What Cash on delivery does
The Cash on delivery (COD) app adds a pay on delivery option to your checkout. The buyer places the order and pays the delivery person in cash when the parcel arrives. There is no card, no gateway and nothing to connect, which makes it the most used method in markets where buyers prefer to pay on receipt.
Set it up
- Open Apps and click Cash on delivery.
- Click Install.
- In the settings, turn on Activate.
- Click Save.
Activate is the only setting. When it is on, buyers can choose cash on delivery at checkout. When it is off, the option is hidden but the app stays installed.
How a COD order arrives
A completed COD order arrives in Orders as Pending, ready for you to confirm. There is no payment to wait for. It is marked Paid once you move it to Done, after the courier collects the cash.
A checkout the buyer started but did not finish is saved as Abandoned. You can call these buyers, or turn them into pending orders automatically with the Automator app. See also What do the order statuses mean?
Send COD orders to a courier
If a delivery company or call center confirms and delivers your COD orders, install its courier app so every order goes to them automatically with the amount to collect. See How do I connect a COD fulfillment or courier network?
Take a deposit first
To cut fake orders and refused deliveries, you can ask for a small deposit by Mobile Money (for example the delivery fee) and collect the rest in cash. See How do I accept Mobile Money?
COD and VAT
VAT is not set in the COD app. It is set per market in Settings, then Markets, in the market's VAT panel, and it only applies to products with Taxable turned on.
- To sell without VAT in a market, set its VAT rate to 0.
- To sell one product without VAT, turn its Taxable toggle off.
- To charge VAT, give the market a rate and keep the product Taxable.
Full details in the VAT article.
Good to know
- COD does not check payment. A buyer can refuse the parcel, so confirm orders by phone before shipping, and watch your returns in Orders.
- To block fake or repeated orders, see the Shield app in the Security and anti-fraud articles.