A COD order that travels both ways is not an order. It is a bill.
Cash on delivery is most of Pakistani e-commerce, and around a quarter of those parcels come back: wrong address, nobody home, or an order that was never real. You pay the courier out, you pay the courier back, and the stock returns opened or not at all.
Ask for a small advance instead. Someone who transfers is a real buyer. DPay turns that advance into one link, verified from your bank's own alert before the parcel moves, so what you ship is what will be accepted.
A hundred orders, two ways.
Ship a hundred orders on cash on delivery and, at the rates Pakistani sellers report, about seventy-five are delivered and twenty-five come back. Each return costs the outbound courier fee, the return fee, the packaging, the days the stock was out, and sometimes the stock itself.
Ask for an advance on the same hundred orders and prepaid orders come back 40–50% less often: closer to twelve returns than twenty-five. Some buyers decline to pay an advance; nearly all of them are the ones who were going to decline the parcel. The advance does not lose you sales. It loses you the orders that were never sales.
One link before the parcel. One alert before you ship.
- 1Confirm the order as usual
On WhatsApp, Instagram, your store or the phone. Nothing about how you sell changes.
- 2Send the advance link
A reusable DPay payment link for PKR 200, say, or a one-off payment for this order. It opens in any phone browser.
- 3The customer pays from their own app
They pick Easypaisa, JazzCash or their bank, see your account and the exact amount, and transfer. No card, no new app.
- 4Your bank's alert confirms it
DPay matches the credit to the order on six checks and marks it paid. You ship. The balance is collected at the door as before, or the buyer prepays in full.
The customer's screenshot is never part of it. Your bank's alert is the only evidence DPay accepts.
The advance is an ordinary transfer from the app the buyer already uses; 45 banks and wallets are in the checkout.
On the plans with branding, the link carries your logo, colour and a line of trust, so a nervous first-time buyer sees the shop they came from.
Every advance carries the reference, the bank, the amount and the time, and the buyer gets a receipt automatically.
Advances that carry an email become customer records with totals and history, so repeat buyers are easy to recognise.
A flat plan price. The Free plan covers enough advances a month to see the return rate move.
The same link takes full prepayment, too.
Once buyers are used to paying an advance by transfer, many will pay in full and skip the cash at the door. The same payment link takes any amount you set, an invoice covers an order with several items, and the dashboard's analytics show what share of your orders is now prepaid and from which banks. The store that started by filtering fake orders usually ends up mostly prepaid.
Straight answers.
Why do so many COD parcels come back?+
Because nothing was at stake when the order was placed. A wrong number, a changed mind, a prank, or an order that was never real all cost the buyer nothing and cost you the courier fee both ways, plus stock that returns opened or late. Reported return rates for cash on delivery in Pakistan run around a quarter of parcels, and higher in some cities.
How much advance should I ask for?+
Enough to make a fake order pointless and little enough that a real buyer does not hesitate: PKR 100 to 300 is where most sellers land. The advance is not the sale; it is the filter. Someone who transfers PKR 200 from their own bank app is a real person with a real intention, and they very rarely refuse the parcel.
How does the customer pay the advance?+
You send a DPay payment link on WhatsApp, or your site redirects to a DPay checkout. The customer picks Easypaisa, JazzCash or their bank — any of 45 in Pakistan — sees your account and the exact amount, and transfers from their own app. There is no card and nothing to install.
How do I know the advance actually arrived before I ship?+
You do not take the customer's word or their screenshot. DPay reads the alert your own bank sends for the credit and matches it on six checks: the right account, money in, the right bank, the exact amount, inside the window, and never claimed before. Only then is the order marked paid. If two transfers could match, it waits for you rather than guessing.
Can I collect the rest on delivery?+
Yes. Most sellers take the advance by transfer and the balance in cash at the door, exactly as before. The advance changes who places the order, not how the rest is collected. If a buyer would rather prepay in full, the same link works for the full amount.
Does an advance put buyers off?+
Some, and those are largely the ones who would not have accepted the parcel. Prepaid orders come back 40–50% less often than pure COD, which more than pays for the few who walk away. A checkout that carries your logo and a line of trust, such as your official number, keeps the rest comfortable.
What does DPay cost per order?+
Nothing per order. DPay charges a flat plan price in rupees and never a percentage, because it never holds the money. The Free plan is enough to try this on real orders this week.
Take your first verified payment today.
A NayaPay or Meezan account, the Gmail its alerts arrive in, and five minutes. The Free plan is enough to see it work.