Order outcomes and the cancellation rate
Every order in the reports lands in exactly one of five outcomes, which decide what it counts toward: sales, commission, or the cancellation rate. This article explains the outcomes, how an order is sorted into one, and how the cancellation rate is worked out.
The five outcomes
| Outcome | Which orders | Counts toward |
|---|---|---|
| Confirmed | Orders in a status you count as confirmed: Processing and Completed unless you change it. | Sales, discount, earned commission, finished orders. |
| Pending | Orders in any status that is in none of your lists, such as Pending payment or On hold. | Sales, discount, pending commission. |
| Cancelled | Orders in a status you count as cancelled, Cancelled and Failed unless you change it, that had been paid. | The cancellation rate, finished orders. |
| Never paid | Orders in a status you count as cancelled that were never paid, such as an abandoned checkout, a declined card or an unpaid bank transfer that was cancelled. | Only its own count. |
| Refunded | Orders in a status you count as refunded: Refunded unless you change it. | Finished orders. |
Whether an order was paid comes from WooCommerce, which records the payment date when an order reaches Processing, or Completed for orders that need no processing.
If a status is ticked in more than one list, refunded wins over cancelled, and cancelled over confirmed.
Cash on delivery
WooCommerce moves a cash on delivery order to Processing before any money has been collected. So by default, a cash on delivery order at Processing counts as pending, and it is confirmed when it reaches Completed. To count it at Processing instead, untick Keep cash on delivery orders pending until they are Completed. in the settings.
Because WooCommerce records a payment date when a cash on delivery order reaches Processing, such an order that is cancelled afterwards, for example refused at the door, counts as cancelled rather than never paid, and so counts toward the cancellation rate.
A developer can add other payment methods that collect on delivery. See Payment methods that collect on delivery.
Changing which statuses count
The three lists are under Order outcomes in Affiliate Reports → Settings: Confirmed statuses, Cancelled statuses and Refunded statuses. Custom statuses added by other plugins are listed too. See All settings.
Outcomes are worked out each time a report is read, from the order’s current status. A change to these settings therefore applies to every order at once, past ones included.
The cancellation rate
The cancellation rate is cancelled orders divided by finished orders, where finished orders are the confirmed, cancelled and refunded ones.
- Pending orders are left out, because their outcome is not known yet.
- Never paid orders are left out, because nothing was ever sold.
- Refunded orders count as finished but not as cancelled. They have their own count.
For example, 6 confirmed, 1 cancelled and 1 refunded order give a cancellation rate of 1 of 8 finished orders, 12.5%. When there are no finished orders, the rate is 0.0%.
Refunds
A full refund moves the order to Refunded. A partial refund leaves the order in its outcome and takes the refunded amount off its sales, and off its commission when the rate is a percentage. See How commission is calculated.