60% of your orders are COD. But how much do they actually earn you after RTO?
Most Indian D2C dashboards count a COD order the moment it is booked. But a COD order that comes back as RTO still costs you forward shipping, reverse shipping and packaging, and earns you nothing.
Here is the worked example from The D2C Metrics Playbook: 1,000 orders, an AOV of ₹1,650 and a CAC of ₹500.
| COD | Prepaid | |
| Orders booked | 600 | 400 |
| Delivery success | 70% | 95% |
| Contribution per booked order | ₹537 | ₹815 |
| Left after ₹500 CAC | ₹37 | ₹315 |
COD was 60% of the orders, yet the 600 COD orders made slightly less money than the 400 prepaid ones. After paying to acquire the customer, each COD order left about ₹37.
Do you know your COD break-even delivery rate?
There is a delivery rate below which every COD order loses money after acquisition costs. In this example it is 66.7%, and the brand was running at 70%. A few bad weeks of RTO and COD turns loss-making without anyone noticing.
What the playbook shows you
- How to calculate the real, realized contribution of a COD order after RTO
- How RTO affects shipping, packaging, payment and inventory costs
- How to compare COD and prepaid customers properly, order by order
- Practical levers: prepaid incentives, COD confirmation, pin-code limits and partial advance payment
- How COD remittance delays tie up your cash
Get the playbook
The D2C Metrics Playbook — ₹999
The full 90-page PDF with the complete COD vs prepaid worked example. Instant download.
Playbook + Founder's Calculator — ₹1,499
Includes a COD vs Prepaid calculator: enter your own delivery rates and costs to see your COD break-even delivery rate and what shifting orders to prepaid is worth.