---
title: "Cancel or refund a payment"
description: "Learn how to cancel or refund a payment through the Essentials dashboard."
url: "https://docs.adyen.com/essentials/refund-payments"
source_url: "https://docs.adyen.com/essentials/refund-payments.md"
canonical: "https://docs.adyen.com/essentials/refund-payments"
last_modified: "2026-05-13T12:57:19+02:00"
language: "en"
---

# Cancel or refund a payment

Learn how to cancel or refund a payment through the Essentials dashboard.

If you want to return the funds to the shopper, for example if they returned an item or if an item is out of stock, you need to cancel or refund the payment:

* If the [payment status](/essentials/payments-lifecycle) is **Authorised**, you need to cancel the payment.
* If the [payment status](/essentials/payments-lifecycle) is **SentForSettle** or **Settled**, you need to refund the payment.

To cancel or refund a payment, you need to have the **Merchant manage payments** [user role](/essentials/users#roles).

To cancel or refund a payment:

1. Log in to [Essentials](https://essentials-live.adyen.com/essentials).
2. Go to **Payments**.
3. Select or search for the payment you want to cancel or refund. If the payment can be canceled or refunded, you see a **Cancel** tab or a **Refund** tab.
4. Select the **Cancel** tab or the **Refund** tab.
5. In the **Refund amount** box, enter the amount that you want to refund. This can be either the full authorised amount, or part of the authorised amount. When canceling a payment, the canceled amount is always the full authorised amount.
6. Select **Cancel payment** or **Refund payment**.
7. Select **Confirm** to send the cancel or refund request.

To learn how to refund a payment, you can also watch a video here:

Embedded video (Vimeo): <https://player.vimeo.com/video/695693489>