How to choose couriers
Start with where your customers are. Greater Cairo spans Cairo, Giza and Qalyubia, and Cairo and Giza alone have about 10.4 million and 9.7 million residents. Alexandria (about 5.6 million) and Delta governorates such as Dakahlia (about 7.2 million) and Gharbia (about 5.5 million) are large markets too. A courier that is strong in Cairo may be weaker in Upper Egypt or the Delta, so check coverage for the places you actually ship to.
Then compare couriers on what affects your margin and your reviews, not only on price. Most growing stores work with at least two: a main partner, and a second for areas or products where the first is weaker. That also gives you a fallback in busy seasons.
Same-day delivery between governorates is an emerging option. Bosta, which reportedly handled 37 million parcels in 2025, launched same-day intercity delivery with SuperJet. If you sell gifts or urgent items to customers in other cities, ask couriers whether same-day intercity is available on your routes and what it costs.
- Coverage and delivery time per governorate
- Delivery success rate on your own test orders
- How fast and how often COD cash is transferred to you
- Return handling: how long refused parcels take to come back, and what they cost
- Pickup reliability from your location
- Tracking and status updates that you and the customer can see
- Support response when a parcel is stuck
How rate cards work
Egyptian couriers do not publish one price for everyone. Rate cards are agreed per merchant and depend on the delivery zone, the parcel weight and sometimes its volume. Ask each courier for its full rate card in writing before you set the delivery prices in your store.
Check what the card covers. Items worth asking about include the base price per zone, the weight included in that price and the charge for extra weight, any COD collection fee, the fee for returned or refused parcels, and any charge for repeat delivery attempts.
Then build a simple table: your top zones by order count against each courier’s price for your typical parcel. Add the expected cost of refused parcels, because a cheaper courier with more failed deliveries can end up costing you more.
Cash on delivery: collection and reconciliation
With COD, the courier collects your revenue and transfers it later, minus its fees. Agree on the transfer schedule and the report format before you start shipping.
Reconcile every transfer against your orders. For each payout, check that every delivered order appears, that the amount collected matches the order total, that fees match the rate card, and that refused parcels are not marked as delivered. Do it weekly, because mismatches are much harder to trace after a month.
Keep a running list of parcels that have been out longer than a limit you set without being delivered or returned. These are usually the ones where cash or stock goes missing.
Reducing refusals and returns
Refusals are the biggest hidden cost of COD. Industry estimates put COD refusal at around 12–18% and return-to-origin at 15–30% when it is not managed, with fashion and cosmetics often cited above 15%. Reliable public data is limited, so measure your own rate from day one.
The most common fix is confirming each order by WhatsApp or phone before dispatch. Confirm the item, size, price including delivery, address and a good time to deliver. An order that cannot be confirmed should wait, not ship.
Track refusals by region and by ad channel. If one governorate or one campaign has a clearly higher refusal rate, adjust the targeting, ask for a deposit there, or offer a small incentive to prepay.
Send an update when the parcel leaves and on the day of delivery. A customer who knows the courier is coming is more likely to be home and to answer the phone.
Returns and the 14-day rule
Consumer Protection Law No. 181 of 2018 gives buyers the right to return or exchange goods within 14 days of receipt, and Article 40 covers remote and online purchases. Defective goods have 30 days. Exclusions include perishables and custom-made goods. Check the law text or a lawyer for how it applies to your products.
Write a returns policy that matches the law and your courier setup: how customers request a return, whether you send a courier to collect it, who pays return shipping (check this against the law), and how quickly you refund. Show it on the product page and in the confirmation message, not only in the footer.
Managing several couriers in one place
Once you use two or three couriers, the work shifts from shipping to tracking: which parcel is with whom, which ones were refused, and which payouts have arrived. Vondera’s VShip connects 50+ Egyptian and regional couriers, including Bosta, Aramex, Mylerz, ShipBlu, J&T and Turbo.
Couriers update order status directly in your dashboard, you get real-time notifications, and COD collections are tracked so you can reconcile payouts against orders. With VInbox, where WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook messages arrive in one inbox, your team can confirm orders before dispatch from the same place it manages them.