Hide COD for Specific Pincodes on Shopify
Restrict Cash on Delivery for high-RTO pincodes and avoid the cost of refused deliveries (often ₹200–₹600 each). Lokally hides COD at checkout using Shopify Functions.
Why Hide COD for Certain Pincodes?
Return-to-origin (RTO) is the largest preventable cost for Indian D2C brands. Industry average RTO rates run at 20–40% for COD orders. In high-RTO pincodes - typically areas with frequent fake orders, low internet penetration, or poor last-mile reliability - COD RTO can exceed 60%.
Each returned COD order costs ₹200–₹600 in shipping (both ways), lost packaging material, and relabelling. For a brand shipping 1,000 COD orders/month with 30% RTO in high-risk pincodes, that is ₹60,000–₹180,000 in monthly preventable losses.
Blocking COD in specific pincodes converts at-risk COD shoppers to prepaid - reducing RTO risk entirely for those orders. Shoppers who genuinely want to buy will use UPI, cards, or net banking.
How Lokally solves this
Checkout-Level Restriction via Shopify Functions
Lokally hides COD at the actual Shopify checkout level using Shopify Functions. This is not a storefront display trick - the payment method is genuinely removed from the checkout for shoppers matching the pincode rule.
This means: no workarounds, no browser-extension bypasses, no shopper-side manipulation. If COD is hidden by Lokally for a pincode, that shopper cannot select it at checkout.
Surgical Pincode Targeting
Target individual pincodes, pincode ranges and wildcards, or paste long lists at once. Most brands start with their 50–200 highest-RTO pincodes (identifiable from order history) and expand from there.
Group pincodes by state (using their prefixes) for systemic high-RTO areas, or by city for areas with known delivery reliability issues.
How to set it up
- Step 1
Install Lokally
Install Lokally from the Shopify App Store and choose a plan. New subscriptions start with a 7-day free trial, billed through Shopify.
- Step 2
Create a region for your high-RTO pincodes
Go to Regions and add a region. Paste the pincodes (one per line or comma-separated), and use ranges or wildcards where they help.
- Step 3
Open Payment rules
Click Reload payment methods to find Cash on Delivery in your recent orders, or add it by name.
- Step 4
Hide Cash on Delivery in that region
On Cash on Delivery, click Add Rule, choose the region and Always hide.
- Step 5
Optionally hide it above an order value
In the Cash on delivery limit card, hide it above an amount, for all regions or per region.
- Step 6
Save and test
Rules apply at checkout straight away. Test with a delivery pincode from the region.
Frequently asked questions
How do I know which pincodes have high RTO rates?
Start with your Shopify order history: export orders, filter for COD + returned status, and identify recurring pincodes. Lokally's community and support team also maintains a reference list of historically high-RTO pincode zones in India that you can use as a starting point.
Can I hide COD for an entire state instead of individual pincodes?
Yes. Create a region for the state using its pincode prefixes (for example 80* to 85* for Bihar and Jharkhand) and hide COD in that region. You can also hide it for individual pincodes, ranges, or above an order value.
What does a shopper in a blocked pincode see at checkout?
COD simply does not appear as a payment option at checkout. Shoppers see only prepaid options (UPI, cards, net banking). There is no error message - the option is just not available, the same as any payment method not enabled for your store.
Can I show a custom message explaining why COD is unavailable?
Not a COD-specific message yet. Shoppers see the remaining payment methods at checkout, and you can rename them to make the choice clear (for example 'UPI / Cards (Prepaid)'). You can also show a region-specific banner on your storefront with Lokally's announcement bar.
Does hiding COD affect all products or specific ones?
You can configure the rule to apply to all products or to specific products and collections. For example, you might block COD in high-RTO pincodes only for high-value items (where RTO cost is highest) while keeping COD available for low-value items.
Will this work with third-party payment gateways?
Yes. Lokally's payment method rules work with all payment gateways on your Shopify store. It hides the COD payment method type regardless of which gateway provides it.
Does Lokally's COD hiding work on mobile?
Yes. Shopify Functions execute server-side, so the rule applies to all checkout surfaces - desktop, mobile web, and the Shopify mobile app. There is no surface-specific exception.
Start Reducing RTO Today
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