If you're like me, you've probably run into this frustrating issue on Shopify: after cancelling or refunding an order, it still shows up as "Unfulfilled." It sits there in your orders dashboard with that little yellow tag, looking like something still needs to be shipped — even though the order was closed long ago.

I’ve seen this confuse my own fulfillment workflow and even trigger unnecessary shipping actions from third-party fulfillment partners. It’s a small thing, but it can seriously disrupt your operations.

So I dug into the forums, spoke to a few merchants, and finally found a workaround that solves it cleanly — no apps, no backend access, just a bit of admin trickery.

Here’s everything I learned.

The Core issue

When you refund or cancel an order in Shopify, the platform won’t let you mark it as fulfilled — because from a technical standpoint, nothing was shipped. So the order stays stuck in this weird limbo:

It’s not open
It’s not fulfilled
But it still shows up in the “Unfulfilled” count and clutters your dashboard

And if you use apps, warehouse integrations, or fulfillment rules based on that tag, it becomes a real problem.

Shopify’s point of view

Shopify staff have repeatedly explained that this is intentional. According to their documentation and community responses, refunded or cancelled items are considered unfulfilled because:

They were never shipped
Marking them as fulfilled could misrepresent inventory tracking
Fulfillment triggers automated notifications, which should not go out for refunded items

“The unfulfilled tag stays because the item was never shipped. We don’t allow fulfilled status on cancelled/refunded orders to maintain inventory and messaging accuracy.”

— Shopify Staff

That’s reasonable from a backend accounting view. But from the perspective of someone running a business, it’s… a bit of a mess.

Why merchants are still frustrated

In practice, merchants use the “unfulfilled” label as a way to track real shipping needs. When cancelled or refunded orders clutter that view, it causes several issues:

Fulfillment staff may attempt to ship items that were already refunded
Merchants have to explain that certain orders should be ignored
Third-party fulfillment apps sometimes misinterpret these orders as pending
Order counts on the dashboard and in reports become inflated
Archived orders may still appear bold or listed in the unfulfilled tab

For stores with hundreds or thousands of orders, this creates unnecessary administrative noise and makes it difficult to maintain a clear, actionable workflow.

In my case, I kept seeing old refunded test orders lingering in my Shopify admin—even months later. Sometimes, someone would purchase a paid Squarespace plugin, only to request a refund after realizing they’d need to upgrade their Squarespace plan to Business/Core (or higher) to use code injection. Every time looking at those orders, I found myself thinking, “Wait, did I forget to fulfill something?”—even though the order was already closed.

Workaround to clean up Refunded or Cancelled Orders

Until Shopify provides a proper way to override or suppress the unfulfilled status for refunded orders, there’s a simple workaround available. This method adds a zero-value placeholder item to the order that can be marked as fulfilled, allowing the “unfulfilled” label to be cleared.

Here’s how to do it:

Step 1 – Open the affected Order

In your Shopify admin, go to Orders and open the cancelled or refunded order.

Step 2 – Click “Edit”

At the top right of the order details page, click the Edit button to modify the order.

Step 3 – Add a Custom Line Item

In the “Add Product” section:

Click “Add custom item”
Give it a name like “Order Refunded”
Set the price to $0
Uncheck both:
- “Charge tax”
- “This is a physical product”

Then click “Add item”.

In Edit order screen

Uncheck “Send notification to customer”
Click “Update Order”

Step 4 – Fulfill the Order

Back in the Orders list:

Select the checkbox next to this order
Click “Fulfill item”
If prompted, make sure “Send a notification to the customer” unchecked

This effectively allows you to fulfill the placeholder item without triggering any notifications or affecting your inventory.

Step 5 – Archive the Order (optional)

While still on the Orders page, select the order again
Click the three-dot “More actions” menu
Choose “Archive Order”

Step 6 – Refresh

You may need to log out and back in for the unfulfilled count in your sidebar to update. Once this is done, the order should no longer appear in the “unfulfilled” list.

A note on timing

This workaround only works before an order is fully cancelled. Shopify locks editing ability for cancelled orders. If you already cancelled the order, you won’t be able to add a placeholder line item afterward.

To use this workaround effectively:

Refund the order first
Add the placeholder item
Fulfill it
Then, if needed, archive or cancel the order

Why this also matters if you use Squarespace

A lot of Squarespace users use Squarespace as their storefront and embed Shopify Buy Buttons for actual checkout. That means the admin workflow — including the orders dashboard — is still Shopify-based.

So even if your customer never sees Shopify, you do, and this issue will affect you just the same.

If you're running a Squarespace + Shopify setup, or transitioning between platforms, this little hack can save you a lot of confusion (and maybe even a few wrongly shipped packages).

Conclusion

This issue has been raised by merchants for years, and while Shopify acknowledges it, there is currently no official feature to suppress the “unfulfilled” status for refunded or cancelled orders. For now, this workaround is the most reliable method to maintain a clean dashboard and accurate fulfillment tracking.

If your team relies on accurate fulfillment statuses — especially if you're working with 3PLs or inventory tools — it’s worth integrating this step into your refund or cancellation workflow.

Need help building automations or workarounds like this into your store? We help merchants simplify complex workflows with custom scripts and no-code tools.

→ Contact Us

How to Remove the “Unfulfilled” Tag from Cancelled or Refunded Shopify Orders