Cash on delivery in Bangladesh: how it works for an online shop, and what it costs (2026)

Published 7 October 2026 · 4 min read

Cash on delivery, or COD, means the customer pays for an order in cash when it arrives, not in advance. In Bangladesh the courier collects the cash at the door and passes it on to the shop, after keeping its own charges. Here is how the money moves, what Pathao and Steadfast charge for it according to their own pages as read on 7 October 2026, and how to keep refused parcels down.

1. How the money moves

You book the parcel with a courier and enter the amount to collect. The delivery person hands the parcel over and takes the cash. The courier then pays you that amount less its delivery charge and its cash on delivery charge, usually for many parcels at once.

The customer takes no risk: if the parcel is wrong or never comes, they pay nothing. The risk moves to you. A customer who refuses at the door has still cost you the trip there, and with some couriers the trip back.

2. What the courier keeps

Pathao and Steadfast each charge 1% for collecting the cash. Steadfast’s terms say its 1% “Cash Handling & Risk Management charge” is worked out after the delivery charge is taken off the amount collected; Pathao’s page gives the 1% without saying what it is worked out on. Both say their charges exclude VAT and tax.

An example with Pathao’s published rates: a ৳1,500 order weighing between 500 g and a kilo, delivered within the same city, costs ৳70 to deliver and about ৳15 to collect, so about ৳1,415 reaches you before VAT on the charges. Sent from Dhaka to another district, delivery is ৳130 and about ৳1,355 reaches you. Under 500 g, Pathao charges ৳60 within a city and ৳110 from Dhaka to another district.

Our delivery charge calculator works out these charges for Pathao, Steadfast and RedX by weight and area.

3. What a refused parcel costs

Pathao’s page says a returned parcel is charged 50% of the delivery charge on top of the delivery charge, except for orders within Dhaka and the Dhaka metro area, where no return charge applies. Steadfast’s terms say it does not charge for return parcels.

Even without a return charge, a refused parcel costs you something: the product is away from the shelf for days, and the time spent packing and booking it is gone.

4. When the courier pays you

Steadfast’s terms say a merchant asks for payment in its merchant panel, to a bank account or to bKash, Nagad or Rocket, and can ask to be paid on a set day of the week instead; cash can be collected at its head office and some hubs. Pathao’s page says it pays into a savings or current bank account or a personal bKash account, and the FAQ on its English courier page, read on 8 October, describes InstaPay, which sends payouts automatically in three cycles a day. Steadfast’s terms give no standard number of days.

Whatever the schedule, check each payment against your parcels: the cash collected, less delivery, less the cash on delivery charge, less any return charges. A missing parcel is far easier to raise in the week it happens than at the end of the month.

5. Fewer refused parcels

Most refusals are decided before the parcel leaves. Confirm every order in writing, say the total with delivery before the customer agrees, and get a full address with a landmark and a phone number that will be answered.

For a new customer far from you, an expensive item, or a customer who has refused before, ask for the delivery charge in advance by bKash or Nagad. Our guide to reducing cash on delivery returns has eight ways in more detail.

6. Cash on delivery or payment in advance?

Asking every customer to pay first removes the risk, and for many shops a good share of the orders with it. The middle way is to keep cash on delivery for ordinary orders and ask for an advance only where the risk is high: a first order, a distant district, an expensive or made-to-order item, or a customer with a refusal on record.

Sells Pilot confirms each order in the chat with the delivery charge for the customer’s district, books Steadfast, Pathao or RedX from the order, records returns against the customer, and puts returned stock back on sale by itself. Before a parcel goes out, it shows how many of that customer’s earlier parcels from your shop came back, and it can send them a link to pay an advance by bKash or Nagad into your own account.

Free tool: COD return cost calculator — What returned cash-on-delivery parcels cost you a month, and the advance per order that covers one return.