LagosMove

Door to door delivery in Lagos means a courier or dispatch rider picks up your parcel at your address and hands it to the receiver at theirs, with no trip to a motor park or courier counter in between. For small items inside the city, a bike run usually finishes in one to four hours. Most same-day city jobs cost between ₦2,000 and ₦8,000, and some providers advertise starting prices from about ₦1,000 on short hops.

The one thing to know before you book: Lagos has no fixed price list for this service. Distance, weight, traffic, rain and time of day all move the number. Treat any figure online, including the ranges in this guide, as a planning estimate. The quote for your parcel on your day is the only price that counts.

This guide covers what the service actually includes, what each option costs, how to book safely, how to confirm a provider is licensed, and what to do when a parcel goes missing.

Last updated: 6 November 2026. Sources and method are listed at the end of this page.

Key takeaways

• Door to door means pickup at your address and drop-off at the receiver’s address, not collection at a park or a courier counter.
• Bike dispatch is fastest for small items, typically one to four hours inside Lagos.
• Same-day city runs mostly fall between ₦2,000 and ₦8,000. Short hops can start near ₦1,000, while Mainland to Island runs at rush hour cost more.
• Any company charging a fee to deliver for you needs a NIPOST courier licence. The register is public, so check it before you pay.
• Get the total price in writing, keep the waybill, and never pay into a personal bank account.

What door to door delivery in Lagos actually includes

The service has three parts, and a provider that skips any of them is selling you something else.

1. Pickup at your address. The rider or driver comes to you. Some providers charge for waiting time after a set number of minutes, so have the parcel sealed and ready.
2. Movement between two addresses. No terminal stop for you or the receiver. On longer Mainland to Island runs, the rider crosses the bridge with your item.
3. Handover with a record. The delivery ends when someone at the destination receives the parcel and it is recorded, either by signature, an app confirmation or a photo. Our guide to proof of delivery in Nigeria shows exactly what that record should contain.

What it does not include: free redelivery if nobody is home, insurance unless you ask and pay for it, or cover for prohibited items. Those three gaps cause most of the arguments people have with delivery companies.

How it differs from terminal pickup and bus parcel

With a bus parcel service, you drop the item at a terminal such as Jibowu or Ojota, and the receiver travels to the destination park with an ID and waybill number to collect it. We explain the full process in how to send parcels by bus in Nigeria.

Door to door flips that. The parcel comes to them.

That difference has a price. A receiver in Ikoyi may spend an hour and several thousand naira in transport just to reach a park. With door to door, that cost disappears, which is why the delivery fee often works out cheaper once you add up both trips.

Speed differs too. A morning booking from Ikeja to Victoria Island often lands before lunch, because the rider moves directly between two points. Bus parcels travel on coaches, so arrival follows the route’s timetable, traffic and rest stops.

How door to door delivery works, step by step

Most providers follow the same seven steps. Knowing them helps you spot a gap before money moves.

1. You book. Through an app, website, WhatsApp line or phone call. You give both addresses, the receiver’s phone number and a description of the item.
2. You get a price. App bookings show a fare before you confirm. Phone bookings need the total confirmed by message.
3. A rider is assigned. Some apps show the rider’s name and live location. Independent riders usually just call when they arrive.
4. Pickup and inspection. The rider checks the item matches what you described, and that it is packed properly. A good box matters more than people think, and our guide to delivery labels covers what must be written and stuck on the parcel.
5. Transit. Watch for status updates. If you send for a business, delivery tracking links explains what those updates actually mean and why they lag.
6. Delivery. The receiver gets a call before arrival. Someone needs to be there with a phone switched on.
7. Proof and payment. You get a signature, photo or app confirmation. Keep the waybill until the receiver confirms the parcel, not until the rider says he has arrived.

What door to door delivery costs in Lagos

Published prices vary widely, so here is what providers and price guides actually show, with the caveat attached to each figure.

The NIPOST figure is not a typo. NIPOST’s own service provision standards list 8 to 10 working days for domestic EMS between Lagos and Abuja. It is the cheapest tracked option and the slowest. Do not book it for anything with a deadline this week.

For a deeper breakdown by provider type, read our companion guides to courier service prices in Lagos and delivery prices in Lagos.

What moves your quote

Six inputs decide the number, and knowing them helps you spot an inflated quote in seconds.

