Six terms decide it, and the delivery rate is only one of them
Ask a group of sellers which courier is best and you will get as many answers as there are sellers — each one sure of theirs. They are all partly right, because the best courier for a store depends on where its customers live, how much of its money arrives as cash on delivery and how tight its cash flow is. So this guide does not rank anybody. It gives you the six terms that actually decide the choice, the questions to ask each courier before you sign, and a simple way to test them against each other with real parcels.
The first number every courier quotes is the delivery rate for a small parcel within a city. It is also the number that varies least between serious couriers, and the one most easily negotiated down once you have volume. Comparing couriers on it alone is like choosing a bank on the colour of its cheque book.
For an online store in Pakistan, the costs that really move your margin sit elsewhere: how long your cash-on-delivery money is held, how the COD service is charged, and what you pay when a customer refuses the parcel. We cover why COD dominates and how often parcels come back in our guide to starting an online store in Pakistan — read that first if you have not yet decided how you will take payment. This guide picks up at the next decision: which courier, and on what terms.
This is the cash-flow question, and for a small store it is often the one that matters most. When a courier collects cash on your behalf, it holds that money until it settles with you. With a traditional arrangement settlement happens on the courier's schedule after delivery — commonly a week or more, and sometimes longer on older accounts. If you restock with the money from last week's orders, a slow remittance cycle quietly caps how fast you can grow.
Some e-commerce-focused services now sell the opposite model. PostEx, for example, says on its own COD page that it transfers an upfront payment for booked parcels rather than waiting for delivery. That can transform a small seller's cash flow, but an advance is a financial product, not a courtesy, so ask what it costs and what happens to the advance if the parcel comes back.
Ask: how often are COD payments settled, into what kind of account, and how long after delivery? Is a faster or upfront payout available, and at what fee?
Collecting cash is a service and couriers charge for it, but they do not all charge the same way. Some add a flat fee per parcel, some take a percentage of the amount collected, and some fold it into the base rate so that it never appears as its own line. Those three models favour very different stores: a flat fee is kind to high-value orders and harsh on cheap ones, while a percentage is the reverse.
Work it out with your own average order value rather than the courier's example. Our store guide has the typical ranges published for COD handling; what matters here is which model your basket size makes cheapest.
Ask: is the COD charge flat or a percentage, is there a minimum, and is it charged on parcels that are refused?
When a COD customer refuses a parcel, is not at home, or cannot be found, the parcel is returned to origin — usually shortened to RTO. Almost always, the seller pays for that return trip. Some couriers charge it at the full delivery rate, some at a reduced return rate, and some add a handling fee on top.
Because refusals are a normal part of selling on COD, this line can cost you more over a month than any difference in delivery rates. A courier that is slightly more expensive per delivery but cheaper on returns, or better at actually delivering first time, may well be the cheaper courier overall.
Ask: what does a returned parcel cost me, how many delivery attempts are made before it is returned, does the customer get a call or message before the parcel is sent back, and how long does a returned parcel take to reach me?
Every courier advertises how many cities or destinations it reaches. That number tells you very little. What matters is whether it delivers reliably to the places your orders come from — and for most stores that is a short list: the big cities plus a handful of towns where the product happens to be popular.
Pull the delivery addresses from your last few months of orders (or, if you have not launched yet, from the enquiries in your inbox and DMs) and list the top fifteen or twenty locations. Ask each courier directly whether it delivers to each one itself or hands the parcel on to a partner, and how many days delivery typically takes. A handover is where parcels most often go slow or missing.
Ask: do you deliver to these specific locations yourselves, what is the usual delivery time to each, and is COD available everywhere on the list?
If you have to take every parcel to a counter, you are losing an hour a day that could go on selling. Most couriers offer pickup from your door for merchant accounts, but the details vary: which areas they collect from, what time you must book by for a same-day collection, and whether there is a minimum number of parcels.
Ask about weight too. Couriers generally charge on whichever is higher, the parcel's actual weight or its size-based "volumetric" weight, so a light but bulky product in an oversized box can be billed as something much heavier. A smaller box or a courier flyer can make a real difference to every order.
Ask: do you collect from my address, what is the daily cut-off for same-day pickup, is there a minimum, and how is volumetric weight calculated?
