A void is the cancellation of a payment transaction that has been authorised but not yet settled. When a merchant voids a transaction, the hold placed on the cardholder’s funds during authorisation is released, and the payment is effectively erased as though it never happened. Because the funds were never actually transferred — they were only reserved — a void does not trigger the interchange and processing fees that apply to settled transactions. This makes voiding the cleanest and most cost-effective way to cancel a payment, provided it is done before the settlement batch closes.
The window for voiding a transaction is limited. Once a payment has been captured and submitted for settlement, it can no longer be voided — at that point, the merchant must issue a refund instead, which is a separate transaction that incurs its own processing costs and takes additional time to appear on the cardholder’s statement. Because of this, merchants benefit from building void logic into their order management systems so that cancellations, inventory issues, or fraud flags detected before settlement can be handled as voids rather than refunds.
Common scenarios for voiding include order cancellations where the customer changes their mind before shipment, duplicate transactions caused by technical errors or double-clicks, and fraud prevention workflows where a risk engine flags a transaction after authorisation but before capture. In each case, voiding avoids the downstream complications of refunding a settled payment — no negative settlement entries, no impact on chargeback ratios, and no waiting period for the customer to receive their money back.
Shuttle Global supports void operations consistently across all connected PSPs, whether the original transaction was processed through Embedded Payments, a Payment Link, or Voice Checkout. Platforms can issue voids through Shuttle’s unified API without needing to know which PSP handled the original authorisation or how that PSP’s specific void mechanics work. This is particularly valuable in contact centre environments using Voice Checkout, where an agent may need to cancel a payment mid-call — Shuttle ensures the void is executed immediately and the hold is released, regardless of the underlying processor.