COD e-commerce in Jordan: what sellers need to know

Jordan is a small market by population but a very connected one, and more sellers from Morocco, Egypt and the Gulf now look at it as their next step. Cash on delivery (COD) works there, but it sits inside a payment landscape that is changing fast: instant transfers through CliQ and mobile wallets are now part of daily life in Amman. Add a parcel tax that changed in 2026, an address system that couriers still work around, and consumer rules that give the buyer real weight, and a COD store in Jordan needs a playbook of its own.

This guide covers the market, how Jordanians pay, the rules an online store has to follow, delivery and addresses, order confirmation and margin. It draws on official sources (the Department of Statistics, the Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship, the JoPACC payments switch, customs, the postal regulator) and on published legal summaries. It is general information, not legal or tax advice: have a Jordanian professional check your situation before you start selling.

A small market that is fully online

ECDB estimates that Jordanian e-commerce generated US$229m of revenue in 2025, with growth of 10-15% on the previous year. Online sales still account for only 5-10% of retail revenue, and the largest category is hobby and leisure, with 26% of revenue. In absolute terms the market is modest: a COD store wins here by choosing products carefully and keeping its cost per order low, not on volume alone.

The audience, on the other hand, is fully connected. The Department of Statistics counted 11.937 million inhabitants at the end of 2025. According to the 2024 household ICT survey, run by the Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship with the Department of Statistics, internet use rose from 92.5% of individuals in 2023 to 95.6% in 2024, and 94.8% go online every day. Smartphones are found in 97.5% of households. The 2022 edition of the same survey already put social networks such as Facebook, WhatsApp, TikTok and Instagram at the top of the services people use, at 95.8 percent of individuals aged five and over. For a COD seller that means social media ads, an order form built for the phone first, and confirmation on WhatsApp.

Cash on delivery next to CliQ and wallets

Cash still holds a strong position. The e-commerce assessment published on the Jordan Export Portal notes that Jordanian businesses and consumers prefer cash payment methods, and the payments company Madfoat describes COD as especially useful when buying from new stores or unfamiliar products. That is exactly the position of a store selling through social media ads: the buyer has never heard of you, and paying at the door removes the risk.

Digital payments, however, are growing very quickly. The 2025 report of the Jordan Payments and Clearing Company (JoPACC) shows transactions across its systems up 62% to 363.84 million. CliQ, the instant payment system, handled 167.92 million transactions, up 100.02%, worth 19.97 billion dinars, up 65%, and has 2.13 million registered users. Mobile wallet users reached 2.81 million at the end of 2025.

The practical consequence: offer COD, but give buyers a reason to prepay. A small discount for paying by CliQ or wallet before shipping, or free delivery on prepaid orders, turns part of your COD orders into orders that can no longer be refused at the door. Madfoat puts the seller's risk plainly: some customers refuse the product after it has been shipped, and the store pays for both trips. Keep COD for first orders and well-served areas, and steer risky orders (an unreachable number, a vague address, duplicate orders) toward prepayment.

The rules an online store has to follow

Jordan has no single e-commerce law yet; online selling falls under general texts. The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Supply issued a National E-commerce Strategy in 2023 and says it is working on the legislative environment needed to regulate e-commerce. Until then, these are the points that matter most to a COD seller.

• Consumer protection. Article 3 of Consumer Protection Law No. 7 of 2017 gives buyers the right to clear, accurate and comprehensive information on products, services and terms of sale. Online selling is watched closely: in the first quarter of 2026 the ministry's Consumer Protection Directorate handled 561 complaints, and e-commerce was the second-largest category with 111 complaints, or 20 percent. The ministry advises buyers to get a clear purchase invoice and warranty terms and to preview the item whatever its type before accepting it. So let customers open the parcel in front of the courier, and print the price, the delivery fee and your return terms on the invoice.
• Personal data. Jordan's first data protection law, Law No. 24 of 2023, has applied since March 2024. Processing generally needs the person's prior consent, which must be clear and in writing, for a specified period and purpose. A COD store collects names, phone numbers and addresses, so add a consent box and a short privacy notice to the order form. Breaches carry fines starting at JOD 1,000, doubled for repeat offences.
• Sales tax. The general sales tax is 16% on most goods and services. Registration becomes mandatory once taxable turnover over 12 months reaches JOD 75,000 for goods or JOD 30,000 for services. And since 1 April 2025, accepted invoices go through the national e-invoicing system, JoFotara.

Selling from abroad raises further questions (a local entity, tax registration, importing stock) that a Jordanian adviser should settle before the first order, not after.

