What is cash on delivery order confirmation?

COD order confirmation, in one sentence

COD order confirmation is a request for the customer to confirm or cancel a cash on delivery order before the seller fulfills it.

The seller can ask manually or use a system such as COD PRO. The useful result is a clear response attached to the order, so the fulfillment team knows whether to continue, stop, or review it.

Why sellers confirm COD orders

With cash on delivery, the customer has not paid before dispatch. A seller may therefore confirm the order to check that the customer still wants it, that the contact details work, and that the parcel should enter fulfillment. Confirmation can reduce avoidable packing and shipping work, although it cannot guarantee delivery.

For orders that need an answer, a real Shopify fulfillment hold can keep fulfillment waiting until the customer confirms or the team takes action.

COD confirmation channels

After Shopify checkout, COD PRO supports three order-confirmation channels:

• WhatsApp: the customer replies to confirm or cancel.
• Automated voice call: the customer presses 1 to confirm or 2 to cancel.
• Email: the customer responds through the confirmation message.

SMS has a different role. At the Buy with Cash on Delivery button, the shopper can receive a WhatsApp or SMS one-time code before Shopify checkout. This verifies access to the phone number. It is not an SMS confirmation of an existing Shopify order.

Manual and automated confirmation

In a manual workflow, a team member reviews an order, contacts the customer, records the response, and decides whether fulfillment can continue. This gives the team direct control but adds repetitive work as order volume grows.

An automated workflow applies the same chosen rules without requiring a team member to start every message. COD PRO can send the confirmation after checkout and keep selected orders on Shopify fulfillment hold while they wait for a reply.

How COD PRO confirms an order

With COD confirmation, COD PRO contacts the customer after checkout by WhatsApp, automated voice call, or email. The reply updates the order workflow. A confirmed order can continue, while a cancelled or unanswered order can remain out of fulfillment according to the seller’s rules.

Auto mode tries the lowest-cost route first: email, then WhatsApp, then a call. It stops on the first reply. COD PRO uses a prepaid wallet, and sellers do not need their own Twilio or Meta account.

Customer messages are available in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Malay, Arabic, Portuguese, Romanian, Hungarian, Greek, Polish, and Czech. These are the 13 supported languages.

Before-checkout verification and after-checkout confirmation

These steps solve related but different problems. The COD button checks control of a phone number before checkout using a WhatsApp or SMS code. Post-order confirmation asks for a decision about the Shopify order using WhatsApp, automated voice call, or email.

When the phone on the completed checkout matches the number verified at the COD button, the order can arrive already confirmed. Orders without matching verification can follow the post-checkout confirmation flow.

Prices

Prices are per message by channel and country. The COD PRO app shows the exact current price before anything is sent. See the pricing page for more information.