Products sold on Flipkart likely to be expensive from Wednesday

From Wednesday onwards, the number of products sold on Flipkart will be 15% to 20% more expensive as compared to its competitors Snapdeal, Amazon, Paytm, among others, The Hindustan Times reported on Wednesday.  

This is primarily due to online protest by eSeller Suraksha, a forum for merchants selling on e-commerce websites and apps, which in its second phase of protest has asked its 1,574 members to raise prices of products sold on Flipkart, the news report said. 

The online protest by the eSeller Suraksha is due to Flipkart's revised fee structure and returns policy. 

Earlier this month, Flipkart had reduced the period for returns on products (electronics, mobile, home and kitchen categories) from 30 days to 10 days, Zeebiz reported on June 6. 

“Our returns policy and process continues to be the best and the easiest in the industry. The revised return timeline is aimed at ensuring a more seamless experience for both sellers and customers to ensure quicker arrangement of products and timely replacement," Flipkart had said in a release. 

Besides, Flipkart had also increased the commission its charges from sellers by 10% to 40% and said sellers will have to pay for shipping costs in case of returns. 

According to the news report, in the first phase of the protest, sellers at eSeller Suraksha took out a million stock-keeping units from Flipkart.

However, the protest by the online seller group did not have any impact on Flipkart. 

 “Flipkart told us that they were running in losses and now looking to establish a profitable business,” the newspaper said quoting eSeller Suraksha's president Sanjay Thakur  as saying. 
 
The recent revision by the country's e-commerce player will have significant impact on businesses of online sellers. 

 “There are only two options — either quit Flipkart and shift to other e-commerce businesses, or increase the prices of products,” Thakur said.