Cash on delivery
Cash on delivery in Europe: customers pay when it arrives
Payment on delivery for the European markets where many buyers won't pay upfront. The local carrier collects the money, N1 reconciles it order by order, and the payout shows up in your financial panel.
- 8 — markets with active cash on delivery
- 24–48 h — typical delivery time after dispatch
- 1 — account for all 8 markets
At a glance
| Markets | Italy, Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, Croatia, Czech Republic and Spain |
|---|---|
| Typical delivery time | 24–48 h after dispatch, from our warehouses in Europe |
| How the money comes back | The local carrier collects the amount on delivery, N1 reconciles it order by order and the payout shows up in your financial panel. How reconciliation works |
| What's included | Storage, picking and packing, shipping, COD collection, reconciliation, reverse logistics for refused parcels and the order panel |
| Integrations | Shopify, CartPanda, Digistore24, API and webhooks See the integrations |
| Support | In Portuguese, for the seller |
Why cash on delivery exists
Not every European market buys the same way. In several of them, a large share of buyers won't give card details to a shop they don't know yet. It's not a lack of payment methods; it's distrust of paying before seeing the product. There, demanding upfront payment doesn't filter out bad buyers: it filters out buyers.
Cash on delivery flips the order. The customer places the order without paying, receives the parcel at home and pays the courier on delivery. The risk objection leaves the table. If you want the full picture, read how cash on delivery works in Europe.
The trade-off is that the money now travels through the logistics chain instead of landing in your account at checkout. That stretch is what the operation absorbs: collection by the carrier, order-by-order reconciliation, handling of refused parcels and the payout of what was actually received.
How the money moves
Three stages, each visible in the panel, from order created to funds released.
- Order created with no payment — The order arrives from your store flagged as COD and goes to our warehouses in Europe. Nothing is charged to the customer at this point.
- Delivery and collection — The local carrier delivers the parcel and collects payment at the door. The order status changes when delivery is confirmed.
- Reconciliation and payout — Collected amounts are reconciled order by order against what the carrier remitted. What is yours shows up in the financial panel, with its origin itemised.
What the operation controls
Collection by the local carrier
The money is collected by a carrier in the destination country, in the way its buyers already pay at their own door.
Order-by-order reconciliation
Every amount received is tied to the order that generated it. A gap between what was delivered and what was remitted shows up as a gap, instead of disappearing into a total.
Delivery status you can read
Delivered, refused and returned are separate statuses in the panel, because in COD refusal is the main hidden cost.
Return of refused parcels
A parcel not accepted at the door comes back to our warehouses in Europe, is sorted and returned to stock when the product is fit for it.
One financial view
Collected revenue, returns and pending balance in the same place as the rest of the operation, with no parallel spreadsheet to close the month.
Support in Portuguese
When an order goes off script, you talk to a team that knows the COD flow, in Portuguese.
When COD pays off, and when it doesn't
It isn't better than upfront payment in every case. It's better in some markets, and clearly worse in others.
It pays off when
- The destination market has a habit of paying on delivery
- The product's margin absorbs delivery costs and refusals
- The offer is impulse-driven and card friction kills conversion
- You're entering a market where your brand isn't known yet
It doesn't when
- The margin is too thin to absorb refused parcels
- The ticket is high and money out on the street becomes cash risk
- Your audience there already pays by card without hesitation
- You need the money in hand on the day of the sale
Frequently asked questions
In which countries can I sell with cash on delivery?
In 8 markets: Italy, Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, Croatia, the Czech Republic and Spain. All of them run from the same account, with delivery from our warehouses in Europe.
What if the customer refuses the parcel?
There is nothing to collect for that order, and the parcel comes back to our warehouses in Europe. It is sorted and returned to stock when fit. Delivery and return costs still exist, which is why the refusal rate is the number to watch in a COD operation.
COD refusal rate: how to measure and lower it
How do I get paid?
The carrier collects the amount on delivery and remits it. N1 reconciles each amount against its order, and the payout shows up in your financial panel with the origin of every value.
How do I know if my margin works with COD?
Calculate the margin on the order that was paid, not on the order that was sold, and include refusals in the maths. If the margin only works with zero refusals, it doesn't work.
Can I run COD and upfront payment at the same time?
Yes, and that's the most common setup. The payment method is set per order, so the same operation can sell by card where that works and by COD where upfront payment kills conversion.
Want to run cash on delivery in Europe?
Tell us about your store and product.