How to Modify Your Order Before It Ships (Including Replacing Several Items at Once)
Matching a replacement laptop key means matching your exact model, and sometimes a part number turns out to be wrong after you have already paid. If your order has not shipped yet, you can fix it yourself from the Order Status page — swap a single key, swap several at once, or add keys you forgot. You only ever pay or receive the difference.
This guide walks through the whole process, including the part people most often need and least often expect: replacing more than one item in a single change.
What you need before you start
- Your order number and the ZIP or postal code on the order. That pair is what proves the order is yours.
- An order that has not shipped. Once a package is on its way, item changes are no longer possible from the Order Status page.
If the Modify Order button is not showing on your order, one of those two things is the reason. There is nothing to fill out and nothing to request; the button simply appears when the order is eligible.
The walkthrough
1. Look up your order
Go to Order Status and enter your order number and ZIP code. You will see the order's current contents, status, and totals.
2. Click Modify Order
A window opens explaining how the process works, followed by a list of everything currently on the order. Each line shows the key, the laptop it was ordered for, the quantity, and what that line is currently worth.
3. Tick the items you want to replace
Each item has a checkbox. Tick every item you want to swap out — one, two, or all of them. As you tick, a running summary tells you exactly what you have selected and what it is worth:
Replacing 2 items (3 keys) — credit $29.97
If you only want to add keys and not replace anything, leave every box unticked. The button at the bottom changes to match what you are doing, reading either Shop For Replacements or Shop For Items To Add.
4. Shop for the replacements
Clicking the button clears your cart and puts the site into modify-order mode. A blue bar stays across the top of every page reminding you what you are doing and which order you are changing, with a link back to the order and a Cancel option if you change your mind. Nothing is committed yet.
Now shop normally. Use Browse to work down from brand to series to your exact model, or search if you already know it. Add the keys you actually need to the cart, exactly as you would on a first order — including the kit options, such as a full repair kit, a retainer clip only, or extra clips and cups.
Not sure which model you have? Our Identify Your Laptop page shows where to find the model number, and it is worth two minutes here — getting the model right is the whole point of the change you are making.
5. Review the change
Go to checkout. Instead of the usual shipping form, you get a Review Order Modification screen in two halves:
- Removing from your order — every item you ticked, struck through, with a total credit at the bottom.
- Adding to your order — everything now in your cart, with its cost.
Beneath those, a panel states the outcome in plain terms: an amount to pay, a refund due, or no price difference at all.
6. Pay, get refunded, or just submit
What happens next depends only on the difference:
- Costs more — the button reads Pay Difference. You pay only the difference, by card or PayPal. Your original payment is untouched.
- Costs less — the button reads Submit Modification & Refund. The refund is issued when you submit.
- Costs the same — the button reads Submit Modification. No money moves.
7. Check your updated order
You land back on the Order Status page. The items you replaced remain visible but struck through and marked (removed from order), with the new items listed below them. That is deliberate: it keeps an honest record of what changed, for you and for the person packing your order.
Replacing several items at once
This is the situation the process is really built for. Say you ordered an ESC key and an F5 key for what you believed was your model, and both came back to the same wrong part number. You do not want to make two separate changes — you want to fix both in one pass.
Tick both items in step 3, shop for the correct model's ESC and F5 keys, and submit. Both old lines come off, both new lines go on, and you settle one difference instead of two.
The counts do not have to match
Nothing requires you to add the same number of items you removed. The system compares the total value of what is leaving against the total value of what is arriving, and settles the difference:
| What you do | What happens |
|---|---|
| Replace 2 items with 2 items | Pay or be refunded whatever the difference is — often nothing |
| Replace 2 items with 1 item | The difference is refunded to your original payment method |
| Replace 2 items with 3 items | You pay the difference before the change is applied |
| Replace nothing, add 3 items | You pay for the added items |
So if you selected two keys but discovered you only ever needed one, that is fine — take one, and the balance comes back to you. If you realise you need a third while you are there, add it and pay the difference.
A note on quantities
If you ordered the same key twice, it appears as a single line with a quantity of 2. Ticking that line takes the whole line — both keys — and credits you for both. If you want to replace only one of the two, tick the line and then add back the one you are keeping along with the replacement. The maths works out the same.
How the money works
Three rules cover almost every case.
You only ever settle the difference. We do not cancel your order and re-charge it. The original payment stays exactly where it is, and only the gap between old and new items moves in either direction.
The credit is the real value of the line. Whatever you paid for that item — including its kit options and its full quantity — is what comes off. Extra retainer clips and rubber cups you added are part of that value and are credited with it.
Refunds go back the way the money came. A card payment is refunded to that card; a PayPal payment is refunded through PayPal. You cannot redirect it elsewhere, and how quickly it posts is up to your bank or PayPal, not us.
Two things that do not change: shipping is not recharged, because your order is already paid for and going to the same address, and no tax is added to a modification.
Limitations and rules worth knowing
- You must add at least one item. Order modification is a swap, not a partial cancellation. If you tick items and then submit an empty cart, it will stop you. To have items removed and refunded outright, contact us instead.
- Refunds are capped at what remains on the original charge. If a change would refund more than is still refundable — for example on an order already partly refunded — it will not go through automatically, and you will be pointed to us to sort it out directly. Nothing silently half-completes.
- Only before it ships. Orders that have shipped, been delivered, cancelled, or refunded cannot be modified.
- The shipping address is separate. Changing where an order goes uses the Modify Address option on the same page, not this one.
- You can modify more than once. As long as the order is still eligible, there is no limit on the number of changes.
- Nothing is committed until you submit. Backing out or clicking Cancel on the blue bar leaves the original order untouched.
When modification is not available
Already shipped? Use the Exchanges page to swap parts for the correct ones, or Returns if you no longer need them.
Not sure the replacement is right either? Ask before you buy. Send us your model number through Contact Us and we will tell you which part fits — that is a far better use of everyone's time than a second wrong part number.
Frequently asked questions
Can I replace more than one item at a time?
Yes. Tick every item you want to swap in the Modify Order window and handle them all in one change, with a single price difference at the end.
What if I replace two items but only need one?
That is allowed. The value of both removed items is credited, the one new item is charged, and the difference is refunded to your original payment method.
Will I be charged shipping again?
No. A modification does not add shipping or tax. You pay only the difference in item value, if there is one.
How long do I have to modify my order?
Until it ships.
Can I remove an item and just get a refund?
Not through order modification, which always requires at least one replacement item. Contact us and we will take care of it.