Research
Marketplace fee comparison
Same product, same price, three marketplaces, three very different outcomes. This puts one product through all of them at once and ranks them by what actually reaches you, so the choice of where to launch stops being a hunch.
The product you want to place
Only categories that exist on all three marketplaces are listed, so the comparison stays fair.
The same price everywhere, GST included.
Of sales.
Including RTO.
The same ad spend and return rate are applied everywhere so the fee structures are what separate the results. In real life both differ by platform, so treat this as a starting point and then run each marketplace on its own calculator with its own numbers.
The answer
Sell it on Meesho
You keep ₹237.82 per order there, which is ₹235.98 more than the worst option on this list. Across a thousand orders that difference is ₹2,35,980.
| Marketplace | Commission | Shipping | All fees | They pay you | You keep | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MeeshoBest Home and kitchen | ₹00.0% | ₹72 | ₹11711.7% of sale | ₹721 | ₹237.82 | 23.8% |
| Amazon Home and kitchen | ₹14014.0% | ₹79 | ₹28828.8% of sale | ₹550 | ₹65.69 | 6.6% |
| Flipkart Home and kitchen | ₹15515.5% | ₹85 | ₹34934.9% of sale | ₹489 | ₹1.84 | 0.2% |
Meesho: no commission, but shipping and the fixed fee still take ₹117 out of a ₹999 order.
Amazon: 14.0% commission on this category at this price, and 28.8% of the sale leaves as fees once shipping and GST on fees are counted.
Flipkart: 15.5% commission on this category at this price, and 34.9% of the sale leaves as fees once shipping and GST on fees are counted.
How this works
- One product goes through every marketplace at the same price, weight and cost, so the fee structure is the only thing that changes.
- Only categories that exist on all three are offered, because comparing home and kitchen on one platform against furniture on another would not tell you anything.
- Each row shows commission, shipping, total fees, what the marketplace settles and what you are left with after your own costs.
- The same ad spend and return rate are used everywhere. That is a simplification, and a useful one, because it isolates the fee difference first.
- The winning row is the one with the most money left after everything, not the one with the lowest commission.
Questions sellers ask
Is the cheapest marketplace always the right one?
No, and this is the most common mistake in the decision. Fees tell you what a sale is worth. Demand tells you how many sales there are. A platform that leaves you thirty rupees more per order is a bad trade if it sells a tenth of the volume. Use this to rule out the places where the maths cannot work, then judge the rest on demand.
Why does the zero commission option not always win?
Because commission is only one of the costs. On a low priced, light product it often does win. On a heavier or higher priced product, shipping and returns can take more than a commission percentage would have, and the ranking flips. That is exactly the case this tool exists to catch.
Should I really use the same price on every marketplace?
Start there, because it makes the comparison readable. In practice you will often price differently per platform, particularly on Meesho where buyers are more price sensitive. Once you know which platforms can work, run each one on its own calculator at the price you would actually list.
What about Myntra, AJIO, Nykaa and the rest?
They are coming. Each one needs its own fee schedule built and checked before it goes in here, and we would rather add them slowly and be right than add them quickly and be wrong.
I want to sell on all of them. Is that a good idea?
Usually yes for reach, as long as your operations can carry it. The catch is that every extra channel adds catalogue work, inventory splitting, separate pricing and separate reconciliation. Most sellers we meet do not fail at launching a channel, they fail at running four of them at once.