Cancel an in-progress payment

Sometimes your shoppers change their mind in mid-purchase, or store staff realize they've made a mistake while the shopper is using the terminal.

A cancel request lets either a shopper or store staff abort an in-progress payment. When the cancel request is received before a payment is Approved, the payment is cancelled.

Here we explain how you can cancel payments from:

• Your POS app by sending an AbortRequest.
• The terminal.

Cancel from your POS app

While a PaymentRequest is in progress, you can cancel it by making an AbortRequest from your POS app.

1. Make a POST request to a Terminal API endpoint, specifying:

   • MessageHeader: the standard SaleToPOIRequest.MessageHeader object. This includes:

     Parameter	Required	Description
     MessageClass		Service
     MessageCategory		Abort

   • AbortRequest: The request body with:

     Parameter	Required	Description
     AbortReason		MerchantAbort
     MessageReference		An object with: MessageCategory: Payment SaleID: your unique ID of the POS system component that made the payment request. ServiceID: The ServiceID of the payment request being cancelled.

   For more details see the AbortRequest API reference.

   The example below shows how you would make a request to cancel an in-progress payment with a ServiceID of 21796.

   AbortRequest to cancel an in-progress PaymentRequest

   {
     "SaleToPOIRequest":{
       "MessageHeader":{
         "ProtocolVersion":"3.0",
         "MessageClass":"Service",
         "MessageCategory":"Abort",
         "MessageType":"Request",
         "SaleID":"POSSystemID12345",
         "ServiceID":"29239",
         "POIID":"V400m-324688179"
       },
       "AbortRequest":{
         "AbortReason":"MerchantAbort",
         "MessageReference":{
           "MessageCategory":"Payment",
           "SaleID":"POSSystemID12345",
           "ServiceID":"21796"
         }
       }
     }
   }

   https://docs.adyen.com/point-of-sale/basic-tapi-integration/cancel-a-transaction#abortrequest-to-cancel-an-in-progress-paymentrequest

   A successful AbortRequest returns a response with a 200 OK HTTP status code and no body.

   The payment request returns a response containing:

   • Result: Failure

   • ErrorCondition: Aborted

   If you cancel before the shopper presents the card, the payment prompt disappears from the terminal display.
   You can also cancel after the shopper presents the card, as long as the payment isn't completed yet. For example, after presenting the card but before entering the PIN. The terminal then shows Cancelled.

   After the payment is completed, you cannot use the AbortRequest to cancel the payment.

2. To double-check the payment was indeed cancelled, make a TransactionStatusRequest , specifying:

   • MessageReference. This includes:

     • SaleID: The SaleID of the POS system component that made the payment you tried to cancel.
     • ServiceID: The ServiceID of the payment you tried to cancel.

     • MessageCategory: Payment

   The example below shows how you would check the transaction status of a payment with ServiceID 21796, which you tried to cancel.

   Check the transaction status of the payment

   {
     "SaleToPOIRequest": {
       "MessageHeader": {
         "ProtocolVersion": "3.0",
         "MessageClass": "Service",
         "MessageCategory": "TransactionStatus",
         "MessageType": "Request",
         "SaleID": "POSSystemID12345",
         "ServiceID": "29240",
         "POIID": "V400m-324688179"
       },
       "TransactionStatusRequest": {
         "ReceiptReprintFlag": true,
         "DocumentQualifier": [
           "CashierReceipt",
           "CustomerReceipt"
         ],
         "MessageReference": {
           "SaleID": "POSSystemID12345",
           "ServiceID": "21796",
           "MessageCategory": "Payment"
         }
       }
     }
   }

   https://docs.adyen.com/point-of-sale/basic-tapi-integration/cancel-a-transaction#check-the-transaction-status-of-the-payment

   If the payment was cancelled, you should receive a successful transaction status response with a RepeatedResponseMessageBody that has an ErrorCondition of Aborted.

Cancel from the terminal

To cancel an in-progress payment on a terminal:

• On the terminal keypad, select the Cancel key
  In case of a terminal without a keypad, on the display select the Cancel icon

If this is successful:

• The terminal shows a Cancelled message on the display.

• The payment request returns a response containing:

  • Result: Failure

  • ErrorCondition: Cancel

Cancelling a signature on the display

In a Terminal API integration with a terminal that is configured to let shoppers draw their signature on the display, the transaction is already authorised when the signature prompt appears. Therefore, the terminal always approves the signature even when the shopper selects Cancel on the signature screen. See Signature for more information.

Handling failed cancel requests

If your cancel request failed (and the payment was Approved), you will need to refund the payment. For more information on refunding a payment, see Refund a completed payment.