You cannot pick a winner between Amazon and Flipkart from commission alone. For apparel, compare the full fee stack (commission, fixed or closing fee, shipping, collection, return charges, ads and tax deductions) against your own return rate and order mix. Take current figures from each seller agreement, rate card and settlement report, then calculate net payout per order.
Why headline commission misleads apparel brands
Most fee comparisons stop at the commission percentage. For apparel that is the least reliable number, because fashion carries high return rates, frequent size exchanges and a wide spread of price points. A marketplace with a lower commission can still leave you with less money if its shipping, return or fixed charges hit harder on your typical order.
Fee structures, category definitions and slabs change over time. Do not rely on a blog, a competitor's screenshot or an old email. Treat your current seller agreement, the published rate card in your seller panel and your actual settlement reports as the only sources of truth, and confirm the latest terms before making channel decisions.
The fee components to line up side by side
Names differ between platforms, so map each charge to a common bucket before comparing. Fill the last column from your own documents, not from memory.
| Bucket | What to look for | Where to confirm |
|---|---|---|
| Commission or referral fee | Percentage by category and price band | Rate card, seller agreement |
| Fixed or closing fee | Per-order charge, often linked to price slab | Rate card |
| Shipping or fulfilment | Weight and size slabs, zone, fulfilment model | Rate card, settlement report |
| Collection or payment fee | Applies to prepaid or COD, or both | Agreement, settlement report |
| Return and RTO charges | Reverse shipping, restocking, damaged-return handling | Returns policy, settlement report |
| Storage and ads | Warehousing, removal, sponsored listings | Invoices, ad dashboard |
| Taxes on and around fees | GST on fees, TCS, TDS as applicable | Tax adviser, settlement report |
Apparel-specific factors that change the answer
- Return rate by style: Dresses, fitted tops and footwear-like size sensitivity behave differently from basics. Use your own return data by category, not a blended figure.
- Price band: Fixed fees and slabs weigh more on low-priced items. A ₹399 tee and a ₹2,499 jacket do not see the same fee impact.
- Weight and packaging: Heavier items such as denim, winterwear and ethnic sets can fall into higher shipping slabs.
- Payment mix: If a collection fee depends on COD versus prepaid, your channel's payment mix matters.
- Return quality: Items that come back used, damaged or wrong can lead to disputes. Recoverability depends on the policy and your evidence.
- Advertising dependence: If one marketplace needs more ad spend to get the same sales, include that in the comparison.
How to build a like-for-like comparison
- Pick a representative sample, such as your top 20 styles or one month of orders on each marketplace.
- Pull the fee rules for each style from the current rate card and agreement.
- Take actual returns, RTOs and cancellations from the same period.
- Calculate net settlement per order sold, and per unit kept by the customer, before COGS.
- Add ads, storage and other non-order charges as a per-order allocation.
- Compare against the same SKUs on both marketplaces, otherwise differences in mix will distort the result.
Repeat quarterly, or whenever either marketplace revises its rate card.
Where the real numbers show up: settlements
The rate card tells you what should happen; the settlement report shows what did. Differences arise from wrong slab assignment, weight disputes, duplicate charges, missing return credits and delayed reversals. Tax-related deductions also appear here, and their treatment is a matter for your tax adviser, not for assumption.
Matching each order to its settlement line, and each fee to the agreed term, is slow in spreadsheets once volumes grow. MarketplaceMetrics by Fundle is built to reconcile marketplace sales and settlements, check commissions and fees against agreed terms, and track returns and recovery cases. Myntra Excel reports are currently reviewed, and support for other marketplaces is a scoping conversation.
Decide on net payout, then keep checking it
The right answer for your brand may be to sell more on one marketplace, or to sell different styles on each. Either way, the decision should rest on net payout after returns, backed by the documents above. Then keep verifying that what you are charged matches what was agreed, because a good comparison means little if deductions drift from the terms.
Worked example
Illustrative example only. These ₹ figures are invented to show the method and are not real Amazon or Flipkart rates. Assume 100 orders of a ₹1,200 apparel item on each of two marketplaces, with 25 returns on each. Commission is assumed to be reversed on returned orders.
| Item | Marketplace A | Marketplace B |
|---|---|---|
| Fees per kept order (commission, fixed, shipping, collection) | ₹280 | ₹265 |
| Fees on 75 kept orders | ₹21,000 | ₹19,875 |
| Outbound plus return shipping per returned order | ₹165 | ₹200 |
| Fees on 25 returned orders | ₹4,125 | ₹5,000 |
| Total fees | ₹25,125 | ₹24,875 |
| Revenue on 75 kept orders | ₹90,000 | ₹90,000 |
| Net before COGS | ₹64,875 | ₹65,125 |
Marketplace B has lower fees on kept orders yet higher return charges, so the gap narrows to ₹250 per 100 orders. At a higher return rate, the ranking could flip. Run this with your own return data.
Questions and answers
Which is cheaper for apparel sellers, Amazon or Flipkart?
There is no universal answer. It depends on your category, price band, weight, return rate and payment mix. Compare net settlement per order using your current rate cards and real settlement data from both marketplaces rather than relying on commission percentages alone.
Where can I find the latest Amazon and Flipkart fee rates?
Check your seller agreement, the rate card or fee schedule in each seller panel, and any recent notices from the marketplace. Fees get revised, so confirm the latest terms before each comparison and keep a dated copy for later dispute checks.
How much do returns affect marketplace fees for apparel?
Returns can change the economics significantly because shipping may be charged both ways and some fees may not be fully reversed. The impact depends on each marketplace's policy and your return rate by style, so model it from your own settlement reports.
How do I check if I was charged the right fees?
Match each order's settlement line to the rate card or agreed terms: category, price slab, weight slab and fee type. Flag mismatches, missing return credits and duplicates, then raise them with evidence. Reconciliation tools can automate this at higher volumes.