Anyone know anything about UPS's COD service

[dave64o]

I was poking around UPS web site and saw they now offer a COD service. The idea is they do not release a package to the recipient until that person pays the amount specified by the sender.

Has anyone tried this or know any more details beyond what's on that page? Some questions I came up with are:

- Can you open it when it's delivered to verify it's what you were expecting?

- If I'm not home when they deliver and I go to pick it up at the UPS distribution center, can I open it to inspect it there?

- What's the process if you have an issue with what you received? Do you just refuse to accept it and it goes back? If so, who pays to ship it back?

- Do they have a way to create something like a PayPal invoice? When I've used Paypal as a buyer and a seller the other party and I created a Paypal invoice to specify exactly what I've used them for sales here (both a buy and a sell) and that invoice was great because it spelled out exactly what is included in the price, any assumptions and conditions, etc.

Anyway, those are just a few questions off the top of my head. What are your experiences with or thoughts on this service?


EDIT - Moderators, I had no idea where to put this one. Since it's sort of gear related (the buying and selling of it) the Miscellaneous Forum seemed like a good choice to me. If you think it belongs elsewhere, feel free to move it as you see fit.

[MAJOR METAL]

I got the check like 10 days after the delivery was made the 1 time i had to use it.

[Chunk-O-Funk]

I have used it quite a bit, but only for business to business transactions. It's been available for quite some time.

As far as your first & second question. I really don't know, it's never come up. I don't see why not, but there may be something against it that I don't know about.

As the receiver of a package you do have the right to refuse deliver if it's a COD or not. UPS will send it back to the business and no extra fees will be applied except for the fact that he looses out the shipping he paid to get it to you. COD also has an extra charge of $9.00 I belive. So that would be the cost of shipping + the $9.00 fee.

To my knowledge, UPS does not make any kind of invoice. That's would be between the seller and buyer. You simply pay UPS for their shipping services. On the shipping label there is room for a short description of the contents of the package. For COD I believe it may be required.


COD is a good service, but of course the overall shipping will go up for the COD fee, plus the seller will have to wait better than a week for the check. That's why most transactions are done with credit card now a days.

[BassChuck]

USPS also offers a COD delivery.

[Passinwind]

Originally Posted by dave64o

Some questions I came up with are:

- Can you open it when it's delivered to verify it's what you were expecting?

- If I'm not home when they deliver and I go to pick it up at the UPS distribution center, can I open it to inspect it there?

Nope, and nope. You pay your money and you takes your chances. I used to deliver huge FedEx CODs, and the management had like a minute to decide to give me a check for a few hundred $K or not. If I let 'em open a package and something went missing, then what? It's between the customer and the vendor, and the shippers typically want nothing to do with mediating that relationship.

There are plenty of stories online about people receiving a COD box of bricks or whatever. You still need to trust your vendor...or not.