Shopify: Hide Cash on Delivery Above an Order Total

Cash on Delivery sells. In Italy, Spain, Poland, Romania, Greece or Czechia, many buyers still want to pay at the door. But a €900 order paid in cash is a different risk from a €40 one: more cash for the courier to carry, more money tied up until the carrier pays out, and a bigger loss when the parcel is refused and comes back.

So most shops want COD for everyday orders and not above a certain total. Shopify does not offer that limit in its payment settings. This guide explains what Shopify does offer, how a payment customization sets the limit, and two more COD rules that usually belong with it: no COD for pickup and none for B2B buyers.

How Cash on Delivery works in Shopify

In Shopify, Cash on Delivery is a manual payment method. You turn it on in Settings > Payments, under the manual payment methods. “Cash on Delivery (COD)” is one of the names Shopify reserves, and orders paid with a manual method are marked unpaid until you mark them as paid (Shopify Help Center: Manual payment methods).

Some payment providers offer their own COD method under a local name, such as Contrassegno in Italy or Nachnahme in Germany. Either way, the method has the same settings problem: once it is on, every buyer sees it, for any cart.

What Shopify allows without an app

Shopify’s manual payment settings have no minimum or maximum order total, no country list and no customer condition. If COD is active, it is shown at checkout.

The route Shopify offers is payment customizations. Apps can add a Shopify Function that hides, renames or reorders payment methods at checkout. You manage them in Settings > Payments, under Payment customizations, after installing an app that provides one (Shopify Help Center: Checkout customization). On plans below Plus, in the United States and Canada, these customizations are limited to non-credit-card payment methods. COD is not a card method, so it can be hidden on every plan.

Developers can also build their own function with the Payment Customization Function API. Shopify allows up to 25 active payment customization functions per store (shopify.dev: Payment Customization Function API).

Pick the limit

There is no single right number. Things to weigh:

• What a refusal costs you. Return shipping, any COD fee your carrier charges, and the goods that come back opened.
• Your carrier’s COD ceiling. Carriers often cap the cash amount a driver can collect. Check your contract and set your limit below it.
• Your average order value. If most orders are well below the line, the limit only touches the risky few.
• The currency. With several markets, check the limit in each currency the buyer sees.

Above the limit, the buyer still has every other method you offer: cards, wallets, bank transfer. Hiding COD does not stop the sale; it moves the large order to a payment you have before the parcel leaves.

Two more COD rules most shops need

No COD for pickup. When a buyer collects in store or at a pickup point, a courier never collects cash at the door. A rule on the delivery method hides COD for local pickup and pickup points, so buyers pay online or at your counter with your normal process.

No COD for B2B buyers. A company buying on account through Shopify B2B usually pays by invoice and payment terms, not cash to the driver. Hide COD when the buyer checks out for a company. Our Shopify B2B wholesale setup guide covers payment terms.

Tell the buyer, if you can

A hidden method is quietly gone. If your buyers expect COD, say so where they will read it: in the FAQ, on the shipping page, or in the cart, for example “Cash on Delivery is available for orders up to €300.” Renaming the method to include the limit is not useful here, because above the limit it is hidden anyway.

Where Payora: Hide Payment Methods fits

Payora: Hide Payment Methods is an app that hides, renames or moves payment methods at checkout, with rules that run as a Shopify Function and need no theme changes. For Cash on Delivery it has ready-made presets:

• Hide COD above a cart total. Enter the cart total from which COD is hidden, in your store currency.
• Hide COD for pickup. Hides COD when the buyer picks up in store or at a pickup point.
• Hide COD for B2B buyers. Hides COD when the buyer checks out for a company in Shopify B2B.
• Local COD by market. Presets for Contrassegno, Contra reembolso, Pobranie, Ramburs, Αντικαταβολή, Dobírka and Nachnahme hide that method for deliveries outside its country and, with a cart total limit, above that total.

Each preset creates an ordinary rule, switched off until you review it. A rule matches the payment method by the name the buyer sees, so check the name in Settings > Payments first, and test carts in the simulator. The app cannot add a payment method or change a price, and each store can have up to 200 rules. In a cart with more different items than the limit shown on its Rules page, Shopify skips the rules and checkout shows every payment method. See the app’s page.

FAQ

Can I set a maximum order amount for Cash on Delivery in Shopify? Not in the payment settings. You need a payment customization, from an app or a function you build, that hides COD above the total.

Does hiding COD work on the Basic plan? Yes. Payment customizations work below Plus. In the United States and Canada, only non-credit-card methods can be customized below Plus, and COD is one of those.

Can I hide COD for local pickup? Yes, with a rule on the delivery method. Shopify has no setting for it.

Will buyers above the limit still be able to order? Yes, with every other payment method you offer. Only COD is hidden.