A Seller's Guide: Shipping, Cash on Delivery and Returns Without Losing Money

Selling on an open marketplace looks simple: you list an item, a buyer contacts you, you agree, you ship. The surprise arrives after the first month, when you realise half your effort went into coordination, cash collection and returns, and that some deals which looked profitable ended in a net loss.

This is written for the individual seller or small workshop selling through marketplaces like Souq Share: how to handle shipping, cash-on-delivery and returns so that the price you agreed on is the money you actually keep.

1. The deal you lose money on while believing you won

Say you sold an item for 400 EGP with a 90 EGP margin. Then: the buyer is in another governorate, so shipping is 70 and the buyer only agreed to cover 50 of it; the payment is cash on delivery with a collection fee of around 1.5% of the shipment value; and the buyer refuses the parcel at the door, so you pay return shipping too. That single order just erased the profit of two successful ones.

The lesson is not "never accept cash on delivery". It is to know, before you agree, how much shipping cost and refusal risk a given deal can absorb. A practical rule: any item whose margin is less than twice the round-trip shipping cost should not go out on COD without a deposit or a firm confirmation.

2. Reduce refusals before you optimise shipping

The most expensive thing in delivery is not the shipping rate — it is the parcel that comes back. Most causes of refusal can be removed from your desk.

In the listing

State size, weight, condition and any defect plainly, and use a photo of the actual item rather than one pulled off the internet. A seller who writes "small scratch on the side" loses a few buyers and gains zero returns.

Before handover to the courier

Confirm three things in writing with the buyer: the full address with a landmark, a phone number they actually answer, and the exact total due at the door including shipping. Most refusals happen because a buyer expected one number and was asked for another.

On timing

Give an expected delivery window and tell the buyer about it. A buyer who knows the parcel arrives Tuesday will be home; one who was told nothing refuses because they had forgotten the order entirely.

3. Cash on delivery needs a ledger, not trust

COD means a third party holds your money for a while. That is not a problem in itself, but it becomes one if you cannot say at any moment how many parcels were delivered, how much was collected, and how much reached your account.

The minimum acceptable version is a sheet with one row per shipment: waybill number, handover date, amount due, delivery date, transfer date, and the amount actually received. Review it weekly. Discrepancies always appear, and a discrepancy you discover three months later cannot be proven.

Choosing a courier

Do not compare prices alone. Ask four questions that decide your real cost: how many days until collected cash is transferred to you, what a refused parcel costs, whether coverage includes villages and districts or only major cities, and whether you get per-shipment tracking or have to phone and ask. A courier that charges ten pounds more but pays out in three days is genuinely cheaper than one that holds your cash for three weeks — especially if you restock from that same cash.

If you grow to the point of having your own drivers or coordinating between several couriers, you are running a delivery operation, not just selling. From there a system stops being a luxury. Mersal is built for exactly that: a management system for shipping and delivery companies covering shipment creation, coverage zones, status tracking, cash-on-delivery handling and financial reconciliation, with a driver portal opened from the phone browser to update status and record collected amounts. Pricing starts at $49/month, and it suits someone operating their own delivery — or a courier company — not a seller who hands two parcels a week to an outside carrier.

4. A written returns policy protects you more than it scares you

Many sellers avoid writing a returns policy, assuming it encourages returns. The opposite is closer to true: no policy means every dispute is settled by mood and negotiation.

• A clear window for inspection after delivery; two days is enough for most items.
• Acceptable condition for a return: original packaging, unused, all accessories included.
• Who pays return shipping: you, if the fault is yours or the item differs from the description; the buyer, if they changed their mind.
• What is never returnable: made-to-order or personalised items — stated in the listing itself.

Paste the policy into every listing. Two extra lines are far cheaper than an open-ended argument with an angry buyer.

5. When is it worth moving from the marketplace to your own store?

An open marketplace is ideal at the start: a ready audience and near-zero setup cost. The signals to expand appear when customers start buying from you directly and repeatedly, when you need variants, wholesale tiers and coupons, or when you want your own customer data for repeat marketing. That is when a dedicated online store starts to make sense — and in the first year it should be an addition to your marketplace presence, not a replacement for it.

In short

Profit in direct selling does not come from raising prices. It comes from closing leaks: fewer refusals thanks to honest descriptions, collections reconciled on a schedule, returns governed by written rules. Three boring administrative habits — and precisely what separates the seller who lasts from the one who disappears after a season.

Disclosure: this website and the systems mentioned above are owned by the same party.