How to enable COD in Shopify: a step-by-step guide

To enable COD in Shopify, you activate Cash on Delivery as a manual payment method under Settings > Payments in your Shopify admin. It takes a couple of minutes, and you don't need an app for it. This guide walks through the steps, what to write for your customers, and what happens to COD orders after they are placed.

Cash on delivery (COD) lets a customer place an order online and pay when the parcel arrives. Shopify treats it as a manual payment method: no money moves at checkout, and you mark the order as paid once you have collected the payment.

How to enable COD in Shopify (desktop)

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Payments.
2. In the Payment providers section, select Cash on Delivery (COD) from the available manual payment methods.
3. In Additional details, enter the information you want shown next to the payment method at checkout.
4. In Payment instructions, enter what the customer needs to do to pay. These instructions appear on the order confirmation page after the customer places the order.
5. Click the button to activate the payment method.

Cash on Delivery now appears as a payment option at checkout.

These steps follow Shopify's help article on manual payment methods, which has the current wording of each screen.

How to enable COD from the Shopify app (mobile)

1. In the Shopify app, open the menu and tap Settings.
2. In the Store settings section, tap Payments.
3. In the Payment providers section, select Cash on Delivery (COD).
4. Fill in Additional details and Payment instructions.
5. Tap the button to activate the payment method.

What to write in Additional details and Payment instructions

Customers read these two fields to decide whether COD is right for them, so be specific. Check with your courier first: what a customer has to do at the door depends on them.

Additional details (shown at checkout) might say:

Pay in cash when your order is delivered. Please have the exact amount ready.

Payment instructions (shown after the order is placed) might say:

Your order will be delivered by our courier partner. Pay the delivery agent in cash when the parcel arrives. We may contact you to confirm the order before we ship it.

If your courier accepts card or UPI payments at the door, say so. If you charge extra for COD, say that too, so the amount at the door doesn't surprise anyone.

What happens to a COD order

• The order is unpaid until you collect. Orders placed with a manual payment method show as payment pending on the Orders page.
• Mark it as paid after delivery. When the courier settles the payment with you, open the order and mark it as paid. Then fulfil and archive it as usual.
• No third-party transaction fees. Shopify says it doesn't charge third-party transaction fees for manual payments.

Selling in more than one currency

Manual payment methods, COD included, can be shown in each market's local currency. Shopify's help article says this needs Shopify Payments with the international sales tools activated.

How to turn COD off

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Payments.
2. In the Manual payment methods box, click Manage next to Cash on Delivery (COD).
3. Click Deactivate payment method, then confirm.

You can activate it again at any time.

Check it works

Place an order on your own store, choose Cash on Delivery at checkout, and read the checkout and confirmation pages the way a customer would. Then cancel the test order so it doesn't end up in your fulfilment queue.

Before you rely on COD: verify the orders

COD makes it easier for people to buy, but a COD order isn't a commitment to pay. Some are placed by mistake or with a wrong phone number, some are abandoned when the parcel arrives, and every refused parcel costs you shipping both ways.

Many stores confirm COD orders before shipping them. Our guide to COD verification for Shopify covers the options. If you want to automate it, Zegsu's COD: Advanced Cash on Delivery app (also known as CodBot) sends the customer a one-time code by SMS or WhatsApp, falls back to an automated call if the code can't be delivered, and can add a fee to COD orders. It is on the Shopify App Store.