Amazon Shipping's June 2026 guide says to act on a failed-delivery report (NDR) within 24 hours and confirm first-time COD orders before dispatch; Delhivery's SmartNDR charges ₹5 per NDR.
RTO means return to origin: a shipped order that does not reach the buyer and comes back to you. On a cash-on-delivery (COD) order you pay forward shipping, pay again for the return, and recover no revenue. This checklist is for D2C and marketplace sellers who ship COD in India. It draws on guidance published by couriers and a shipping aggregator. Where a courier quotes a result for its own tool, we label it as the courier's figure.
We do not repeat headline RTO benchmarks. Amazon Shipping's post quotes them from a third-party report, and benchmarks differ by category, price band and lane. Measure your own rate by pin code first.
1. Before dispatch
[ ] Make flat or house number, street or locality, landmark and pin code mandatory at checkout, and capture a phone number that can be reached.
[ ] Confirm first-time COD orders by WhatsApp or SMS before you hand them to the courier.
[ ] Set a value above which a COD order needs a confirmation call or an OTP. Amazon Shipping's example is an order above ₹1,000. Pick your own line from your own refusal data.
[ ] Keep a short watchlist of pin codes with high RTO in your last 30 days of data, and add one extra check for orders to those pin codes. Review the list weekly.
[ ] Hold any order whose address is missing the flat number or landmark until the buyer corrects it.
[ ] For buyers with a refusal or RTO history, switch to prepaid only, or offer COD with a part-payment or a fee.
Tighten COD by risk instead of switching it off. Amazon Shipping warns that removing COD for everyone loses high-intent buyers who prefer it, especially in tier-2 and tier-3 cities. For scoring ideas, see RTO risk scoring and moving buyers from COD to prepaid.
2. At dispatch
[ ] Check that the manifest has the right phone number, the full address and the COD amount.
[ ] Send tracking at once and tell the buyer the expected delivery window.
[ ] Compare first-attempt delivery speed by courier and route key pin codes to the courier that does best there.
3. After a failed attempt (NDR)
A courier raises a non-delivery report (NDR) when a delivery attempt fails. Amazon Shipping says that if nobody acts within 24 to 48 hours, the shipment is usually escalated to RTO.
[ ] Run a daily NDR queue so no case waits.
[ ] Contact the buyer within 24 hours and fix a re-attempt time.
[ ] Log the reason for each NDR: unreachable, address problem or buyer unavailable. Fix that cause before the re-attempt.
[ ] After two failed attempts, call and reconfirm the address before a third attempt, and decide whether a third is worth its cost.
4. Courier tools worth knowing
Tool
What the courier says it does
Delhivery SmartNDR
Tries to resolve an NDR through WhatsApp, AI calls and Delhivery's RTO score. Within the first 90 minutes it uses WhatsApp replies, delivery-executive call insights and the score. If still open, an AI call follows, up to 3 attempts at 2-hour gaps, in English and Hindi.
SmartNDR pricing
₹5 per NDR attempt, with no setup fee or subscription (Delhivery help page, updated 8 July 2026).
SmartNDR returns
It does not return a shipment by itself, except when the buyer confirms cancellation through an OTP-verified reply. Otherwise the return decision stays with you.
Delhivery's own result
Clients saw an average 6 to 10% fall in COD RTO and 2 to 4% in overall RTO. This is Delhivery's figure for its clients, not an independent test.
Shiprocket tools
Auto order confirmations, AI COD management that pushes prepaid options with discounts, address verification, an RTO score for risky orders and NDR alerts (support article modified 14 July 2024).
5. After the RTO: review weekly
[ ] Give every RTO a reason code: address, unreachable, refusal or delay. Make the code mandatory in your ops sheet.
[ ] List your top 10 RTO drivers by pin code, product and courier, and change one rule each week.
[ ] Track: overall RTO rate (RTO orders divided by shipped orders), COD RTO against prepaid RTO, address defect rate, time from NDR to first buyer contact, and the share of NDR cases delivered on re-attempt.
Questions people ask
What is the difference between an NDR and an RTO?
An NDR is the failed-attempt signal. An RTO is what happens if the NDR is not resolved and the parcel goes back to you.
Should I stop offering COD to reduce RTO?
Courier guidance says to screen COD by risk instead. Verify first-time and high-value orders, watch risky pin codes and limit COD for repeat refusers.
Does OTP delivery fix refusals?
Amazon Shipping lists OTP in two places: an OTP check before dispatch on high-value COD orders, and OTP-secured delivery as proof of handoff to the intended recipient on eligible shipments. It treats OTP as one control next to address checks and WhatsApp or SMS confirmation.
Who decides whether a failed order is returned?
With Delhivery SmartNDR, you do, apart from the OTP-verified cancellation case. Check your own courier contract for its return rules.