Key takeaways
- Partial COD collects a small advance via UPI and leaves the balance for delivery.
- Any upfront payment sharply reduces the chance of refusal and RTO.
- A 20-30% or flat 100-200 rupee advance is usually the sweet spot.
- It is the bridge for buyers who will not go fully prepaid but will commit a little.
- Kwikfy handles the advance, balance and reconciliation automatically.
Partial COD (also called partial payment or pay-part-now) is a checkout option where the buyer pays a small advance online, usually via UPI, and pays the remaining balance in cash when the order is delivered. It sits neatly between full cash on delivery and full prepaid, and it is one of the most effective tools for cutting RTO on COD orders without forcing a full behaviour change.
The logic is simple and powerful. The entire RTO problem with COD is that the buyer has no money at stake, so refusing the parcel costs nothing. Partial COD breaks that. The moment a buyer pays even a token amount, they have committed, and a committed buyer accepts delivery.
What partial COD actually looks like
At checkout, alongside full COD and full prepaid, the buyer sees a partial option: pay a small amount now, pay the rest on delivery. They approve the advance with one-tap UPI, place the order, and the courier collects the balance in cash at the door. Behind the scenes, the order records both the paid advance and the amount due on delivery.
- Buyer chooses partial COD at checkout.
- Pays a small advance instantly via UPI.
- Order is placed with the balance marked as due on delivery.
- Courier collects the remaining cash on delivery.
- The advance and balance are reconciled automatically.
Why a paid buyer rarely refuses
This comes down to well-understood psychology. Sunk cost makes people follow through on what they have already invested in, however small. Commitment and consistency means a buyer who took an action (paying the advance) wants to act consistently with it (accepting the order). And the advance itself is non-refundable friction: refusing means chasing a refund for money already spent.
The result is a refusal rate close to prepaid, from a buyer who was not willing to go fully prepaid. Partial COD captures the middle of the market, the large group of shoppers who prefer COD out of habit or trust but will happily commit a small amount to secure an order they genuinely want.
How much advance should you take?
The right advance is big enough to create real commitment but small enough that buyers still opt in. Too low and it fails to deter refusal; too high and you lose the buyers who chose partial precisely to avoid full prepaid.
| Advance size | Commitment effect | Opt-in rate | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flat 100-200 rupees | Strong for low-mid AOV | High | General catalogues |
| 20-30% of order | Scales with cart value | Medium-High | Higher AOV stores |
| Under 50 rupees | Weak | Very high | Rarely worth it |
| Over 50% of order | Very strong | Lower | High-risk orders only |
For most brands a flat 100-200 rupees or 20-30% of the order is the sweet spot. For your riskiest orders, flagged by an RTO risk score, you can demand a larger advance, or push those buyers to full prepaid instead. Dynamic sizing lets you ask more only where it matters.
Offer partial COD on your Shopify checkout
Kwikfy adds pay-part-now with UPI advance and cash-on-delivery balance to your one-page checkout — and reconciles every rupee automatically.
Start Free →Balance-on-delivery mechanics
The operational side has to be clean or it creates confusion. The advance is collected online at checkout, and the courier is instructed to collect only the balance, not the full amount, on delivery. This means your shipping label and courier COD value must reflect the balance, not the order total, otherwise the buyer gets charged twice.
Kwikfy manages this end to end: it collects the UPI advance, sets the correct COD balance for the courier, and reconciles the advance plus the collected balance against the order value, so your accounts always tie out. Your team never has to manually adjust COD amounts or chase mismatches.
Communicating it to the buyer
Clarity prevents disputes. Confirm the split on the order confirmation and on WhatsApp: you paid X now, please keep Y ready in cash for the delivery agent. A quick reminder on delivery day, the same channel you use for COD verification, ensures the buyer has the balance ready and the delivery succeeds on the first attempt.
Impact on RTO and where it fits
Partial COD does not replace your other levers, it complements them. Full prepaid conversion gives the lowest RTO of all, so push safe, willing buyers there with prepaid incentives. Partial COD then catches the buyers who decline full prepaid, converting their orders into low-refusal, committed sales. Between the two, only your most stubborn, highest-risk COD orders remain, and those are exactly the ones to scrutinise or force-prepaid.
For a market where cash is deeply ingrained, partial COD is a pragmatic bridge. It respects the buyer's preference for paying cash while still extracting the commitment that keeps parcels from bouncing back. Offer it, size the advance sensibly, keep the balance mechanics clean, and watch your COD refusal rate fall.