At ten orders a week you can book parcels by hand. At fifty, copying names, phone numbers and addresses into a courier portal becomes a job in itself, and every typing mistake is a failed delivery. Most larger couriers and the shipping aggregators offer a merchant portal with bulk booking from a spreadsheet, and many publish ready-made connections for popular store platforms — PostEx, for instance, lists Shopify and WooCommerce on its COD page. If you have not picked a store platform yet, our Shopify vs WooCommerce comparison for Pakistan covers the payment and cost differences that matter here.
Check what exists for the platform your store actually runs on before assuming, and look at what the customer sees: a tracking link sent by SMS or WhatsApp cuts down on "where is my order?" messages, and a customer who knows the parcel is coming is more likely to be home with the cash when it arrives.
Ask: can I book in bulk, is there a connection for my store platform, and what tracking updates does my customer receive?
Loss and damage. Find out what the courier pays if a parcel is lost or arrives broken, how you claim, and whether cover is limited unless you declare the value. Fragile or expensive products need a clear answer here before the first parcel ships, not after the first claim.
Paperwork and tax. Couriers now have to deal with registered sellers for online orders, and they withhold tax from the COD cash they collect. That is covered in the tax section of our store guide. Practically, it means every settlement statement should be reconciled against your own order list, so ask what the statement shows and how often it arrives.
Sales conversations will only take you so far. The reliable way to choose is to measure.
Start with two couriers. Open merchant accounts with two services that answered your questions well, and split your orders between them. It also means you are never stuck when one of them has a bad week.
Record four things per parcel: the city, whether it was delivered on the first attempt, how many days it took, and when the cash reached you. A spreadsheet is enough; a CRM that already holds your orders is better. If you are still tracking orders in chat threads, our guide to choosing a first CRM covers getting that history into one place.
Compare after about a hundred parcels. That is enough to see real differences city by city. It is common to find that one courier is clearly better in the big cities and the other in smaller towns — in which case keep both and route orders by destination.
Consider an aggregator once volume grows. Shipping aggregators let you book with several couriers from one dashboard and compare them on the same screen. They add a layer between you and the courier, so check who you deal with when something goes wrong and when your COD money is paid out.
Renegotiate with the numbers. Once you have your own delivery-success and volume figures, bring them to your courier. Rates and terms for merchant accounts are negotiated, and a seller who can show their volume and their return rate is in a far better position than one quoting a rate card.
Get the answers in writing, and treat any published rate you read online — including in guides like this one — as indicative. Terms change and are set per merchant account.
Which is the best courier for an online store in Pakistan?
There is no single best one. The right courier for a store depends on where its customers are, how much of its revenue is cash on delivery, how many orders it ships a week and how tight its cash flow is. Compare couriers on the terms in your contract — how fast COD cash reaches you, how the COD fee is charged, who pays for returned parcels, which cities they actually deliver to reliably, and whether they collect from your door — rather than on the headline rate or someone else's ranking.
How long do couriers take to pay out cash on delivery money?
It depends on the courier and on your account. With a traditional arrangement the cash is paid to you on the courier's settlement schedule after the parcel is delivered, which commonly means a week or more. Some e-commerce-focused services advertise paying the COD value upfront, before delivery. Ask every courier for its remittance schedule in writing, and ask what an upfront or faster payout costs, because it is rarely free.
Who pays when a cash-on-delivery customer refuses the parcel?
Usually you do. When a parcel is refused or cannot be delivered it is returned to origin, and most couriers charge the seller for that return trip, sometimes at the full delivery rate. Because refusals are common on COD orders, the return charge can matter more to your margin than the delivery rate itself, so ask for it in writing before you sign.
Should I use one courier or more than one?
Starting with two is sensible. It gives you a fallback when one courier has a bad week, and after roughly a hundred parcels you can compare real delivery success and payout times city by city instead of relying on sales promises. Once one clearly performs better for your customers, move most of your volume to it and keep the other for the cities where it does better.
Do I need a business account with a courier?
For an online store, yes. A counter shipment is fine for a one-off parcel, but COD collection, doorstep pickup, bulk booking and negotiated rates all come with a merchant or e-commerce account. Expect to be asked for identity and business details when you open one, and note that couriers are now required to deal with registered sellers for online orders.
A courier only matters once you have a store to ship from. If you are still at that stage, see what an online store on WebNewBiz includes, check what a store costs to set up and run in our 2026 Pakistan cost guide, or compare plans on the pricing page and start for $1. You can also browse the rest of the guides.