Cash on Delivery is one of the most popular payment methods in the world. In some countries Cash on Delivery represents more than 80% of all ecommerce orders and if you own a Shopify store you can use this payment method too! Here’s everything you need to know about Cash on Delivery on Shopify.
How Cash on Delivery works on Shopify
To enable Cash on Delivery on your Shopify store follow our guide How to Enable Cash on Delivery on Shopify.
Once you have enabled Cash on Delivery on your store your customers will be able to select it as a payment option on your checkout here:
After an order is completed with Cash on Delivery it will appear as a Payment pending order on your Admin:
When the order is successfully delivered you can mark it as paid by clicking on the Collect payment button and Mark as paid:
How to add a fee to Cash on Delivery orders on Shopify
Adding a fee to Cash on Delivery is a must for every ecommerce business to ensure COD orders are as profitable as normal orders. To add a fee to Cash on Delivery on your Shopify store check out our guide How to Add a Fee to Cash on Delivery on Shopify.
How to ship Cash on Delivery orders on Shopify
You can ship Cash on Delivery orders on Shopify like every other normal order. If you are fulfilling your orders manually you can click, as always, the Fulfill item button:
If you are using an app to ship your orders make sure that it fully supports COD. Some of the most popular shipping apps that support Cash on Delivery are:
How to reduce return rates for Cash on Delivery on Shopify
One of the biggest (and most annoying) negatives about offering Cash on Delivery as a payment method is returns. Customers who purchase with COD might change idea before their order is delivered and because they did not pay for their order they can just ask the courier to send it back. There is no perfect solution to solve COD returns but a good starting point is charging your customers an additional fee for Cash on Delivery (you can find more info about this above).
The next step to decrease COD returns is order verification. If you want to achieve the lowest return rate possible you must call manually every COD order a few hours before the order is shipped to confirm with your customer if they still want their purchase. This solution is expensive and time consuming and, depending on your orders volumes might require the use of call centers.
If you can’t manually call every COD order before shipping your best option is to verify the order by sending your customers an automated SMS with an OTP code or by calling your customers using an automated IVR call. Both methods allow you to ask your customers to confirm their order after they complete their purchase which will help reducing fake orders. You can find apps on the Shopify App Store to do both things, here’s some quick links:
That’s all you need to know! If you have any ideas or suggestions about Cash on Delivery on Shopify don't hesitate to contact us!