How to Set Delivery Fees for Your Business in Nigeria

A lot of Nigerian businesses lose money on delivery without noticing.

The product price looks fine. Then the bike man charges more than you quoted, or an interstate parcel eats the whole margin.

Quick answer

Set delivery fees by zone, not by guessing per chat. Write the zones down, add a small buffer for fuel changes, and show the fee before the customer pays.

A simple zone setup

Start with three zones. You can refine later.

1. Same city, nearby

Lagos Island to Lekki, or Wuse to Gwarinpa. Use your usual dispatch rate, then add ₦500 to ₦1,000 for delays and failed pickups.

2. Same city, far

Ikeja to Ajah, or Abuja to a satellite town. Quote the higher dispatch rate, not the cheap one you got last Tuesday.

3. Outside your city

Interstate should be a separate fee, or “delivery calculated after address.” Do not promise a flat nationwide price unless you have checked the courier rate for that weight.

What to include in the fee

• dispatch or courier charge
• packaging, if you buy nylon, boxes, or tape per order
• a small buffer, because rates move

Do not hide delivery inside the product price unless you are sure every order costs about the same to send. A customer in the same estate and a customer in another state are not the same sale.

What to tell customers

Put the fee where they can see it before they ask.

• nearby: ₦2,500
• far, same city: ₦4,500
• outside the city: we confirm after you send your address

If someone asks “how much to my side?”, send the zone price and your order link. Do not renegotiate in every chat.

What to avoid

• quoting delivery from memory
• offering free delivery on low-margin items
• absorbing a failed delivery and still resending for free

How Fisco helps

Fisco lets you show products, prices, and how to order on one storefront, so delivery is not renegotiated in every WhatsApp chat. Pair this with how to price products when costs keep changing.