Amazon India Hikes Seller Fees: Online Shopping To Get Costlier For Which Categories?

Online shopping is about to get costlier because Amazon India has decided to hike the fees it charges sellers. The increased burden on the sellers will most likely be transferred onto the end buyer.

Amazon India's "Annual Fee Revision" will be effective from May 31. This time, the online marketplace has effectively doubled the fees it charges sellers. Needless to say, this won't have any positive or desirable impact on the thousands of sellers and end consumers.

Amazon Announces Hike In Seller Fees

While there are several online shopping platforms, Amazon India and Flipkart are the two most popular online destinations for buyers. From the choice of products to price range, these two dominating players lead other players by several miles. In the near future, online shopping may get expensive, especially on Amazon India.

Amazon has reportedly announced a hike in seller fees across multiple categories. This means selling on Amazon will be expensive. Sellers will most likely try and extract this raised commission from their customers. In other words, the price of products sold on Amazon India may increase in the coming days.

The revised seller fee on Amazon India should come into effect starting May 31, 2023. The seller fee is essentially a commission Amazon takes from sellers to store their products and manage the logistics, including shipping and returns.

Which Product Categories Impacted By Amazon Jacking Up Fees?

Amazon has reportedly decided to increase its seller fee across categories such as clothes, electronics, beauty products, groceries, medicines, etc. However, there are a few conditions and price brackets involved.

Over The Counter (OTC) Medicines, if priced above ₹500, currently attract a seller fee of 15 percent. This remains unchanged. However, OTC medicines costing less than $500 will now attract 12 percent. Previously, Amazon India charged merely 5 percent for this category.

Makeup products attracted 3 percent for items priced less than ₹500 and 6 percent for products priced above ₹500. Products from this category will now have a 6 percent commission on each product, irrespective of their price.

Apart from similar hikes and percentage standardization by doing away with price ranges, Amazon India will charge sellers more fees on the return of a product. Needless to say, this has irked several sellers. However, there is little they can do to counter these hikes, except, perhaps, move to other online marketplaces.

Incidentally, Amazon has reduced the seller fee for a few categories like wall paints, tools, inverters, and batteries. Perhaps the platform intends to attract more sellers in these categories.