Marketing and ad fee deductions on Myntra are charges for promotion, such as sponsored placements, campaign slots or your share of promotional funding, that reduce your payout or are billed separately. To verify them, match each line in the settlement report to your agreement, campaign reports and invoices. Raise a query for anything you cannot trace to an agreed term.
What counts as a marketing or ad deduction
These are charges linked to promoting your styles, not to selling or delivering them. Labels differ between agreements, reports and invoices, so map each label to a category before judging it.
- Advertising spend: sponsored placements or performance campaigns you opted into.
- Marketing or visibility fees: banners, brand pages or campaign slots.
- Promotion funding: your share of discounts in sale events, where your agreement says the brand co-funds them.
- Programme or event fees: only if your agreement lists them.
Commission, shipping, return and payment-related fees are separate lines. Mixing them with marketing charges is the most common reason brands cannot explain a payout gap.
Where these charges show up
Depending on your programme and terms, promotional charges may be deducted from the settlement, billed through a separate invoice, or drawn from a prepaid balance. Do not assume one method. Confirm it with your account manager and in your agreement.
Collect these four sources for each settlement cycle:
- The settlement or payout report (Excel) with its deduction lines.
- Campaign or advertising reports showing spend by campaign and date.
- Invoices or debit notes issued for marketing and ad services.
- Your seller agreement, rate card and any campaign or promotion annexures.
If a deduction appears in the settlement but has no campaign report or invoice behind it, that is your first query.
How to verify each deduction
- List every non-commission deduction in the settlement report with its date, label and amount.
- Assign a category from the list above. Anything you cannot categorise goes into a query list.
- Match to a source: a campaign report line, an invoice, or a promotion you agreed to.
- Check the basis: is the charge per the agreed rate, budget or funding split? Take rates only from your agreement or rate card, never from memory or forums.
- Check tax treatment: invoices for services usually carry tax lines. Confirm the applicable treatment with your tax adviser and the latest rules.
- Record the result: matched, partly matched or unexplained.
Common mismatches and what to check
| What you see | Likely cause | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Deduction higher than campaign report | Tax added, timing difference or another charge bundled in | Invoice breakup and report date range |
| Deduction with no campaign | Paused or old campaign still billing, or a wrong mapping | Campaign status and start and end dates |
| Promotion share differs from expectation | Different funding split applied to an event | Event terms, annexure and communication |
| Same charge appears twice | Duplicate debit across cycles | Reference numbers across settlements |
| Charge after a campaign ended | Delayed billing or an adjustment | Invoice date versus service period |
A mismatch is a reason to ask, not proof of an error. Many gaps come down to timing or tax lines.
Raising a dispute and tracking recovery
A clear query gets resolved faster than a general complaint. For each unexplained deduction, prepare:
- The settlement reference, date and exact deduction line.
- The campaign report or agreement clause you are comparing it with.
- The difference in rupees and why you think it is not payable.
- Any earlier communication on the campaign or promotion.
Check your agreement for the window in which disputes must be raised, and raise queries inside it. Then track every case through to its outcome: raised, acknowledged, credited, rejected. A credit that never reaches a later settlement is easy to miss without a log.
Making it a monthly habit
Run the check once per settlement cycle, not once a quarter. Keep a single sheet with deduction category, source document, status and open amount. Review the unexplained list with your ecommerce head before month-end close, so finance does not carry unexplained debits into the books.
If your volumes make this heavy in Excel, MarketplaceMetrics by Fundle reconciles marketplace sales and settlements, checks fees against agreed terms and tracks recovery cases. Myntra Excel reports are reviewed, and other marketplaces are in scope discussion.
Worked example
Illustrative example only. These figures are not real rates or results.
- Campaign report shows ad spend of ₹40,000 for the cycle (illustrative).
- Settlement report shows a marketing and ad deduction of ₹46,000 (illustrative).
- Difference to explain: ₹6,000.
Next, open the invoice. If it shows ₹40,000 service value plus a tax line of ₹6,000, the gap is explained, and you confirm the tax treatment with your adviser. If the invoice shows only ₹40,000, the ₹6,000 goes into a query with the settlement reference and campaign report attached. If it is credited later, mark the case closed and note the settlement where the credit landed.
Questions and answers
Why is my Myntra payout lower than expected after commission?
Other deductions may sit alongside commission, such as ad or marketing charges, promotion funding, shipping or return-related fees. List every non-commission line in the settlement report, categorise it, and match it to your agreement and supporting reports before concluding anything is wrong.
Are ad charges always deducted from the payout?
Not necessarily. Depending on your programme and terms, charges may be deducted from settlements, invoiced separately or paid from a prepaid balance. Confirm the method with your account manager and agreement so you know which documents to reconcile.
Where do I find the rate for a marketing or ad fee?
Check your seller agreement, rate card and any campaign or promotion annexure. For tax on service invoices, confirm the latest applicable rules with your tax adviser. Do not rely on third-party figures, because terms can differ by brand and change over time.
What should I do if a deduction cannot be explained?
Raise a query within the dispute window in your agreement. Attach the settlement reference, the deduction line, the comparison report or clause, and the rupee difference. Then track the case until it is credited or rejected, and verify any credit in a later settlement.