Flipkart hikes seller fees following Amazon India

Flipkart is following in the footsteps of Amazon India which recently hiked the commission it charges for its merchants. Flipkart will now introduce a policy for sellers which will entail an increased fee to help it rev up revenues and cut losses. Already, the commission has been increased by 5-6 per cent for sellers across multiple categories such as apparel and mobile accessories.

The seller guidelines will be effective from June 20. Flipkart will launch two new fee structures for merchants on its platform - a fixed component and another one which will charge sellers about 2.5 per cent payment collection fee for the products being sold. Also, sellers will have to pay the shipping fee in case of product return.

Till now Flipkart didn’t charge any payment collection fee from sellers. But after Amazon India did it, Flipkart had to join in. It is believed that the new rate is slightly higher than industry peers like Amazon India and Snapdeal, who usually charge 2-2.3 per cent. The fixed fee component is estimated at being Rs 15-30 which will be charged to sellers per order depending on the price of the goods sold by them.

Flipkart believes that the revised structure will enable sellers to have predictability and better manage their online businesses. The e-portal stresses that their commission and fee structure remain competitive and in many categories better than other marketplace.