> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.sellauth.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Abandoned Checkouts

> See who started a checkout without finishing it, and send a recovery email with an optional coupon.

An abandoned checkout is a buyer who reached your checkout page, entered an email, and left without paying. They are listed under [**Abandoned Checkouts**](https://dash.sellauth.com/abandoned-checkouts) in the dashboard, and you can email them to bring them back. Requires a plan that includes abandoned checkouts.

<Note>
  Abandoned checkouts expire after 7 days and then disappear from the page, so recovery has to happen inside that window.
</Note>

## Two kinds of abandonment

The page splits them because they mean different things.

**Ghost checkouts** entered an email and never picked a payment method. Something stopped them before they got that far: the total with fees, a missing payment method, or second thoughts.

**Dropped checkouts** picked a payment method and never completed the payment. These were further along, and are the more recoverable of the two. A run of dropped checkouts on one payment method is worth investigating as a problem with that method rather than with the buyers.

The page also counts **dismissed** checkouts, which is not a third kind of abandonment. It is the state you put one in when you remove it from the list yourself.

## Sending a recovery email

<Steps>
  <Step title="Pick the checkout, or select several">
    Recovery can be sent one at a time or in bulk from the selection.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Optionally attach a coupon">
    Pick an existing coupon, or generate a one-time coupon locked to the buyer's email with its own discount, expiry, and minimum order value. Bulk sends generate one coupon per buyer.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Send">
    The buyer receives an email linking back to their checkout.
  </Step>
</Steps>

Recovery emails are rate limited to 50 per hour across your shop, and bulk sends report how many were sent and how many were skipped.

The wording of the email is edited under [**Email Settings**](https://dash.sellauth.com/email/templates), alongside your other transactional templates, on a plan that includes template editing.

## Automatic recovery emails

On the Scale plan the recovery email can go out by itself. Open **Automation** at the top of the Abandoned Checkouts page to switch it on and choose the timing.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Choose a delay">
    A fixed delay sends every email the same amount of time after the checkout was started, anywhere from 1 hour to 6 days. A random window picks a different delay for each checkout inside the range you set, so the emails do not look scheduled.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Optionally include a coupon">
    Choose no coupon, one of your existing coupons, or a generated one-time coupon that only works for that buyer's email address. For generated coupons you set the discount type, the amount, how long it stays valid, and an optional minimum order value. An existing coupon stops being attached once it expires.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Tune the advanced options if needed">
    Under **Advanced** you can limit automation to ghost or dropped checkouts, require a minimum order value in USD, and set the buyer cooldown described below.
  </Step>
</Steps>

Automation only picks up checkouts started after you switched it on. Anything already on the page when you enable it stays available for manual recovery.

Manual and automatic recovery share the same email template and the same "one email per checkout" rule. A checkout that has already received an automatic email cannot be recovered again manually, and a manual send cancels the automatic one.

### How buyers are protected from repeat emails

The automation applies these rules on every send, and they cannot be turned off:

* **One email per checkout.** A checkout is emailed at most once, whether by you or by the automation.
* **Buyer cooldown.** After any recovery email, automatic or manual, the same buyer is not emailed again for the cooldown period. The default is 24 hours and the minimum is 6 hours.
* **Newest checkout wins.** If the same buyer abandons several checkouts, only the most recent one is emailed.
* **Skipped when it no longer makes sense.** Buyers who completed a purchase since abandoning, unsubscribed, or whose address bounced are skipped. Skipped checkouts show the reason in the list.
* **Shop-wide cap.** Automatic sends are limited to 100 per hour per shop, separate from the manual limit.

The list shows the scheduled time for each pending automatic email and marks sent ones as automatic, so you always know what went out and why.

## Whether to attach a coupon

A coupon raises the chance of recovery and lowers what you earn on it. One approach is to send ghost checkouts a plain reminder, and reserve discounts for dropped checkouts, where the buyer was ready to pay and something got in the way.

Keep recovery discounts unpredictable. Buyers who learn that abandoning a cart reliably produces a discount will abandon every cart.

## Reducing abandonment

* **Check your payment method list.** Buyers who cannot see a method they trust leave at that step, which is what the ghost count is measuring.
* **Look at fees on the total.** A surcharge appearing at the payment step is a common reason to abandon.
* **Watch for one method dominating dropped checkouts.** A concentration like that usually indicates a broken integration rather than an unpopular method.

## Next steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Coupons and deals" icon="tag" href="/guides/coupons-and-deals">
    Creating the coupon you attach to a recovery email.
  </Card>

  <Card title="How checkout works" icon="cart-shopping" href="/guides/checkout">
    What buyers go through before they abandon.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>


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