edit orders permission.
  • The order was placed in a different currency than your store's currency. If your store sells in multiple currencies, then you can only edit orders that are in your store's currency. Although you can't edit the order, you can refund the order and then create a draft order instead.
  • The order was created by an app. Only the app that created an order can edit the order.
  • You can't edit orders that have duties and taxes charged (DDP orders).

Can I restrict staff permissions for order editing?

Yes. Staff need the Edit orders permission. You can disable the Edit orders permission for staff that you don't want to edit orders. Learn more about Staff permissions.

What happens if staff start an edit while another staff is already editing the order?

Multiple staff can make edits and update an order at the same time. The changes made in each edit are applied to the order. If edits conflict, then the most recent edit is applied to the order.

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