Some Flipkart’s vendors to remove products or increase prices

CHENNAI: The recent policy changes by Flipkart haven’t gone down too well with a section of online vendors. While some sellers would reduce their dependency on the platform or remove their stocks on Flipkart, others said they would increase their prices by 15%-20%.
The online marketplace has increased the commission by 5%-6%, for select categories — such as apparel and mobile accessories and asked the vendors to bear return shipping charges.It has also increased the platform charges and introduced a system, wherein sellers need to enter the exact weight of the product before fixing shipping charges.
“This might lead to us increasing the prices by at least 20%, to maintain margins. But an increased price will impact sales as other platforms would still have lower prices. We may make our stocks zero on Flipkart or reduce stocks here and increase them on other channels,” said spokesperson for All India Online Vendors Association. The association claims to have over 1,000 members, of which 300 are affected due to recent changes, he adds.
Flipkart said that the revision in policy was to increase the standard of products and customer experience. “The standardisation will encourage sellers who offer superior customer experience and is thus a win-win for both our customers as well as our customer oriented sellers. Our commission and fee structure remains competitive and in many categories better than other market places. Flipkart is closely working with all the sellers to ensure a smooth transition,’ said the official spokesperson.
Sellers of mobile accessories, a segment which has large number of returns said it would prove unprofitable to sell with new rules of retuns kicking in. “The commission rates are high and return shipping charges are now levied, making us increase prices by 10%-15%. I have already removed 200 listings and going forward, I will remove other categories too,” said Sanket S, a seller from Ahmedabad.
Vendors added that similar problems were faced when Amazon increased charges, but fewer were affected, as the number of categories was not as many. Also, they that the platform checks with the sellers on whether the returns must be accepted, while Flipkart does not, they alleged.
The Bengaluru-based Shakti Gandhi, who sells apparel on the platform for the past two years, said the new rules of seller pays for return shipping charges does not prove profitable. Gandhi says, from June 20, he would make the inventory zero, with the commission charges in place.
However, some sellers feel that while there is an increase in the price they need to pay to the ecommerce platform, the move is to reduce the number of returns by increasing the quality of products. “This will favour long timers, who are serious about selling online. This will considerably reduce the number of sub-standard products. With regard to the increase in commission, yes, it is a burden on us, but these are structural changes that will streamline the process,” said Aditya Agarwal, co-founder, Campus Sutra and a seller on ecommerce sites.