Marketplaces· 4 min read

Marketplace fees in 2026: what changed on Amazon and Flipkart

In March 2026 Flipkart moved products priced under ₹1,000 to 0% commission and cut return fees in several categories; Amazon India expanded zero referral fees to over 12.5 crore products under ₹1,000 across more than 1,800 categories. Any margin model built before then understates profit on cheap SKUs.

What changed

Both platforms moved in the same direction and in the same month, and both moves target the same segment: low-ticket products where commission was eating most of the margin.

  • Flipkart, March 2026 - 0% commission on products priced under ₹1,000, plus return fee cuts of roughly ₹35 in several categories
  • Amazon India, 16 March 2026 - zero referral fees extended to over 12.5 crore products priced under ₹1,000, across more than 1,800 categories

Why it matters more than it sounds

A ₹400 product carrying commission plus shipping plus GST on fees was frequently a loss once returns were counted. Removing the commission line can flip that product from negative to positive, which changes what is worth listing, what is worth advertising and what is worth stocking deeper.

The fees that did not go away

Commission is one line among several, and the others still apply. A calculation that only removes commission still overstates profit.

  • Fixed closing fee, which is flat and therefore brutal on cheap items
  • Shipping and weight-handling charges
  • Collection fee on prepaid and COD
  • GST at 18% applied on the fees themselves
  • Return and RTO cost, which is the line most sellers leave out

Recalculate before you re-price

Fee structures change more than once a year. The safe habit is to recompute net profit per SKU whenever a rate card moves, rather than carrying a spreadsheet built on last year's numbers. Our free marketplace profit calculator does one SKU at a time with no login; filarity does it continuously across your whole catalogue by carrying cost price on every product.

Sources

Rates, thresholds and fee structures change. This article states the date each figure applies from - check the primary source before acting on it.

FAQ

Questions people actually ask

On qualifying products priced under ₹1,000, across more than 1,800 categories, as expanded on 16 March 2026. Other fees - closing fee, shipping, GST on fees - still apply. Check the current rate card for your category before pricing on it.

Not automatically. The fixed closing fee and shipping do not scale down with price, so a ₹200 product can still lose money after a return. Run the numbers per SKU.

Often enough that a fee model more than a quarter old should be treated as unverified. Both major platforms revised rates in the first quarter of 2026.

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