In Lagos, "pay on delivery" is practically the default. Buyers have been burned by pay-first sellers who vanish, so they'd rather hand over the money when the parcel is in their hands. Fair enough. But for you, the seller, that's where the headache starts: the rider collects your money, and you spend the next three days trying to get it out of them. Or the customer stops picking up their phone and your goods take a round trip back to you.
Pay on delivery (POD, or cash on delivery) isn't the problem. Handling it badly is. Here's how it actually works, where the money leaks, and how to plug it.
What "pay on delivery" actually means
Your customer orders, but doesn't pay upfront. When the rider delivers, they collect the cost of the goods at the door. That money then has to come back to you — the seller — minus the delivery fee. Simple in theory. The whole game is in that last step: does the money actually reach you, cleanly, and can you tell which order it was for?
Where sellers lose money on POD
Almost every complaint comes down to the cash, not the delivery:
- Slow or short remittance. The rider collected ₦26,500, but it trickles back over days — or comes back light with no explanation.
- No record. Three deliveries, three payments, one lump of cash, and nobody can say which naira belonged to which order.
- Failed deliveries. Customer doesn't show, doesn't answer. No goods money — but if you're not careful you still pay the full delivery fee for a wasted trip.
- Cash sitting with a rider. The longer your money lives in someone's pocket, the more can go wrong.
How to run pay on delivery without losing money
You don't have to stop offering POD — you just need it handled properly. This is how we do it, and what to insist on from any courier:
- Money remitted with a breakdown. We collect at the door, take out our delivery fee, and send you the rest — with a line showing exactly which order each payment came from. No chasing, no guessing.
- A fair failed-delivery rule. If the customer no-shows, there's no goods money and we charge only half the delivery fee — so a wasted trip doesn't cost you full price.
- Confirm the recipient upfront. A correct phone number and a real address cut no-shows dramatically. We reach out before we set off.
- Everything tracked. You can follow the delivery and see proof it arrived — so "it wasn't delivered" arguments end quickly.
Does pay on delivery cost extra?
No — you pay the normal delivery fee, and it's simply netted out of the goods money we collect. So a ₦26,500 order with a ₦6,000 fee means ₦20,500 comes back to you. Offering POD doesn't add a charge; it just needs a courier who accounts for the cash properly.
Getting started
If you sell online in Lagos and you're tired of chasing your own money, that's exactly what we built our pay-on-delivery around. Open a free merchant account to book and track from one dashboard, or talk to us about volume and fulfilment. If you also want the bigger picture on shipping for a store, see our guide to e-commerce delivery in Lagos.
Frequently asked questions
Do you offer pay on delivery in Lagos?
Yes. Our rider collects the goods money from your customer at the door, we deduct our delivery fee, and we remit the balance to you — with a record of which order each payment is for.
How do I get my money after a pay-on-delivery order?
We collect it on delivery and remit it to you, netting our fee, with a per-order breakdown. You never chase a rider for cash.
What happens if the customer doesn't pick up?
It's a failed delivery — no goods money, and we charge only half the delivery fee for the wasted trip, so you're not paying full price for a no-show.
Is pay on delivery safe for sellers?
Yes, as long as your courier remits cleanly and keeps a record per order. The risk isn't POD itself — it's using a service that's slow or vague about your cash.
Can I offer pay on delivery for interstate orders?
POD is most common for same-day Lagos deliveries. For interstate, talk to us and we'll advise the safest way to handle collection and remittance.