# Cancel a payment

You can cancel a payment that hasn't been completed yet. What canceling does depends on the payment's state:

* **Pending** — the payment was created but not paid yet, such as a hosted payment page or a [Pay by Link](https://docs.monei.com/payments/pay-by-link/.md) you sent. Canceling **voids the page or link** so it can no longer be paid, and sets the payment to **Canceled**.
* **Authorized (uncaptured)** — the payment placed a [hold on the card](https://docs.monei.com/payments/capture/.md) but wasn't captured. Canceling **releases the hold**, returning the reserved funds to your customer.

info

Once a payment is captured (**Succeeded**), you can't cancel it — issue a [refund](https://docs.monei.com/payments/refunds/.md) instead.

## How to cancel[​](#how "Direct link to How to cancel")

* **Through an e-commerce platform** — cancel or void the order from your store admin.
* **Directly with MONEI** — cancel the payment from your [dashboard](https://dashboard.monei.com/), or call the [Cancel Payment API](https://docs.monei.com/apis/rest/payments-cancel/.md).

Platform merchants: cancel inside the platform

If you sell through an e-commerce platform, cancel from the platform — not the MONEI dashboard — so the order stays in sync with your store.

## Cancel, capture, or refund?[​](#which "Direct link to Cancel, capture, or refund?")

| You want to…                             | Payment state | Action                                                 |
| ---------------------------------------- | ------------- | ------------------------------------------------------ |
| Void a payment page or link not yet paid | Pending       | Cancel                                                 |
| Release a hold you won't charge          | Uncaptured    | Cancel                                                 |
| Charge a held payment                    | Uncaptured    | [Capture](https://docs.monei.com/payments/capture/.md) |
| Return money already charged             | Succeeded     | [Refund](https://docs.monei.com/payments/refunds/.md)  |

For an authorized payment, if you take no action the hold is released automatically when the [authorization expires](https://docs.monei.com/payments/capture/.md#expiry) (7 days by default).