In Egypt’s fast-growing e-commerce market, cash remains king. But while Cash on Delivery (COD) offers convenience and trust for customers, it continues to cause major headaches for online store owners, particularly when it comes to fake or fraudulent orders.
For small and medium-sized businesses relying on platforms like Shopify, COD can lead to shipping costly orders that never reach a real customer. Whether it’s fake phone numbers, incorrect delivery addresses, or shoppers with no intent to follow through, these kinds of orders can quickly drain resources and eat into profits.
Enter Xtnd, a Cairo-based startup offering a solution built specifically for the Egyptian market.
A Local Solution to a Local Problem
Xtnd’s new product, the OTP – COD Order Verification app, helps online stores operating via Shopify to verify orders before shipping them out. The concept is simple but powerful: after a customer places a COD order, the app sends a One-Time Password (OTP) via SMS, or a confirmation link via email. The order is only confirmed once the customer verifies it.
If the customer doesn’t respond, the order is automatically flagged as high-risk, giving store owners the ability to pause or cancel the shipment before wasting time and money.
“We built this app to solve a very real pain point that e-commerce businesses face daily,” said Xtnd founder Moustafa Gouda. “The goal is to help stores cut down on fake orders while still offering the payment method customers prefer.”
Designed for Egypt, Built for Shopify
Unlike other verification tools that rely on expensive international SMS gateways, Xtnd’s app uses local Egyptian SMS providers, which significantly reduces the cost for businesses. It also supports sending messages from the official trade name of the store, provided the business is commercially registered.
Key features include:
- Flexible verification: Customers can verify their order via SMS or email
- Real-time risk filtering: Orders without verification are flagged automatically
- Local SMS pricing: Far more affordable than apps built for other regions
- Free trial: Businesses can try the app without needing commercial registration
- Clean customer data: Verified phone numbers and emails help with future marketing
The app integrates directly with Shopify and works seamlessly in the background for all COD orders. That means no coding or technical setup is needed.
A Smarter Way to Handle COD
According to Xtnd, more than 70 percent of online shoppers in Egypt choose COD. Yet many businesses lose thousands of pounds each month due to fraudulent orders and returned items.
“It is a huge frustration for many Egyptian businesses,” said Gouda. “Millions of pounds are lost each year across the country because of this.”
By adding a simple verification step, Xtnd’s app aims to bring both efficiency and trust back to the transaction.
Notably, the app does not interfere with prepaid online orders. If a customer has already paid, the order goes through without any extra steps, maintaining a smooth experience.
An Easy Win for E-Commerce in Egypt
Xtnd’s Shopify app offers a lightweight, locally tuned fix for one of Egypt’s most frustrating e-commerce problems. For business owners trying to grow their online presence while managing rising logistics costs, the app presents a practical way to ensure they’re only shipping to customers who genuinely want their products.
The app is now live on the Shopify App Store, and Xtnd is offering free SMS credits for new users who want to test it out. Users can use the promocode EST2025 to test the app with 25 free SMS messages and 25 free emails.
In a market where trust is crucial and margins are tight, tools like these could help Egypt’s digital retailers take the next step, one verified order at a time.
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