How Are Refused Cod Shipments Treated?

When you're shipping COD instead of regular shipping, there is one eventuality that you always need to be prepared for. Although most LTL carries will tell you that it is very uncommon for your COD shipments to be refused, the truth of the matter is that it can happen occasionally. If your shipment is refused, it's important that you understand why it was, and what is going to happen after the fact.

First of all, many companies that consider COD shipping opt against it because they are afraid that their shipments are going to get refused regularly. This is not a very well reasoned fear, and in fact, most companies will experience actual growth when they extend COD shipping to their customers. Although it is true that the occasional shipment will get refused, the truth is that the largest portion of these shipments will be accepted and paid for. Because customers appreciate the extension of the COD option, they are more likely to buy from a company that offers them this convenience than from one which does not.

When a COD shipment is refused, you are going to have some extra costs to deal with though. To begin with, you're going to have to still pay for the shipping cost which initially sent the package out to your customers. After that though, you're also going to have to pay for the cost of shipping the goods back to you, essentially doubling your shipping costs. In most cases though, a courier will not charge exactly double for a returned COD shipment.

You are going to have to pay an extra fee though if your shipment is returned. There are things that you can do to help make sure that this happens as seldom as possible though. It is key that you make sure that all the products that you ship out are in good shape. It is also important that you make sure that they are all as described in your marketing material.

The number one reason that customers return products which were shipped to them COD is because they feel as if the product they received was not the one that they were promised. There are unfortunately some shady companies that always attempt to sell products by inflating claims about their nature or quality. COD law helps protect customers against this type of selling by allowing customers to refuse products.