Cash on delivery still moves a lot of orders for small online brands in India. Customers trust it. Couriers know how to collect it. The problem shows up later: refused parcels, reverse logistics fees, and stock that comes back unsaleable.
Margins on apparel, beauty and home products are thin enough without paying for a round trip. Here are the practical ways we see brands cut cash on delivery returns without shutting COD off completely.
Confirm the order before it ships
A short confirmation call or WhatsApp message before the courier pickup catches a surprising share of bad orders. Ask the customer to confirm the product, size or colour, the address and the COD amount. If they do not answer after two tries, hold the order rather than shipping into the dark.
Script the call so it does not sound like a sales pitch. “This is a confirmation for your order of X, COD amount Y, delivering to Z. Shall we proceed?” is enough. Note the time and the response in your order system.
For high-value COD orders, confirmation should be mandatory. For repeat prepaid customers you can skip it. Treat first-time COD buyers with more care.
Make prepaid a little more attractive
You do not need a huge discount. Free shipping above a threshold, a small coupon for prepaid, or a freebie that only applies on prepaid checkout often shifts enough orders to matter. Show the COD fee clearly if you charge one, so the customer sees the trade-off before they place the order.
At checkout, put prepaid first in the payment list. Many customers pick the first option they see. Do not hide COD; just stop featuring it as the hero. On product pages, a short line such as “Prepaid orders ship faster” can nudge without sounding pushy.
Some brands also offer a small gift or sample only on prepaid. Keep the gift cheap and relevant so it does not wipe out the margin you just saved on returns.
Clearer product pages reduce refusals
Refused parcels are not only fraud. Plenty of honest customers open the box, feel misled, and send it back with the courier. Fix the page before you blame the buyer:
- Real photos of the product, including scale. A hand or a common object in the frame helps.
- Size charts that match how you actually cut the garment, not a generic chart copied from somewhere else.
- Material, weight, colour notes and what is in the box.
- Delivery timelines that are honest for COD as well as prepaid.
If a product has a high return rate, put the common reasons on the page. “Runs small, order one size up” saves everyone a courier trip.
Address quality and serviceability
Incomplete addresses and non-serviceable pin codes create failed attempts that look like returns in your reports. Validate pin codes at checkout against your courier’s service list. Ask for landmark and alternate phone number on COD orders.
When a courier marks “customer unavailable”, try calling before you authorise a second attempt. Sometimes the customer never wanted the order; sometimes the executive went to the wrong wing of the society.
Limits and velocity checks
Cap the number of open COD orders per phone number or address. Flag new customers who place several high-value COD orders in a day. None of this needs fancy software for a small brand; a daily sheet reviewed by one person in operations is a start.
Watch pin codes and products that refuse often. Pause COD on a SKU or a locality that keeps burning money, while you keep COD elsewhere.
After a refusal
When a parcel comes back, update inventory quickly and decide whether the item can go out again. Contact the customer once to understand why, without arguing. If the reason was size or colour, improve the page. If the number was fake, block it for future COD.
Do not ban COD overnight if that is how most of your city still buys. Tighten confirmation, prepaid incentives and product clarity first. Those three steps cut a large share of cash on delivery returns for the brands we work with, without cutting off customers who will only pay at the door.
Track refused COD as its own line in your weekly numbers, separate from size exchanges and damaged goods. When founders see the rupee cost of reverse trips, support for confirmation calls usually appears quickly.
Work with your courier on RTO reasons. “Customer cancelled” and “fake address” need different responses. A monthly review of the top refusal reasons beats a vague feeling that COD is “problematic”.
COD is a tool. Used with confirmation calls and honest pages, it can stay part of your checkout. Used without checks, it quietly eats the margin you thought you had.
