WooCommerce 11.1 introduces Order Withdrawal, bringing the right of order withdrawal functionality to better serve EU customers. This gives customers a simple, self-serve way to request a withdrawal from their order within 14 days of placing it.
If you’re selling to customers in the EU, you may need to provide customers with an easy and prominent way to withdraw their order. EU consumers have long had a 14-day “right of withdrawal” under EU Directive 2011/83.
The customer order withdrawal feature may help your store meet these requirements, but it does not guarantee compliance. For guidance specific to your business and customers’ locations, please consult a qualified legal professional.
Eligibility and timing
↑ Back to topThe 14-day period is counted from the date the order was placed, not from delivery or shipment. Submitting the request form doesn’t check the order’s age — a customer can submit a withdrawal request for an order of any age, and it will still be accepted and matched to the order. The order’s age only affects what the merchant sees next; see Withdrawal window warning below.
How to enable
↑ Back to topOrder Withdrawal is disabled by default. To turn it on:
- Go to WooCommerce > Settings > Advanced > Features.
- Find Order Withdrawal and enable it.
- Save your changes.
Once enabled, the request form becomes available to customers at /my-account/withdraw-order. The URL can be changed by editing the endpoint under WooCommerce -> Settings -> Advanced -> Page Setup. This page can be reached whether the customer is logged in or not.
Customer View
↑ Back to topWhen a customer visits /my-account/withdraw-order , they’ll be presented with a withdrawal request form:
The form asks for the customer’s first and last name, email address (entered twice to confirm), and order number. The customer also chooses whether they’re withdrawing the full order or specific items only — choosing specific items requires a short description of which items in the “Additional details” field.
After filling out the info, the customer will have a chance to review it before submitting:
Upon submission, they’ll see a confirmation screen and will receive an acknowledgment email containing their submitted details:
Merchant View
↑ Back to topWhen a customer submits an order withdrawal request, you’re notified in a few ways.
You’ll receive an email notification for the withdrawal request:
On the WooCommerce home screen, you’ll receive an inbox notification:
If the order number and billing email match an existing order in your store, the withdrawal request is automatically linked to that order. An order note is added indicating the withdrawal request.
Withdrawal window warning
↑ Back to topIf the matched order is more than 14 days old, WooCommerce adds this line to both the inbox notification and the merchant email:
“This order is older than 14 days. Only orders within 14 days of delivery are eligible for withdrawal.”
This is intentional. WooCommerce measures the window from the order’s placement date, not delivery — but the EU right of withdrawal is actually based on the delivery date. WooCommerce doesn’t reliably know when an order was delivered, so it uses the placement date as a stand-in. That’s the safer direction: since placement always happens before delivery, the warning can only show up later than a true delivery-based deadline would, never earlier.
This warning is informational. WooCommerce doesn’t decline, cancel, or hold the request because of it — the request is processed and matched normally, and the customer’s acknowledgment email is unaffected. Review the order date, check your store’s return policy or applicable local requirements for older orders, and decide how to respond.
If no matching order is found, the request is still accepted, and the customer still receives their acknowledgment email. The notification email will let you know that manual review is needed, and it won’t include an order link since no match was found.
Submitting a withdrawal request does not automatically change the order status, cancel the order, or issue a refund. It’s up to you how withdrawal requests are handled, whether that means approving a refund, requesting the item back, or following up with the customer for more information.
Questions and support
↑ Back to topDo you still have questions and need assistance?
This documentation is about the free, core WooCommerce plugin, for which support is provided in our community forums on WordPress.org. By searching this forum, you’ll often find that your question has been asked and answered before.
If you haven’t created a WordPress.org account to use the forums, here’s how.
- If you’re looking to extend the core functionality shown here, we recommend reviewing available extensions in the WooCommerce Marketplace.
- Need ongoing advanced support or a customization built for WooCommerce? Hire a Woo Agency Partner.
- Are you a developer building your own WooCommerce integration or extension? Check our Developer Resources.
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