Cash on delivery, delivery fee and other charges on a parcel
What the Parcel summary shows when you create a parcel: amount to collect, delivery fee, platform share, COD commission and what is deducted from your balance, and how each is calculated. VAT and packaging are not priced.
Last updated 22 October 2026 · Last verified 22 October 2026
Purpose#
When you create a parcel, the Parcel summary panel shows what the recipient pays, what delivery costs and what is taken from your balance. This page explains each line. The numbers depend on the delivery company, your account type and platform rules, so no fixed prices are given.
Who can use it#
Merchants, from New parcel. Company staff creating parcels for their merchants, the merchant Excel import, the API and linked stores use the same creation and pricing logic. The price is always calculated on the server; the panel previews it and refreshes when you change the company, pickup location, weight, recipient location, COD amount, currency or fee payer.
When merchant plans are in use, creating parcels needs an active merchant plan. A merchant created by a delivery company needs that company's subscription to be active.
The terms on a parcel#
| Term (as shown) | What it is |
|---|---|
| Amount collected from the recipient (COD amount) | Cash the courier collects. Empty or 0 means prepaid: the details page and label show Paid. You type it in the Parcel currency; ledgers keep US dollars and the original amount is kept for display. |
| Delivery fee | The fee for carrying the parcel, from the company's pricing method or the shipping company's quote. On a shipping company's platform account it already includes the platform fee. |
| Platform share / Platform fees | A fee set by the super admin in finance rules; it can be zero. A separate summary row appears only on your own account with a shipping company. |
| COD commission | A percentage of the collected amount charged by some shipping companies; shown only above zero. |
| Held until delivery | Own account with a shipping company: the fee value is held from your balance and released on delivery. Shown only when something is held. |
| Deducted from your balance now | Taken from your balance when you save the parcel. |
| The recipient pays the courier | Shipping companies only: COD plus the fee and COD commission when the recipient bears them. |
| Net to you after delivery | Shipping companies only: COD minus the fee (unless the recipient pays it) and minus the platform fee; on the platform account only, also minus the COD commission when you bear it. On your own account the COD commission row is shown for information and is not subtracted from this net. |
Read the price before you save#
Choose the delivery company and pickup location
Until you choose a company the panel says: "Choose a delivery company to show the price." Companies are marked "my company", "delivery company" or "shipping company".
Enter the COD amount and currency
Pick the Parcel currency (only currencies the chosen company accepts stay enabled) and enter the amount, or leave it empty or 0 for a prepaid parcel. Some shipping companies add Who pays the shipping fee?: "Paid by me — deducted from my balance", "Paid by recipient — paid on top of the COD amount" or "Included in the COD amount — deducted from it".
Read the Parcel summary
When you choose a delivery company the panel shows Collection from recipient, Delivery fee and Deducted from your balance now, and the box under the rows lists the calculation method and the weight, plus the governorate (with governorate pricing) and the distance (with distance pricing) when they apply. For a shipping company those lines are replaced by a note with the carrier's remark if any, the account used (platform or your own), who pays the fee, a balance-guarantee line when one applies and the loss warning when it shows, and the extra rows described above appear in the summary.
Save and check the parcel
My parcels has Collection and Fee columns; the details page shows the same cards plus "Collected" and "COD commission" when they apply. Deleting a parcel that is still Pending or Received Warehouse and not yet sent to a shipping company refunds everything deducted at creation.
- Choose the pickup place
- Choose the delivery company
- Enter the recipient's name and phone
- Set the cash-on-delivery amount
- Your invoice number, to recognise the parcel later
- Base fee, then the minimum fee
- The delivery price for each governorate
- Courier commission share
- Save the pricing
How the delivery fee is calculated#
For delivery companies, the company (or the super admin) picks one method on the Delivery pricing page:
- Fixed amount per governorate: base fee + the price for the recipient's governorate.
- By weight (kilogram): base fee + price per kg × weight.
- By distance (kilometer): base fee + price per km × distance.
- By distance and weight combined: base fee + price per km × distance + price per kg × weight.
Weight rounds up to a whole kilogram, at least 1 kg. If a Minimum fee is set, the fee never falls below it, and the result is rounded to two decimals. Distance is the road distance from the routing service when a key is configured and the service answers; otherwise (no key, or the request fails) it is a straight-line estimate × 1.3. The split of the fee into the company's share and the courier's share is stored on the parcel and is not added to what you pay. A shipping company's fee is its own quote, converted to US dollars at its exchange rate.
What is deducted, by account type#
| Your situation | When you save | After delivery |
|---|---|---|
| A delivery company that is yours | Platform fee only, if any | Cash is handled in your company's own accounts |
| A delivery company that is not yours | Delivery fee + platform fee | The full COD is credited to your dues |
| A merchant created by a company, billing From COD | Nothing | COD minus the fee becomes due to you; it can be negative, meaning you owe the company |
| A merchant created by a company, billing From their balance in advance | The fee, from your balance with the company; the parcel is not created if it is not enough | The full COD becomes due to you |
| A shipping company, platform account | Fee + platform fee; with "Paid by recipient", only the platform fee is deducted and the fee just has to be available in your balance as a guarantee | COD credited to your dues, minus the COD commission if any |
| A shipping company, your own account | Platform fee if any; the fee value is held. With "Paid by recipient", nothing is held, but the fee has to be available in your balance as a guarantee | The hold is released |
What is not part of the price#
- Packaging, Category, Delivery type and Goods price are saved but do not change the fee. Goods price is marked "For documentation only".
- VAT and the old COD charge percentage are not applied: the legacy fields (VAT, COD charge, total delivery amount, current payable) are 0 for new parcels. A read-only page of the merchant's old COD-charge percentages still exists outside the current menu and does not affect the price. The company panel's All parcels list still shows the older Total Charge Amount, Vat Amount and Current Payable lines as 0, and its older Excel import uses a separate formula that this page does not describe.
Partial delivery and returns#
- A partial delivery posts only the amount actually collected, which cannot exceed the parcel's COD amount: "The collected amount exceeds the parcel COD amount".
- When a parcel returns, how much of the fee comes back is a percentage: platform finance rules for the platform's accounts, and a percentage the company sets for its own merchants (0% = the full fee stays on the merchant, 100% = fully refunded).
- If a parcel shipped on your own account with a shipping company fails finally, the fee held from your balance is not refunded: the platform keeps it. The percentage then applies only to the platform fee.
Common mistakes#
- No price appears: choose the company and pick the recipient on the map. Distance pricing needs a map position for both pickup and recipient.
- "Delivery company «...» has not set a price for governorate ...": choose another company or ask it to price that governorate.
- "“...” accepts amounts in: ... — change the parcel currency.": the chosen company does not accept your currency.
- "Attention: the COD amount is less than the costs — you will lose money on this parcel.": shown only after you pick a shipping company, when the net after delivery would be negative. Raise the COD amount or change who pays.
- "Insufficient wallet balance. Required: ..., available: ...": top up My wallet and save again.
- "Your balance with «company» is not enough for the parcel fee: required ..., available ... — ask the company to top up your balance.": for merchants created by a company with advance billing. Ask the company; topping up the platform wallet does not help.
Limits and permissions#
- Ledgers are in US dollars. Amounts show in your display currency, and any other currency works only after the super admin has set its exchange rate.
- Platform fee and refund rules are set by the super admin; delivery pricing by the company.
- Merchants created by a company cannot use the platform's plans, stores or API, and their balance is the one kept with their company.