• Distance and zone. Yaba to Surulere sits at the low end. Mainland to Lekki or Ajah costs more because the rider loses time on the bridge and the expressway.
• Weight and size. Operators use weight bands. Cross into the next band and the price jumps rather than creeps.
• Urgency. Same-day is standard. Within-the-hour express carries a premium.
• Vehicle. A bike is cheapest. A van or dedicated car costs clearly more, and is the only option for fragile or bulky loads.
• Traffic and rain. A 5 p.m. Friday run costs more than the same run at 10 a.m. Riders price the time, not just the kilometres.
• Who is paying. Prepaid business accounts usually beat pay-on-delivery rates, because the provider knows the volume.

Why December costs more

Demand spikes around Christmas, Easter, Sallah and New Year. Riders get booked out days ahead, cargo space fills, and fares climb while delivery windows stretch. A parcel that took three hours in March can take a full day in December.

Two moves protect you. Book earlier than usual, and get the total in writing. If you have promised a customer a date in December, build in one or two extra days.

Your main options, compared

There are five realistic ways to get a parcel to a door in Lagos. Each fits a different job, and picking the wrong one costs either time or money.

Bike dispatch riders win on speed. A rider moves through gridlock that traps a van for hours, which is why documents, phones and spare parts travel this way. They are also the most limited: if it does not fit on a bike, they cannot take it.

Registered couriers with waybills suit anything that needs a record. You get a tracking reference, a named recipient and a support line. Cost sits above a bike, and for corporate deliveries, land documents and original certificates, the paper trail is worth the difference. Our courier services in Lagos guide compares these operators in detail.

Platform bookings let you enter one shipment and compare several carriers’ prices and speeds in one place. Useful if you ship weekly, unnecessary for one urgent envelope.

NIPOST EMS is the budget, slow, wide-reach option. It reaches places the private couriers skip, and it will not rescue a deadline.

Bus parcel desks are for parcels leaving Lagos. Cheap on busy routes, but the receiver collects at a terminal, which is not door to door. If the item must reach an address, skip this option.

For a side-by-side comparison of individual providers rather than service types, see pickup and delivery services in Lagos.

Named providers, and what each one actually publishes

I checked these against each provider’s own site in November 2026. Prices move, and none of them publishes a full Lagos rate card, so treat every figure as a starting point.

GIG Logistics (GIGL). Books through the GIGGo app or web platform. You enter pickup and drop-off details, request pickup, and the parcel moves to the recipient’s stated address, with tracking by waybill number. GIGL lists Lagos among its pickup cities. See GIGGo for the current booking flow. For how small businesses use it, read how GIG Logistics can cut delivery costs for Lagos SMEs.

Fez Delivery. States same-day delivery within Lagos and its environs, and publishes individual pricing from ₦1,000. Its own FAQ puts typical Lagos delivery within 24 hours, which shows how much “same day” depends on the route and the hour you book. The individual delivery page spells out the tiers.

Sendbox. Not a fleet. It is a platform that connects sellers to multiple carriers, and its business page advertises up to 15% off standard shipping rates for orders booked through the platform. The value is not the discount. It is that one shipment priced across several carriers can differ by thousands of naira, as the table above shows.

NIPOST. The state postal operator. Cheap, slow, and useful for documents going where private couriers have no branch. Confirm at the counter whether your item qualifies for address delivery or counter collection before you pay.

Independent riders. Often the cheapest and always the least accountable. No app, no tracking, no formal liability. They work well for repeat local runs when you know the rider. They are a poor choice for anything you cannot afford to lose.

How far each option reaches in Lagos

Coverage is the detail that turns a cheap quote into an expensive problem. Ask two questions before you pay: does the price cover my exact pickup and drop-off, and what happens if the rider cannot find the address?

• Lagos Island and the Lekki corridor. Well served. Marina and Broad Street have counters from the major operators, as our guide to shipping on Lagos Island sets out.
• Mainland core. Ikeja, Yaba, Surulere, Oshodi, Maryland, Gbagada and Ketu are covered by almost everyone.
• Outer corridors. Ibeju-Lekki, Epe, Badagry, Agbowa and the far end of the Epe Expressway often carry an out-of-zone surcharge, a longer window, or no service at all. Confirm in writing before you promise a customer.
• Addresses without a street number. Many Lagos addresses are landmarks, not numbers. Send the landmark, the nearest bus stop and a phone number that will be answered. This single step prevents more failed deliveries than any app feature.

