Amazon India is tweaking its fee structure again — this time in a move that could bring some relief to small sellers. Starting April 7, the platform will scrap referral fees on all products priced below ₹300.
This change applies to more than 1.5 crore products across 135 categories, a senior Amazon executive reportedly said. Until now, Amazon used to charge sellers a referral fee between 2% and 4% for each product sold.
Alongside this, Amazon is also cutting national shipping charges by about 16% for sellers who use its external fulfilment services like Easy Ship and Seller Flex. The new shipping fees will now range between ₹65 and ₹77 per order.
Just to break that down — Easy Ship is where Amazon picks up and delivers orders directly from sellers. Seller Flex, on the other hand, lets Amazon manage a part of the seller’s warehouse like a fulfilment centre.
There’s more: weight handling fees for items under 1 kg have also been reduced, by up to ₹17.
While these fee cuts could lighten the load a bit, sellers on Amazon still have to deal with other charges — things like packaging, picking, storage, and handling heavier items.
As of the last festive season, Amazon had 16 lakh sellers in India. That’s a jump from 13 lakh the year before. The company says over 90% of its sellers are small or medium-sized businesses, and nearly half are from tier 2, 3, and 4 cities.
It’s not clear yet how these fee cuts might affect Amazon’s business in India. Some believe this could be a long-term play to boost seller participation and order volumes.
Meanwhile, data from business intelligence platform Tofler shows Amazon Seller Services (that’s the India marketplace arm) saw a 14% increase in operating revenue in FY24, touching ₹25,406 crore. Its net loss also dropped by 29% to ₹3,470 crore, thanks to better operational efficiency.
While Amazon is easing things for sellers, platforms across the board have been adding more charges for buyers. Amazon itself doesn’t have a platform fee, but it does collect a ₹49 offer processing fee from customers.
Flipkart, Amazon’s closest rival in India, has gone a different route — it’s introduced a ₹49 ‘Protect Promise’ fee on some products, plus other charges like packaging and platform fees.
This isn’t just limited to online shopping. Food delivery services like Swiggy and Zomato introduced platform fees back in 2023, starting from ₹2 and increasing up to ₹10.
