Reducing fake COD orders on Shopify (looking for merchant feedback)

Shopify Apps
1

Hi everyone,

I’m building a small Shopify app focused on a very specific problem we’ve seen across Indian D2C stores: high RTO due to fake or low-intent COD orders.

From conversations with merchants, a lot of COD verification still happens:

  • manually (calls / messages), or

  • only after RTO data comes in — which is already too late.

We’re experimenting with WhatsApp-first based COD verification before shipping, so merchants can:

  • flag low-intent COD orders early

  • reduce RTO

  • avoid shipping costs on fake orders

This is still early, and before pushing this further, I’d really value feedback from store owners who:

  • run COD heavily, or

  • have struggled with RTO on COD orders

A couple of questions I’d love input on:

  1. How do you currently handle COD verification (if at all)?

  2. What % RTO do you typically see on COD?

  3. Would pre-shipping verification actually fit your workflow, or create friction?

Not pitching anything here — genuinely looking to understand if this problem is worth solving properly.

Thanks in advance.