DM templates · Instagram
Answer shipping questions before people buy
Answer a shipping question in this order: yes or no, the cost, then how long it takes, and link the full delivery page for the rest. The 15 replies below cover what shoppers ask before they order, from “do you ship to Canada?” to cash on delivery and import charges, along with a keyword set-up that answers them in seconds.
Updated 6 October 2026 · 15 templates
15 messages to copy
Tap a card to copy the message. Swap anything in braces, like {name}, for your own words before you send it.
Yes, we ship there
Yes, we ship to Canada! Orders usually arrive within {time}, and you'll see the exact delivery cost at checkout before you pay. Every country and price is listed here: {link}
Put the yes in the first word. Everything after it is detail they can skip if they're already convinced.
Not shipping there yet
Sorry, we don't ship to Australia yet. It's on our list, and we'll announce it in our Stories when it happens. If you have a friend or a forwarding address in a country we do ship to, we're happy to send it there.
Keep a tally of the countries you turn down. When one keeps coming up, that's your case for adding it.
What delivery costs
Standard delivery is £3.95 anywhere in the UK, and free on orders over £50. Express is £6.95 and arrives the next working day if you order before 1pm.
Give the actual numbers. “Calculated at checkout” makes people start an order just to find out, and some won't bother.
Just under the free-delivery line
Good news: you're only £8 away from free delivery. If there's anything else on your wishlist, now's a good moment. If not, standard delivery is £3.95.
Say it only when it's true and they've told you what's in their basket. Sent to everyone, it reads like a sales script.
How long it takes
Orders placed before 2pm on a weekday leave us the same day. From there, standard delivery takes 2 to 4 working days and express takes 1 to 2.
Split dispatch time from courier time. “3 to 5 days” means little if they can't tell whether it starts at the order or at dispatch.
“Will it arrive by Saturday?”
If you order before 2pm today and choose express, it should arrive by Friday. I can't promise it, since the courier handles the last part, but that's our quickest option.
Never guarantee a date you don't control. Give the fastest honest route and say who controls it.
Cash on delivery
Yes, cash on delivery is available for most pin codes in India, for a small extra charge shown at checkout. Please keep the amount ready, as the delivery partner may not carry change.
Some shops confirm COD orders with a quick message or call before dispatch. A parcel refused at the door costs you delivery both ways.
Checking a pin code or postcode
Send me your pin code and I'll check whether our courier covers it and how many days it takes to reach you.
Couriers reach some areas faster than others, and remote ones not at all. A quick check beats an order you'll have to cancel.
Import charges on international orders
Your order ships from India, so your country's customs may add import duty or tax when it arrives. Those charges aren't included in our prices, and the courier collects them before delivery.
Say who pays before they buy. If you ship duties paid (DDP), say “no extra charges on delivery” instead; it's a selling point.
Sending it as a gift
Of course! Enter their name and address as the delivery address at checkout. We never put prices in the parcel, and you can add a gift note in the order notes box.
Check your packing process before promising “no prices”. If an invoice goes in every box, take it out of gift orders.
Combining two orders
Placed two orders? If neither has shipped yet, I can pack them together and refund the second delivery charge. Send me both order numbers and I'll sort it.
Offer it before they ask. It saves you a parcel and earns goodwill for the price of one delivery charge.
Collecting in person
You're welcome to collect it from our studio instead. Choose “Collect in store” at checkout, and we'll email you when it's ready, usually within {time}.
Promise an email, not a DM. If the order is ready two days later, an automated DM can't reach them by then.
PO boxes
We can deliver to a PO box with standard post. Our express courier needs a street address, so pick standard delivery if a PO box is your only option.
Private couriers usually can't deliver to PO boxes, which belong to the postal service. Say so before checkout, not after a failed delivery.
Holiday cut-off dates
Ordering for Diwali? The last day for standard delivery is {time}. After that, choose express, or send a gift card, which arrives by email straight away.
Post your cut-off dates in a Story as well, and change this reply the day each one passes, so nobody is promised a date you've already missed.
Public answer in the comments
Yes, we ship to the US! It takes about {time}, and all the delivery prices are on the page linked in our bio.
Shipping answers aren't private, so give them in public. Everyone else wondering the same thing reads your reply, and the question gets asked less.
Set it up in DMFast
Message SHIPPING, get delivery costs and times
A DM opens the 24-hour window, so the answer and the card arrive together. Keywords match whole words, so add SHIP, DELIVERY and POSTAGE as well: “do you ship to Ireland?” contains SHIP, not SHIPPING. A full rate table would never fit in one 1,000-byte message anyway, which is why it lives on the page.
Pick direct messages
Connect your Instagram account and add an auto-reply for DMs. It answers messages, not comments.
Set the word: SHIPPING
Any message with the word SHIPPING in it gets this answer, in capitals or not.
Paste the message
Add the message shown here and the link card that goes with it.
Free plan, no card. Instagram professional accounts and Facebook Pages.
Rules to know
- Once a shopper messages you, automated replies can follow for 24 hours from their latest message, and inside that window they may include links, buttons and offers such as free delivery.
