When addressing an issue, be sure to communicate clearly and politely throughout the entire cancellation process.
Different types of cancellations
Important: Cancellations should always be considered a last resort. Cancelling orders can negatively affect the buyer experience, as well as, a seller's valuable time and potential income. |
Let’s review the different types of cancellations.
Buyer-requested cancellations
If an order is marked as very late (24 hours or more), buyers can request to cancel.
If sellers have already worked on the order, this can result in not receiving payment.
Sellers: Learn more about meeting your deadlines with Avoiding late deliveries.
Seller-requested cancellations
While you should always aim to satisfy your buyers’ needs, sometimes things don’t work as planned, and cancellation is the best way to resolve an ongoing order.
If a seller requests to cancel, the order will be automatically canceled if your buyer doesn't respond within 48 hours.
Sellers: Before contacting Customer Support, always use the order page (to request more time or add an extra) or Resolution Center for sellers to work things out with your buyer.
Mutual cancellations
If there are any issues with the order after a seller has accepted the Gig, both buyers and sellers can request a cancellation through the Resolution Center.
As soon as there is a request to cancel an order, the other party has up to 48 hours to accept or decline your cancellation request.
If no response is received after 48 hours, the order is automatically cancelled.
Admins: If you can’t agree with your buyer, or if your buyer won’t mutually cancel, please contact Customer Support.
Forced cancellation
Here are the different ways to cancel your order throughout the entire process of an order:
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Before submitting your requirements
As a buyer, you can immediately cancel an order without approval from your seller, if you placed an order and haven’t submitted your project requirements yet.
Please note: You will only be able to request immediate cancellations through the Resolution Center, like the one explained above, on the website only—the app does not support this function, yet.
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Delivery is late (seller is late with their delivery)
If there was no mutual agreement about extending the delivery date, buyers can cancel without approval from the seller after 24 hours of the expected delivery.
Cancel with an open dispute
If you would like to cancel an order with an open dispute, you'll need to withdraw your dispute (via the Orders page), and then you'll be able to cancel the order.
You won’t be able to open a new dispute or request for the order if your dispute is in the process of resolving one of these issues:
- Asked to Get an order update
- Requested to Cancel order
- Sellers: Requested to Extend delivery date
If there are any other issues that come up while trying to solve your dispute together with a buyer or seller, we’re here for you. Please contact Customer Support.
Cancel an order via the Resolution Center
We always encourage both our sellers and buyers to try and resolve disputes within ongoing orders and to avoid cancellations. To easily resolve any disputes with your buyer or seller, use the Resolution Center.
To access the Resolution Center:
- Go to your Orders page > Select the order you want to resolve (click View).
- Click Resolution Center—located on the right side of the page.
Learn more with Resolution Center for buyers or Resolution Center for sellers.
Cancellations on completed orders
Note: When an order is in completed status, you will not be able to use the resolution center. Please contact Customer Support to cancel the order.
Cancellations and seller levels
When evaluating a seller, all cancellations are taken into account. We are aware that some cancellations are inevitable and those cancellations have a lower impact on a seller's performance scores.
Order completion rate (OCR)
Order completion refers to the successful conclusion of an order—where a buyer receives and approves the service they purchased.
In the new seller level system, the Order completion rate metric is no longer a stand alone metric and a broader range of factors related to cancellations are assessed. This means that cancellations can still impact your performance, but they're just one factor in your overall success score. For more information, please refer back to our Success Score article.
Sellers: Keep a steady Order completion rate to build relationships with buyers and grow your business. This also enables you to track the quality of the service you’re providing.
Tips to decrease cancellations
Let’s review the best practices to prevent and/or decrease cancellations.
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Be clear about the pricing and project requirements from the start
To set you both up for success before the Gig order is even purchased, make sure you communicate clearly and are on the same page about what's needed to complete the project.
- Buyers: Provide all your project requirements and the scope of your projects in advance, if possible.
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Sellers: Accurately display your latest and original work on your Gig page, and don’t offer services that you can’t or aren't qualified to do.
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Communicate with each other and make sure you’re aligned on the service
Make sure that both parties have all the necessary information throughout the order process.- Buyers: You can ask for an order update via the Resolution Center.
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Sellers: If you are confused about a project, contact your buyer for clarification.
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Utilize the Order page to modify your order
Sellers have the option to extend the delivery date and offer more extras and/or custom offers if needed to complete the Gig.
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Set reasonable delivery times and don’t wait until the last minute to cancel
If cancellation is inevitable, do your best to communicate professionally and give an adequate warning.- Sellers: Utilize the availability feature to let buyers know that you're able to complete your Gig.