Indian ecommerce leader Flipkart recently announced changes it has made to fee structure, shipping and returns policy.
In its mail to sellers, Flipkart wrote,
“Today we are a strong community of over 90,000 sellers and over 75 million registered users. We thank you for being a part of our wonderful journey. We are making important changes to our marketplace fees and policies which will be effective from June 20 onwards, and will impact all sellers on the platform.”
“Flipkart will be moving away from the complex Fees structure of Zero+ commissions and going forward all verticals will have the new Fees structure which is simple and easy to understand,” informed the marketplace.
From June 20, 2016, Flipkart will charge sellers the following fees:
Flipkart states in its email, “We have been listening to your feedback, and are making changes to our shipping policy to give you better control and predictability of your shipping charges, hence clarity on estimating your payments.”
Wrong shipping charges, and unfair returns are two main issues that sellers have been grappling with on Flipkart. Therefore, vendors will welcome few of the changes made to shipping & returns policy such as 10-day returns, freedom to charge shipping fees to buyers and enter clear package details to avoid wrong shipping fees.
We can clearly see that the etailer has introduced many new charges besides hiking rates. From recovering same day delivery charges from sellers to long-term storage fees, Flipkart is looking to squeeze out as much as possible from merchants.
“At present they (Flipkart) are not charging for color/fit/size issue returns but after 20th June they will charge on that too. Earning from those increased commission + earning for useless returns too. More Returns and More Replacements = More Profits for Them. They are in hurry to raise their valuation in one shot, which was recently devaluated, by earning profit from this Sale & Return Game,” shared Jitendra Rawal, an online seller and member of All India Online Vendor Association (AIOVA) while speaking to Indian Online Seller.
There’s only one question on every seller’s mind – ‘How will we survive in this condition?’ The net payable to sellers will reduce even further once Flipkart applies the new rate card. Needless to say, vendors are not happy and many are considering closing their seller account on Flipkart once the new rates come into effect.
Online Sellers, any message for Flipkart? We welcome your thoughts and comments.
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