COD? Does our system really deserve it?

Jan 2021 – That’s when we started this exciting journey and enroute we fulfilled ISOs of thousands of collectors and also befriended most of them. Since our day 1 of operations, we had given only 1 payment option and that was “Prepaid”. Recently we completed 5 years and in this fairly long period of 5 years, there is not a single case of dispute with any collector with respect to payment/ product delivery/ Lost in transit.

But still, since last 2-3 years we are getting endless enquiries for enabling Cash On Delivery (COD). With the spike in number of new sellers selling through Facebook & Instagram, there is also significant rise in number of fraud cases and thus customers are afraid to pay upfront. These repeated requests for COD led us to enable COD payment option in Dec 2025. Initial response was mind-boggling. The number of orders were more than double and we were over loaded with packing. So much so that we found it tough to maintain next working day shipping policy that we followed religiously till date. Our team worked over time and we also had to keep separate track of COD orders to avoid mismatch of accounts with shipping partner. To avoid rejections, our team also called / messaged each and every collector of COD order and confirmed the order only after that.

Introduction of COD facility also coincided with our 5th anniversary; so we gave extra surprises and special coupon codes to all our collectors.

However, after 10 days, the engine started losing the steam. In spite of individual confirmations from Collectors, the number of “Non-Deliverable” orders started coming into existence and increasing in numbers (Which were almost zero till date). Soon these “Non-Deliverable” orders got converted to Return to Origin with remarks like “Rejected by Customer”. We contacted every single collectors of such rejected orders and got all kinds of random replies like “I wasn’t at home”, “My parents scolded me and they rejected it”, “My wife rejected it”, “Delivery person of my order said that this looks like a fake delivery”, etc etc. It was tough to believe that inspite of confirmation, inspite of providing all updates, inspite of giving freebies, collectors are just rejecting the orders by simply giving 4 digit OTP code.

We pack each of the order carefully to avoid any kind of damage in transit. Each order takes about 10-15 mins to pack and each rejected shipment costs us Rs.200-500 depending on COD amount. The loss includes loss of time, loss of efforts, loss of packing material, loss of shipping charge, loss of COD charge (appx 2.5% of order), loss of return shipping charge and loss of business due to stock stuck in transit for 15-20 days. Some shipments travelled as much as 4000+kms in 30 days to reach us back from places of North eastern states.

These collectors must understand that, what was simple impulsive purchase from them to which they repented later, is causing such a loss to sellers.

We had introduced COD facility for convenience of collectors, but that was causing major inconvenience, losses, headaches and pain to us. Within 2 months, we had pile of 30+ rejected boxes which we didn’t feel like opening also. Those boxes which we packed with so much of love and care sharing our happiness of completing 5 years; that emotion never reached the addressed individuals. Because they simply chose to reject!

Subsequently, we started insisting advance payment of Rs. 200 to Rs. 500 to avoid rejected orders. But this too only increased our time spent in communication to collectors, convincing them to pay the advance and assuring them that we are “Legit”. It was unbelievable that even after 5 years of operations, we had to prove that we are legit. Its strange that people just try to buy something without doing any research. In this era of online frauds, finding out genuine sellers is not tough. Fraudsters don’t mention mobile numbers/ email IDs or mention fake ones. Fraudsters don’t have Google reviews, customer testimonials, unboxing videos on Youtube. It is so easy to find genuine and legit platforms. Funny thing is, that some customers ask “Are you legit?”. As if a fraudster will reply that “No, I am not legit, I am a fraudster”. How stupid is that? I mean, it is natural to have doubts but it is upon you to conduct enough research and assure yourself before buying something online.

Couple of days back, we finally unboxed all the rejected orders and relisted them on site.

And as a final nail in the coffin of COD facility, an incident happened when a collector paid Rs. 200 advance against order of Rs.1099 for purchase of a single Hot wheels Old Card and the delivery boy of some courier service refused to deliver to collector for 3 consecutive days. He called collector and told him that the box feels empty and the seller seems to be fake.

As we all know the weight of any Hot Wheels Mainline card is just about 50 grams. Which is packed by us in protective layers of bubble wrap and newspaper to keep it secure in the box. Total weight of package will not be more than 100 -150 grams.

The Collector immediately messaged me to refund his Rs. 200 as he lost his trust on me (by believing in an idiotic delivery boy). This went to my nerves beyond limit!!! I got the contact number of delivery person, called him and congratulated him for his X-Ray vision which can see through packed opaque boxes also. I had to convince him for 7-8 mins and requested him to deliver the package to the buyer and also had tough time convincing the buyer that “Yes, C4D is legit” and yes the box contains his favorite Hot Wheels that he had ordered. Delivery boy gave a reasoning that every day he is facing lots of problems due to fraud sellers of Facebook and Instagram and if the orders are fake, they have to face arguments of buyers. Hence every COD order which looks suspicious, they just don’t attempt to deliver and simply return it to origin after 4-5 days. This gave us a new angle of understanding the system. Its more than a week now, the box is still lying in warehouse of courier service and I have escalated the matter with service provider.

Since 15th Feb, we decided to finally stop COD. Yes, COD helped increase the business for us, but the stress that accompanied it was way higher than the benefit.

Now our policy is simple – “Buy from us if you trust us!”. We welcome you with wide arms and will pleasantly surprise you with our service. If you don’t trust us, you have other options around in the market. You are free to buy from anywhere. May you all find the items you desire, at the price you want with prompt service of the seller you choose. May all be HAPPY.

Happy Collecting..