- Instagram's messaging API accepts at most 1,000 bytes of text per message. Letters and the $ sign take one byte each, £ takes two, ₹ and € take three and most emoji four, so a rate table belongs on a page.
- Someone who asks about delivery in a comment can be sent a single private reply, no later than 7 days after commenting. It has to be plain text; the link waits for their answer.
- Meta's human agent tag lets a person answer a delivery question up to 7 days after the shopper's last message. It covers support, not promotions like a free-delivery weekend.
- Automated replies have to make clear they're automated, under Meta's policy for automated chats.
Sources
The facts every shipping answer needs
Most shipping DMs are the same few questions in different words: do you deliver to me, what does it cost, when will it arrive, and will anything else be charged. Answer them in that order and many chats end after one message.
| They ask | Lead with | Then add |
|---|---|---|
| “Do you ship to…?” | Yes or no | The usual delivery time and a link to the full list |
| “How much is delivery?” | The price, in their currency if you can | Your free-delivery threshold, if you have one |
| “How long does it take?” | Dispatch time, then courier time | Your daily cut-off, such as 2pm |
| “Will it arrive by…?” | The fastest honest option | Who controls the last step |
| “Any extra charges?” | Who pays import duty and tax | Whether cash on delivery costs more |
Tip: Write the answers once on a delivery page and link it from your bio, a Highlight called Delivery and every reply. When a price changes, you update one page instead of twenty saved replies.
International orders, duties and cash on delivery
Duties are where international orders go wrong. Under the usual shipping terms, either you pay import charges up front (delivered duty paid, or DDP) or the buyer pays them on arrival (delivered at place, DAP, still often called DDU). Both are fine. A surprise bill at the door isn't, because a parcel refused over customs charges tends to cost you the return trip, or the parcel itself.
In India, cash on delivery and pin-code coverage are the questions to have ready. Say plainly whether COD is offered, whether it costs extra and which areas your courier reaches, and offer to check a pin code for anyone who isn't sure.
Quote prices in the shopper's currency where you can, and say which time zone your cut-off is in. “Order by 2pm” means little to someone eight hours ahead of you.
Setting up a SHIPPING keyword
In DMFast, a DM keyword reply answers anyone whose message contains the word, in capitals or not, at any hour. Matching is by whole word, so list the forms people really type: SHIPPING, SHIP, DELIVERY, DELIVER, POSTAGE and, for shops in India, COD. A phrase with a space in it, such as “do you ship”, matches anywhere in the message.
Leave out SEND, POST and ORDER. They turn up in messages about everything else, and someone asking about an order they've already placed needs tracking, not your delivery page.
Questions with a twist, like “how long to Pune if I order on Sunday?”, are where a keyword reply runs out. On the Growth and Business plans, DMFast's AI replies can answer those from the business info you write down, such as courier times and cut-offs, at one credit per reply. Keep that info in step with your delivery page, or the AI will quote last season's prices.
Mistakes that lose the sale
- “DM for shipping” in a caption. Put the basics in the caption or on a page, and keep DMs for unusual cases.
- A delivery estimate that leaves out dispatch time, so “2 days” turns into five.
- Keeping import charges quiet until the parcel lands.
- Holiday cut-off dates that stay in your auto-reply after they've passed.
- Answering “do you ship to me?” with only a link. Give the yes or no in the reply itself.
- Promising to DM a tracking number days later. An automated DM can't reach them by then, so send tracking by email or text.
What to measure
Count shipping questions each week and note the countries and pin codes they mention. A steady stream from a country you don't serve is a business case. A steady stream of “how much is delivery?” means the price is too hard to find. Put a tracked link on the delivery card to see how many people open it, then check whether the questions drop after you add the cost to your captions or bio.
Questions people ask
Should I put shipping details in my Instagram bio?
The headline, yes. A bio holds 150 characters, enough for “Ships worldwide · Free UK delivery over £50” and a link to the full delivery page. Countries, prices and cut-offs belong on that page, where you can update them without touching every reply.
Can an auto-reply quote delivery to someone's exact address?
No. A keyword reply sends the same message to everyone, so it can't work out a rate; your checkout can. What it can do is send the delivery page within seconds. In DMFast, AI replies can answer follow-up questions from the courier times and prices you've written into your business info, but they can't price a specific parcel.
How should I answer shipping questions in comments?
In public and briefly: yes or no, the usual time and where the full details are. Others reading the post have the same question. If you'd rather answer privately, Instagram allows one plain-text private reply per comment, within 7 days, and the link can follow once they answer.
Is cash on delivery worth offering?
It depends on your margins and your buyers. COD can reassure first-time customers who don't know your shop yet, but refused parcels cost you delivery in both directions. Some shops add a small fee, or offer COD only below a set order value.
Who pays customs on international orders?
Whoever your shipping terms say. Ship delivered duty paid and you pay the duty and tax, usually building it into your price; ship delivered at place and the buyer pays on arrival. Either works, as long as you say which before they order.
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