Shipping from abroad or holding stock locally

Since 1 February 2026, Jordan Customs has applied a 16% sales tax to the contents of postal parcels with a customs value of up to 200 dinars, with a minimum of 5 dinars, after the Council of Ministers set customs duty on those parcels at zero. The tax covers personal and commercial parcels alike, from every country. The flows are large: e-commerce produced more than 3.5 million shipping bills in 2025, including about 3.227 million parcels valued under 200 dinars. The U.S. Commercial Service also notes that shipments for online orders must carry the buyer's national number, or residency number for non-Jordanians.

For a COD store, sending each order from Morocco or anywhere else adds the tax, paperwork and long delays, and a refused international parcel is very expensive to bring back. Selling COD seriously in Jordan usually means stock in the country, with a fulfilment provider or a partner, and local delivery.

Delivery: couriers and addresses

The postal market has two tiers. The public operator is the Jordanian Post Company, and the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission licenses private postal operators, a category that includes the courier companies carrying e-commerce parcels. Aramex, Jordan Post and many local delivery companies are among the names sellers compare. The Export Portal's assessment is blunt: local delivery capacity is insufficient, and last-mile delivery often takes longer than international delivery, while high national and international delivery costs squeeze margins.

Addresses are the second difficulty. The physical addressing system is only partially implemented, and the U.S. Commercial Service points to the lack of a countrywide addressing system. Couriers therefore work with landmarks and phone calls. Adapt your order form: ask for the governorate, city, neighbourhood, street and a nearby landmark, and invite customers to share a location pin on WhatsApp when you confirm.

Before signing with a courier, ask each one the same questions:

• What is the fee for collecting cash on delivery, and how often is the money paid out?
• What does a return cost, and how many delivery attempts come before a return?
• Does the driver call the customer before arriving, and let them inspect the parcel?
• Which governorates are covered, in how many days, and how are parcels tracked?

Confirm every order before it ships

A refused parcel pays for transport twice and earns nothing, so confirmation is your first line of defence. Call or message the customer in clear Arabic, ideally with agents at ease in the Levantine dialect, and check the name, governorate and neighbourhood, the landmark, the product, size or colour, and the total in dinars including delivery. Tell the customer they can inspect the parcel before paying: it removes the main reason buyers hesitate and matches the ministry's own advice.

Watch the clock. Since 2022 Jordan stays at GMT+3 all year round, while Morocco is on GMT: Amman is three hours ahead, so a team in Casablanca that starts at 9 a.m. reaches Jordanian customers at noon their time. Plan call slots and WhatsApp follow-ups on Amman time.

For the method, our guide to COD order confirmation covers scripts and follow-ups, and the one on fake COD orders explains how to spot orders that should not ship.

Work out the margin per delivered order

Margin is measured on delivered, collected orders, not on orders received. Count the product cost, ad spend per order, delivery, the COD collection fee, sales tax where it applies, and the cost of refusals: every refused parcel adds an outbound and a return trip. Our COD calculator lets you test these inputs before you set a price in dinars.

Prepayment improves the sum directly, and Jordanian buyers already use instant transfers and wallets every day. A modest discount for paying by CliQ often costs less than a high refusal rate.

What Cashod brings

Cashod is a COD order-management tool. For a store selling in Jordan, here is what it covers, and what it does not.

• Phone confirmation. Cashod includes a call center where agents confirm COD orders by phone.
• WhatsApp confirmation. Cashod can confirm orders over WhatsApp, including with an AI agent.
• Several stores. One Cashod account can manage several stores, for example a Jordanian store alongside a Moroccan one.
• Returns. Cashod tracks returned parcels; each carrier's delivery and return fees are set per city.

On delivery, to be clear: any other carrier can be added to Cashod manually, without automatic shipment creation or tracking. Your team then follows parcels on the carrier's side.

Cashod support answers by email, chat and phone, Monday to Friday, 9 AM to 6 PM GMT (Morocco time), which reads three hours later on Amman clocks.

Checklist before your first Jordanian order

1. Legal set-up settled: a local entity or partner, sales tax registration once you reach the threshold, invoices through JoFotara.
2. A store in Arabic, built for mobile, with prices in dinars including tax and the seller's details on display.
3. A consent box and a personal data notice on the order form.
4. Fields for governorate, neighbourhood and landmark, and a request for a WhatsApp location pin.
5. Stock in the country rather than international parcels subject to the parcel tax.
6. A courier chosen after comparing COD fees, payout timing and return prices.
7. CliQ or wallet payment offered next to COD, with a reason to prepay.
8. A confirmation script in Arabic, parcel inspection allowed, call slots set to Amman time.
9. Margin calculated per delivered order, refusals included.

Jordan rewards stores that earn trust and deliver without surprises. COD remains a good way in for new customers, as long as each order is confirmed, tied to a precise address and offered next to the instant payments Jordanians already use.