New Delhi: The online vendors on India’s largest e-commerce platform Flipkart are today up in arms against the company, with some even threatening to dissociate themselves. The reason behind their disgruntlement is the new conditions that Flipkart has imposed upon them.
Among other measures is an increase in the sales commission it charges from merchants, by up to 5% in some categories. Besides, the company has also imposed shipping fee, a reverse shipping fee, and a collection fee on every product returned by customers effective from June 20.
Riled by the move, almost 90,000 sellers on the platform have decided to stop selling on Flipkart because of "unilateral changes" in policy which they say would increase their cost of doing business. These sellers consist of two trade associations, which represent small groups of online vendors.
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According to a report by TOI, the associations have said that the hiked commission is not as big a deal breaker as charging fee on product returns and unilateral policy changes.
Also another ecommerce giant Amazon India has increased its commission.
“The changes on return shipping policy will impact sellers heavily,” Sanjay Thakur, spokesman for ESellerSuraksha, a group of about 1,000 online sellers, told TOI.
He also added that Flipkart used to charge a fee from sellers only when they were at fault, which would be less than 1% of the order. Now, the company will deduct the shipping charges and collection fees from sellers (in case of returns), which will be a high amount as return the percentage ranges from 8% to 10% over delivery in most of the categories.
A senior member also said almost 300 members of the All India Online Vendors Association (AIOVA), containing 1000-member merchant association has announced their withdrawal from the e-commerce website.
This can be a point of worry for Flipkart as the company’s main rival Amazon India is gaining ground in the Indian market and has recently pledged an additional $3 billion (Rs. 20,000 cr approx) from its US-based parent company.
