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Selling online in Iraq with cash on delivery, delivery partners and currency

How cash on delivery runs day to day in Shopify, what to ask a delivery partner, and how to set prices and returns when the dinar and the dollar both matter.

ESTASOFT
13 min read
Cover graphic listing the operating topics for selling online in Iraq: cash on delivery, delivery partners, shipping rates, currency and returns.
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      A cash on delivery order is not finished when the customer clicks buy. Your team must confirm it, pack it, hand it to a courier, wait for the cash and mark it paid. Pricing is a second task: in Iraq both the dinar and the dollar matter, and the official dollar rate changed in October 2026.

      This guide is for owners running or planning an eCommerce store in Iraq. It covers cash orders in Shopify, delivery partners, shipping rates, addresses, pricing and returns. It does not list payment providers, because our guide to online payments in Iraq and Kurdistan already does that.

      How cash on delivery runs in Shopify, day by day

      Shopify treats cash on delivery as a manual payment method. You add it in the admin under Settings, then Payments, and write the payment instructions customers see. Shopify marks orders that use it as unpaid, and describes them as pending until you mark them as paid. Shopify's steps for manual payments say to receive payment, mark the order as paid, then fulfill. Cash on delivery turns that around. A routine that works:

      1. The order arrives as unpaid.
      2. Your team confirms it with the customer before it ships.
      3. You hand the parcel to the courier, with the cash amount to collect written on it.
      4. The courier delivers, collects the cash and later sends it to you with a statement that lists the orders.
      5. Your team matches the statement to your orders and marks each one as paid only when the money has reached you.
      6. If a parcel comes back, you cancel the order or record the return.

      Until step 5, the cash is with the courier, so check every week for delivered orders that are still unpaid. When a parcel comes back, Shopify's help page on canceling says restocking is selected by default. For an order that was fulfilled but not paid, it says to use the returns process.

      Cutting refused and unanswered orders

      Confirm before dispatch. Call or message every cash order before it ships. Read back the items, the cash total, the address and the delivery day, and ask for a second phone number. Set a rule for silence, such as a fixed number of attempts at different times of day, and hold or cancel the order when nobody answers.

      Ask for a small deposit on large orders. For large or custom items, take a deposit before dispatch by a method you can check, such as a bank or wallet transfer, and say on the product page when the rule applies. Shopify announced on 26 March 2024 a way to record more than one payment on an order with payment terms, deposits included. Its help page lists the feature for the Shopify Plus plan.

      Neither habit is a guarantee, so record why orders fail and review the reasons.

      What to ask a delivery partner

      Put the same questions to every courier, ask for the answers in writing, and send a few real parcels before you commit.

      • Coverage. Which provinces, cities and districts do you serve? Which cost more or take longer?
      • Cash and fees. Which currency do you collect, and do drivers carry change? How often and by which method do you pay me, with what statement? What do you charge for delivery, cash handling, a failed attempt and a return?
      • Returns. How many attempts do you make? How long do you hold a parcel, and how does it come back to me?
      • Tracking. Which statuses will I see, and can my customers see them?
      • Cut-off times. By what time must a parcel be ready for same-day pickup? On which days do you deliver?
      • Damage and loss. Who pays if a parcel is damaged or lost, or cash goes missing? How do I claim, and with what proof?
      • Address format. What must an address contain for a driver to find the door? Do you call the customer first?

      Shipping zones and rates by region in Shopify

      A shipping zone is a group of places that share the same rates. Make one under Settings, then Shipping and delivery, by opening the shipping profile and choosing Add zone. A rate can be flat, based on order amount or weight, or calculated by a carrier or app. A customer in an inactive market cannot order, even if their country has rates. Shopify is moving rates to shipping options by market, so your screens may differ.

      The help page describes zones as groups of countries or regions and does not say whether you can pick Iraqi provinces. Open the region picker for Iraq in your admin and check. If you cannot, ask your developer how to charge different rates by area before you promise customers a rate table.

      Start from your delivery partner's price list. Group places that cost the same into a few zones with names customers understand, such as your city, nearby cities and farther provinces. Decide whether the courier's cash handling fee sits inside the shipping price, and say so on the store. A surprise at the door can mean a refused parcel.

