Cash On Delivery - COD

Cash on delivery means that the item will be paid for when it’s delivered, not in advance...like you would if you were paying with a credit card at the time the order was placed.

To the delivery person, it’s often called “Collect on Delivery.”

For example, say someone is selling a large quantity of fly swatters to a campground resort in your area with C.O.D. terms. If you're the customer and a company selling to you has put you on COD status, it's bad. It means they don't trust you, and that they won't release the goods they're selling to your possession until they have clear and real payment. Think: cashier's check handed to the angry postal worker.

Just to be clear to all parties and ensure this new transaction also goes well, a company could specify to UPS that it was C.O.D., and mark the package with how much and how to collect. Obviously, UPS won’t collect cash, but the seller can specify it only takes cashier checks, or that money orders are acceptable (versus a personal check).