As mentioned it is a myth. Even within India, the postal dept had this for ages - called &#x27;Value Payable Post&#x27; (perhaps going back to colonial days). <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.indiapost.gov.in&#x2F;VPPost.aspx" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.indiapost.gov.in&#x2F;VPPost.aspx</a><p>Also, seems like mail order for most part still had to depend upon credit cards. See <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Card_not_present_transaction" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Card_not_present_transaction</a><p>The point that I was highlighting is Flipkart showed the way as to how this forgotten system (COD) can be leveraged in the days of internet to acquire new customers.<p>The relevant question here is - If Amazon India came before Flipkart, would they have thought of putting this system in place? Maybe, Maybe not.<p>But one can hazard at least this much guess that looking at the kind of customer traction Flipkart was getting due to COD system, Amazon India&#x27;s product managers perhaps had to write far lesser emails to Seattle for incorporating that in Amazon.in.