How to book without losing money

Speed is easy to advertise and hard to guarantee. These seven steps close the gaps that cause most disputes in Lagos.

1. Get the total in writing. Not the base fare. The total, including any fuel, weight or distance surcharge. A WhatsApp message confirming the figure counts as a quote.
2. Book through the provider’s own channel. The app, the website or the published phone line. A rider who approaches you in traffic is not a company.
3. Pay the business, never a personal name. If the account name does not match the company, stop. This single rule prevents most delivery disputes.
4. Ask for signature or photo proof of delivery before you hand over the parcel. If the answer is vague, you have learned what happens when something goes missing.
5. Declare the value of anything expensive. Laptops, phones, documents and cash equivalents need declaring, and often a separate arrangement.
6. Confirm your receiver will be reachable. Most failed deliveries are failed phone calls. Give the receiver’s number, not only yours, and tell them when to expect the rider.
7. Keep the waybill until the receiver confirms. Not until the rider says he has arrived. Screenshot the tracking page as well.

How to check a provider is licensed in Nigeria

Nigeria requires companies that move parcels for a fee to hold a postal licence from the Nigerian Postal Service. A licence is not a quality guarantee. It does mean there is a regulator to complain to, which is exactly what you need when a parcel disappears.

The check takes about two minutes. NIPOST publishes a courier licence register and you search the company’s registered name, not the brand on the app, because many brands trade under a differently named limited company.

Then check what the licence covers. The licence categories page explains the different types, and not every category includes collecting and delivering parcels for the public. If the licence does not match the service you are buying, ask why.

Two practical notes. A licence does not replace your own checks on packing, declared value and delivery records. And an independent rider is not a licensed operator at all, so there is no licence to look up and no regulator to escalate to. Treat him as you would any individual you pay in cash.

Red flags that should stop a payment

Most delivery losses in Lagos come from one skipped check, not clever fraud. Pause if you see any of these.

• No waybill and no receipt. If the price only exists in a chat, so does your proof of delivery.
• A personal account number. A real company collects in its own name.
• Prices far under everyone else. Below-market fees usually mean no insurance, no records, or a parcel heading somewhere other than the address you gave.
• Vague answers about loss. Ask directly what happens if the parcel is lost or damaged. A provider with a process answers in one sentence.
• New fees after pickup. Once your parcel is in the van, you have no leverage left.
• No verifiable address. A registered office gives you somewhere to escalate. A phone number alone gives you nothing.
• Pressure to pay in minutes because a discount is expiring. Urgency is a sales tactic, not a policy.

Any one of these is reason to walk away and verify through the provider’s published contact. Two together, do not look back.

What to do when a parcel goes missing or arrives damaged

Speed matters more than anger. Providers act on written complaints with a reference number far faster than on phone calls, and you need that record if the claim grows.

1. Report it in writing the same day. WhatsApp or email the waybill number, the dates, both addresses and what was inside. Ask for a complaint reference and use it in every follow-up.
2. Hold any unpaid balance. If part of the fee is still outstanding, do not release it while the parcel is unresolved.
3. Photograph everything. The packaging, the label, the damage and the handover record, if there is one. Photos taken at the door carry more weight than photos taken the next day.
4. Ask for the liability terms in writing. Declared value, the compensation cap, and how long a decision takes. A serious operator answers without being pushed.
5. Escalate if the answer stalls. A licensed operator answers to NIPOST, and consumer complaints can also go to the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission.
6. Keep the full record. Waybill, chat history, photos and the complaint reference are the case. Without them there is no case.

If the parcel is worth less than the time you would spend chasing it, change provider instead. For anything larger, step one decides the outcome.

Door to door for business deliveries in Lagos

If you ship more than a handful of parcels a week, retail pricing is the wrong price. Ask for a business account and expect two things: lower per-parcel rates, and a cutoff time after which your parcel moves tomorrow instead of today.

The cutoff matters more than the discount. Online sellers who miss it by an hour lose a whole day, and the customer blames you, not the courier. Our guide to delivery cutoff times explains how the major operators set theirs.