      Addresses and phone numbers

      The checkout setting for the shipping address phone number has three options: don't include, optional or required. Optional is the default on new stores, and Shopify says to use required when a carrier needs the number. For cash orders, set it to required. Leave address line 2 optional: it is meant for apartment or unit details, and Shopify warns that requiring it can stop some customers from buying.

      Shopify requires extra regional address fields, such as a district, in Brazil, Kuwait, Panama, Peru and the Philippines. Iraq is not on that list, so expect the standard fields. Iraq is also missing from Shopify's list of countries with address autocomplete. Test your checkout with real Iraqi addresses before you launch.

      Changing checkout fields by country needs an app and is available only on Shopify Plus, so on other plans one form must work for every customer. Ask your courier what a driver needs, such as district, street, a building description and the nearest landmark, and which script to use for addresses. Our guide on Arabic and English on one store covers the layout side.

      Choosing the pricing currency

      Shopify's store currency is the default currency customers see, and your products are priced in it. Can it be the Iraqi dinar? The Shopify pages we read do not say. IQD is a valid code in Shopify's API reference, but that page lists codes, not what a store may use. The Help Center pages on store currency and local currencies do not name the dinar, and the list of currencies accepted through Shopify Payments omits it. Iraq is not on Shopify's list of Shopify Payments countries.

      Cash orders add a second question. A July 2025 Shopify changelog says manual payment methods, cash on delivery among them, can be offered in the currencies set up in Markets. The manual payments help page says accepting manual payments in several currencies needs Shopify Payments. So ask Shopify support or your developer what your setup allows, then test it. Only the store owner can change the store currency. In your admin, open Settings, then General, then Currency display, choose Change store currency and look at the list, without saving. If the dinar is not offered, you could price in dollars and state the dinar amount the courier collects, but decide who calculates it. Changing the store currency later is not a simple switch: Shopify says prices keep their numbers, so 20 US dollars becomes 20 Canadian dollars, and shipping rates do not update on their own.

      Two exchange rates matter in Iraq: the official one and the market one. The Central Bank of Iraq's bulletins for May and July 2026 state a maximum selling price of 1,320 dinars per dollar for banks and other financial institutions. On 7 October 2026, Rudaw and Shafaq News reported that a Council of Ministers decision raised the official rate for end buyers from 1,320 to 1,520 dinars per dollar from that day, and Kurdistan24 gave the same new rate. All three describe steps: the Finance Ministry buys dollars at 1,500, banks buy at 1,510, and banks and non-bank financial institutions sell to end buyers at 1,520. On 29 October, Asharq Al-Awsat reported the Central Bank governor saying that the gap between the official and the market rate had narrowed. Rates can change, so open the Central Bank's latest bulletin before you set or change prices.

      If you buy stock in dollars and sell in dinars, count your margin at the rate you expect to pay next time. Then use a simple rule:

      1. Price in one currency on the product page, in the cart and on the order.
      2. Write down the exchange rate you used and the date you set it.
      3. Review prices on a fixed day each month and whenever the official rate changes.
      4. An order keeps the price it was placed at, and the total on the confirmation is the cash the courier collects.
      5. If a customer wants to pay in the other currency, accept it only at the rate you publish, or decline.

      Put the rule on your delivery page, for example: Prices are in your chosen currency. The total on your order confirmation is the cash you pay the courier, and an order keeps the price it was placed at.

      A returns policy for cash orders

      A cash order has no card to refund. Shopify does not capture manual payments, so plan to pay any cash refund yourself, outside Shopify, and make your policy say how. Shopify's refund page says that when there is no payment to refund, you can restock the items without a return or refund, which fits a parcel refused at the door. Cover these points:

      • Refused at the door. No cash was taken, so nothing is refunded. The order is canceled and the stock returns.
      • Return window and condition. How many days the customer has after delivery, and what state the item must be in. You choose and state both.
      • Return delivery. Who arranges and pays for the item to come back.
      • How the refund is paid. Cash on collection, bank or wallet transfer, or store credit, and how many days it takes.
      • Damaged or wrong items. How and by when the customer reports it, and with what proof.

      This is general information, not legal or tax advice. Check the current rules or ask a qualified adviser before you decide.

      ESTASOFT offers eCommerce services and has an office in Erbil. If you want help planning your cash on delivery, delivery and pricing setup, send a short brief on the contact page. For the wider picture of a first launch, read how to launch an online store in the Middle East.

      Sources

      Written by
      ESTASOFT

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