Content authored by practitioners with experience at Amazon India, Intuit QuickBooks, and the Tata Group. Meet the team →
A courier's COD bank credit is lower than the seller's expected amount, and the seller cannot tell fees from missing parcels.
Match remittance lines to orders by AWB number, classify each parcel as remitted, fee-adjusted or missing, and chase missing ones after the contract window.
An AWB-level remittance register, the courier remittance file, the rate card and contract window, and the bank credit for the cycle.
The shortfall split into explained charges and named missing AWBs with ticket references and expected recovery dates.
A short COD remittance is usually one of two things. Either the courier deducted a charge you did not expect, such as a COD fee, freight, a return-to-origin (RTO) charge or a weight difference, or a parcel the courier marked as delivered has not been remitted yet. The first is a cost you can check against your rate card. The second is money you can chase.
What are the likely causes?
| Cause | How it shows | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| COD handling fee | Fixed or percentage fee per COD parcel | Check against your rate card |
| Forward freight | Shipping deducted from COD instead of invoiced | Confirm your contract allows this |
| RTO and reverse charges | Charges for parcels returned to you | Check the parcel actually came back |
| Weight-slab difference | Higher freight after re-weighing | Dispute with packing photos |
| Lost or undelivered parcel | Missing from remittance | Raise a lost-shipment claim |
| Cash not yet remitted | Delivered but not in this cycle | Wait for the window, then escalate |
| Earlier-cycle adjustment | Old charge or reversal deducted now | Match to the original AWB |
GST, typically 18 percent on courier services, may also be added to these charges. Ask for a tax invoice so you can claim input tax credit where eligible.
How do I tell a fee from a missing parcel?
Put your order list and the courier’s remittance file side by side and match them by AWB number. Then mark every parcel with one status:
- Remitted: full amount received, less normal charges.
- Fee-adjusted: remitted, but a charge was higher than expected.
- Missing: delivered according to tracking, but not in any remittance.
Fees affect many parcels by small amounts. Missing parcels affect a few parcels by their full value. That pattern tells you where to look first.
How long should I wait before escalating?
Use the remittance window in your courier or shipping-aggregator contract. Couriers remit in cycles, so a parcel delivered on the last day of a cycle may fall into the next one. Once the window has passed for a parcel marked delivered, raise a ticket listing the AWB numbers, delivery dates and amounts. Keep the ticket number in your register. Practice varies, so follow-up timelines are typically set by the contract, not by law.
A worked example
A seller sends 40 COD parcels. Expected collection: ₹52,300. The courier’s credit: ₹46,900. Short by ₹5,400.
Matching by AWB number:
- 38 parcels are remitted. Their deductions total ₹3,100: COD fees and freight ₹2,500 and RTO charges ₹600 on parcels that came back.
- 2 parcels, worth ₹1,150 each, show as delivered in tracking but are in no remittance file: 2 x ₹1,150 = ₹2,300.
Check: ₹3,100 + ₹2,300 = ₹5,400, and ₹52,300 − ₹5,400 = ₹46,900. Every rupee is explained.
The ₹3,100 goes to courier charges in your books after you check it against the rate card. The ₹2,300 stays in the courier receivable against the two AWB numbers, with a ticket raised.
How do I stop this every week?
Keep an AWB-level register. For each COD parcel note the order value, expected charges, delivery date, expected remittance date and actual remitted amount. Age anything delivered but unremitted. When volumes grow past a few hundred parcels a month, a manual register gets hard to keep current, and a more structured process helps.
What to read next
Returns, cancellations and RTOs change remittances in different ways, so read return versus cancellation versus RTO next. For the finance-team method see the warehouse COD and 3PL reconciliation walk-through and courier last-mile reconciliation. If you are new to COD, start with how COD money reaches your bank. COD and settlement reconciliation is on the roadmap for Terra Insight’s payment gateway reconciliation work.
Content authored by practitioners with experience at Amazon India, Intuit QuickBooks, and the Tata Group. Meet the team →