Three other things decide whether business delivery runs smoothly: correct labels, a pickup schedule that matches your packing rhythm, and storage for stock that is not ready to ship. Read e-commerce delivery in Lagos, business delivery services in Lagos and warehouse services in Lagos for the detail.

One rule protects small sellers: do not bury delivery inside the product price. Show it separately, so a rate change does not wipe out your margin.

Sending from Lagos to another state

Door to door works interstate, with longer clocks. Most couriers run scheduled routes on busy lanes and quote one to three working days for Lagos to Abuja or Port Harcourt, depending on the service and the drop-off time.

Compare the two options before you decide. A bus parcel is usually cheaper and often faster on the same route, but it ends at a motor park. Door to door costs more and finishes at an address. Our guides to interstate delivery from Lagos and Lagos to Abuja delivery services set out the routes and typical prices.

For anything fragile leaving Lagos, pack for the whole journey, not just the first leg. Parcels sit in depots, get loaded twice, and sometimes wait a day. Our package and parcel delivery guide covers packing and weight limits.

When door to door is the wrong choice

Door to door is not always the smart buy. Three cases where it loses.

• The receiver passes a counter anyway. Counter or terminal pickup is cheaper, sometimes by thousands of naira. You would be paying for convenience nobody needs.
• The load is large, heavy or several cartons. Per-parcel pricing punishes bulk. Ask for a haulage or van quote instead of stacking courier fees.
• You are going that way yourself. A rider you already know, booked for a single run, often beats a scheduled pickup window you have to wait for.

The trade-off never changes. Door to door buys you time and a record. When you need neither, you are paying a premium for nothing.

Common mistakes that still delay a booked run

Most same-day failures in Lagos are avoidable. A trip that takes 40 minutes at noon can swallow two hours at 5 p.m. on Ikorodu Road or the Lekki corridor, and rain between May and October closes lanes around Ajah, Mile 2 and Ojota. Ask for the current delivery window, then add an hour.

The other two are packing and contact. A weak box gives the operator an excuse when something breaks, and an unreachable receiver means waiting charges or an unconfirmed drop. Same-day in Lagos means before midnight on a good day. Quote that honestly to your own customers and build in traffic, rain and festive demand.

Frequently Asked Questions

These are the questions readers still ask after comparing providers, prices, and booking steps. Quick answers follow, but confirm live details with your provider before your money moves.

Can a dispatch rider carry more than one parcel in a trip?

Yes, and many operators do it to keep fares down. Ask upfront whether your item shares the run with other drops, because a shared route is cheaper but slower. If timing matters, request a dedicated rider and expect to pay for it.

What happens if nobody is home when the rider arrives?

Most providers will call the receiver first, and a failed drop often means paying for a second run. Confirm your receiver will be at the address, keep their phone on, and share a backup contact. Some operators hold the item at their office for same-day redelivery.

Do I need to package the item myself?

Usually, yes. Providers expect a sturdy box or sealed envelope, and some charge for wrapping if they offer it at all. A badly packed parcel gives the company an excuse when something breaks, so cushion fragile items properly.

Can I track my parcel without an app?

You can. Registered couriers issue a waybill or tracking reference you can quote over the phone. Independent riders rarely offer this, so insist on a photo or confirmation message at drop-off before you pay the balance.

Who pays if the parcel gets lost or damaged?

That depends on the operator’s liability terms, which is exactly why you ask before booking. Some cover declared value only, others cap payouts low, and a few offer insurance for an extra fee. Get the answer in writing, not word of mouth.

Can I book a delivery for a specific time?

Some providers accept scheduled pickups and narrow delivery windows, especially for business accounts. Ask directly, because many riders only offer same-day windows. If timing is critical, confirm the slot in writing and build in a traffic buffer.

Conclusion

Door-to-door delivery in Lagos is dependable once you build one habit: confirm first, pay second. Verify the provider through its official phone line or office, get the total price in writing, agree a realistic delivery window, and brief your receiver so someone answers when the rider arrives.

Skip any one of those checks and a simple drop-off turns into a dispute. Do all four and your parcel moves the way it should, from your hands to the receiver’s address with a receipt to prove it.

For the next leg of your planning, the LagosMove guides on interstate bus travel and courier services in Nigeria cover routes, fares, and booking steps in detail.