Introducing TrackCOD: A Better Way for Sri Lankan Sellers to Handle COD Risk

Cash on Delivery remains an important part of online selling in Sri Lanka.

For many customers, paying when the parcel arrives feels safer than paying online. For sellers, however, every COD order carries a different level of risk.

A customer can place an order and then refuse the parcel. They can provide an unreachable phone number. They can place several orders and accept none of them. When this happens, the seller still spends money on packaging, courier services, staff time and return delivery.

This is the problem we wanted to address with TrackCOD.

TrackCOD is a free customer verification platform built for Sri Lankan online sellers. You can search a customer’s phone number before shipping a COD order, review verified delivery related reports and make a more informed decision before handing the parcel to a courier.

Check a customer on TrackCOD

Why COD still matters to Sri Lankan sellers

Cash on Delivery has not disappeared as digital payments have grown.

A 2025 report on Sri Lankan online shopping found that 52 percent of online shoppers preferred COD, up from 48 percent the previous year. The research also found that concerns about digital payments, security and access to digital banking continue to influence customer payment choices.

That creates a practical problem for sellers.

You cannot simply remove COD and expect every customer to switch to online payment. COD remains part of how many Sri Lankan customers prefer to shop.

The better approach is to manage the risk around COD.

The cost of a failed COD order

A failed COD order does more than reduce your sales.

You can lose money through:

1. Courier charges
2. Return delivery charges
3. Packaging materials
4. Time spent confirming orders
5. Time spent contacting customers
6. Inventory remaining unavailable while the order is in transit
7. Staff time spent handling failed deliveries

A 2025 SLIIT study on COD parcel returns in Sri Lankan ecommerce identified seller operations, courier performance and buyer acceptance behaviour as significant factors affecting COD returns. The study also highlighted the importance of first attempt delivery success, accurate order information and customer communication.

For a small seller, a few failed orders can make a noticeable difference to monthly profit.

How TrackCOD helps before you ship

TrackCOD gives you another step between receiving a COD order and sending the parcel.

You enter the customer’s mobile number and check the available customer history.

The platform shows relevant reports and delivery incidents submitted by verified Sri Lankan businesses. This gives you additional information to consider before shipping.

Check the customer before dispatch

You can use TrackCOD when you receive an order through channels such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp, Daraz or your own online store.

The process is simple.

1. Enter the customer’s phone number.
2. Review the available COD history and reports.
3. Consider the reported delivery behaviour.
4. Decide how you want to handle the order.

A customer with no negative history does not automatically guarantee a successful delivery. Likewise, a report does not automatically mean that a customer is dishonest.

TrackCOD is designed to give you information, not make the business decision for you.

This distinction matters.

A seller should look at the available evidence and decide whether to confirm the order, contact the customer, request an advance payment or avoid shipping the order.

Reports come from verified businesses

TrackCOD does not allow completely anonymous reporting.

Businesses submit reports through SMS OTP verification. The system also checks for duplicate reports and suspicious activity before records become publicly searchable. Seller identities and verification details remain private.

This creates a community based system where sellers contribute useful information while protecting the identity of the businesses that submit it.

Learn how TrackCOD verification works

TrackCOD is built around a simple idea

The idea behind TrackCOD is straightforward.

If sellers can learn from previous delivery experiences, they can make better decisions about future COD orders.

One seller may experience a customer who repeatedly refuses COD parcels. Another seller may encounter the same customer later.

Without a shared system, each seller has to learn the same lesson independently.

With TrackCOD, verified reports can help other sellers identify potential problems before they ship.

Better information can reduce unnecessary losses

You do not need to reject every customer who has a report.

Instead, you can use the information to change how you handle the order.

For example, you can contact the customer before dispatch. You can confirm the address again. You can ask for an advance payment when your business policy allows it. You can also decide not to accept the COD order when the available history presents a serious risk.

This gives you more options than simply treating every COD order the same way.

That is especially useful for small businesses where the owner personally handles customer calls, packing, courier bookings and returns.

The goal is not to label people

TrackCOD focuses on delivery behaviour and reported incidents.

That is important because an unsuccessful delivery does not always mean fraud. Customers can miss calls, provide incorrect information or face genuine problems at the time of delivery.

Sellers should treat TrackCOD information as a risk signal rather than a final judgement about a person.

The purpose is to help you protect your business while keeping the information useful and responsible.

Why this problem deserves attention now

The wider ecommerce industry is putting more attention on delivery, returns and trust.

DHL’s 2025 Ecommerce Trends Report found that 81 percent of global shoppers abandon a purchase when their preferred delivery option is unavailable. The report also found that 79 percent abandon a purchase when the return process does not meet their expectations.

In its 2026 research, DHL surveyed 29,000 shoppers and 5,800 ecommerce businesses across 29 countries. The company reported that around seven in ten shoppers consider trust and delivery partner choice important when choosing where to buy.

Pablo Ciano, CEO of DHL eCommerce, described the changing environment clearly:

“Securing consumer loyalty in this changing landscape requires moving past transactional speed to master checkout trust, payment choice, and localized delivery convenience.”

The lesson for a local seller is simple.

Delivery is not just something that happens after a sale. It affects the economics of the sale itself.

If you spend money shipping an order that the customer never accepts, the problem started before the courier picked up the parcel.

Small sellers need practical tools

Large ecommerce companies can build internal systems to analyze customers, orders and delivery behaviour.

A Facebook seller, TikTok seller or small online shop usually does not have that infrastructure.

That is where a focused tool like TrackCOD can help.

You do not need to install complicated software. You do not need to build a customer database yourself. You can simply check a phone number before shipping.

Search a customer on TrackCOD

What we are building with TrackCOD

TrackCOD is one of the products we are building at Exito Technologies.

Our work focuses on practical software, automation and AI tools that solve real business problems. You can learn more about Exito Technologies, see our approach to building software, or read more from our blog.

TrackCOD follows the same principle.

We are not trying to make COD complicated.

We want to make one part of the seller’s workflow easier: deciding what to do with a COD order before it becomes a delivery expense.

A community becomes more useful over time

TrackCOD depends on useful reports from real businesses.

When sellers report genuine COD delivery problems, that information can help other sellers make better decisions in the future.

This creates a feedback loop.

A seller experiences a failed COD order. The seller submits a verified report. Another seller later checks the same phone number before shipping. That seller now has more information than they had before.

The value of the platform comes from this shared information.

For that reason, responsible reporting matters. Sellers should report genuine delivery experiences and avoid submitting reports simply because they dislike a customer or had a disagreement.

Start checking before you ship

If you sell products online in Sri Lanka and use Cash on Delivery, you can start using TrackCOD without changing your entire sales process.

When a new COD order arrives, check the customer’s phone number before dispatch.

If the number has relevant history, review it. If there is no history, you still make your normal customer verification checks.

The important change is that you no longer have to make every COD decision with no information beyond the customer’s order details.

TrackCOD is free for Sri Lankan online sellers and does not require registration for customer checks.

Start using TrackCOD

We built TrackCOD for the sellers who deal with these problems every day.

If you run a small online store, sell through social media or accept COD orders through WhatsApp, this is a tool you can add to your existing workflow without making that workflow complicated.

Frequently Asked Questions

About this article

This article introduces TrackCOD, a product developed by Exito Technologies. We built it around a practical problem faced by online sellers using Cash on Delivery in Sri Lanka.