Amazon India set to tweak seller fees ahead of festive season

Ecommerce company Amazon India is set to tweak its seller fee structures with effect September 9, with several categories seeing a reduction in commissions in the run up to the festive season.

The firm has reduced commissions in the range of 3-12% for 59 sub-categories, Amazon India’s director of selling partner services, Amit Nanda, told ET. The reduction is focused on products with low average selling price (ASP), he said.

“We also wanted to help our sellers in planning for their Diwali and other festive sales… with this change, we’re hoping sellers will find it as cheap, if not cheaper, to sell some products on Amazon compared to their offline channels,” Nanda added.


In March, ET reported about Amazon increasing commissions in the range of 10-30% across major segments. At the time, it had shifted several categories like car electronics, keyboards and mouses, and personal care appliances from a single flat commission to a tiered system based on ASP.

This time, a number of categories like apparel, home furnishing, fashion and sports that have low ASP products will see a reduction in seller commissions.

In apparels, for instance, the new commission range for ethnic wear is 4.0-17.5% depending on the ASP, compared with 7.5-17.5% now. For men’s t-shirts, Amazon will now levy a fee of 5.0-21.0%, compared with 13.5-21.0%, while for sweatshirts and jackets, it will be 8.0-12.0% against 8.0-24.0%.

For saree and dress materials, the new fee will range between 8.0% and 23.0%, against 14.0% to 23.0%. For fashion jewellery, it will range between 17.5% and 22.5%, compared with 22.5% and 24.0% at present.

“We feel that the drop in fees is dramatic enough to shake sellers up so they say that yes, this time we will be operating on very different economics,” Nanda said. Though the reduced fees for low ASP items “may have a larger uptake in tier 2, 3 (towns) and beyond”, Nanda said a lot of headroom also existed in metros for growth.

On April 6, ET reported about Amazon launching a vertical called Bazaar to sell low-priced, unbranded items, to compete with the likes of Meesho and Flipkart-backed Shopsy. Bazaar will have a different commission structure, Nanda said.

“We have good momentum from the Prime Day and Freedom sales in July and August … the current trends make me feel confident that this will be a bumper festive period, but there is also some nervousness as we will be scaling new records,” he added.

Outside of apparel, the new fees for cushion covers will range between 3.0% and 10.0%, against 8.0% to 10.0% earlier. Home furnishings except curtains will see a new range of 2.0-11.0%, against a flat 11.0% now. Home fragrances and candles will see a new fee range of 2.0-12.5%, against 7.5-12.5%.

A few categories, however, will see an increase in the fee range. Backpacks, for instance, will attract new fees between 10.0% and 14.5%, against 12.0-13.0% currently. Studded fine jewellery will see a flat 13.0% new fee, against 10.0% now. Smart watches and accessories will attract 15.5-17.0% compared with a flat 15.5%.