Cash on Delivery on Shopify

by Julia Jackle - Jul 8, 2020

Cash on Delivery (COD) for one country only on Shopify plus Dubai / UAE

When shopping online on Shopify stores, there will always be that pool of online shoppers who do not want to pay for their orders using their Credit Cards or other online payment methods such as PayPal. In realization of this, Shopify introduced the Cash on Delivery payment gateway to cater to such customers. It is a simple and very effective way of collecting payments for an order from customers who would rather pay for their items after receiving them. Delivery agents collect the money for the order at the time of delivery, and the money is later deposited in a bank account. In this method of payment, all the parties, i.e., the buyer and the seller, are fully satisfied, and it reduces the rate of returns. To benefit from it, you are required to integrate manual payments methods on your Shopify store so that COD can be an available payment method once your customers reach the Checkout stage. After the payment is received, you can then manually approve the order.

Restricting Shopify COD to only one country

Though Cash on Delivery is a seemingly effortless way to accept payments In Dubai and the UAE in general, online merchants are finding it difficult to understand how it operates. For instance, many constantly ask, “Is it possible to limit COD to one country?” well, this is a pretty understandable question considering that you can not only allow COD in areas where you have the infrastructure and personnel to deliver and collect payments in person. After all, it makes no sense to allow buyers in Qatar to use COD if you can’t deliver and receive the payment.

So, is it possible?

Well, this works but only if you are using the Shopify Plus plan. If you are on other plans, there is no way to restrict any payment method to the UAE alone. In other words, all the payment methods listed on your store will be available to buyers regardless of where they are. However, you can restrict delivery to locations that you can’t fulfill COD, but this will only be visible to them at the shipping section. Moreover, you will be locking out customers in these places who would like to pay for their orders using other payment methods other than COD. Practically, this is not an ideal way to go by it.

The idealist way to stop customers from choosing COD is placing notes and notifications to let them know that you do not support COD in their location. This can be done on the “Additional Details” section on COD settings. For instance, you can include a note like this “Cash on Delivery payment method is only eligible for orders to be shipped within the UAE. Please choose another payment method if you are outside the UAE”.

Though this approach is better off than doing nothing to prevent such orders, it is still not practical, convenient, and foolproof. I mean there will always be those customers who will make such orders and canceling them could leave frustrated, and eventually, they will stop buying from you. If you are looking for a better way to approach this, use the Shopify plus Plan.

The foolproof way to implement Limited COD

If what we have discussed above is not a practical thing for you, go ahead and signup for the Shopify Plus plan. With it, you have the freedom to customize your cart and checkout process. To be precise, you can:

  • Query a geolocation API on the checkout stage of the customer
  • Hide specific payment methods depending on the location of the shoppers using JavaScript

All of these actions need professional developers, so if you are not a developer yourself; you will have to hire one. After doing this, COD will not be available to customers, not within the UAE.

Go to Creative971 ultimate Dropshipping UAE dubai guide to learn about dropshipping.

At Creative971, we keep our Shopify knowledge and training up-to-date in order to offer our clients quick, beautiful and user-friendly e-commerce sites. To discover how optimized your Shopify store is, or to get started on a shiny new site today, get in touch. 

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About the Author:
Julia Jackle
Julia is the co-founder and CEO of Creative971 and has written blogs in the past for the Entrepreneur Magazine UAE. Her extensive knowledge in the E-Commerce industry in the UAE and GCC is widely appreciated.

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