Flipkart reduces return period for top selling products

Mumbai: India’s largest e-Commerce giant Flipkart has recently changed its retail policy, reducing the original 30-day return policy to just ten, in case of top selling products.

Moreover, the Binny Bansal-led company also informed that sellers on the platform will have to pay a higher commission starting June 20, according to a report published in Economic Times (ET).

In the past, the e-Commerce site’s appealing no-questions-asked return policy has been a cause of trouble for sellers on the platform, as they had to bear the full cost of return shipping.

However, reducing the return period policy will be a relief for the sellers on the site, and might also attract more to sell on its platform.

While the reduced return policy comes as a relief for sellers, another decision to levy higher commissions from sellers, balances the barter. One strong motive behind this is to drive more profits, for better operation. In fact, Amazon India, which is constantly growing in size and popularity, has also increased seller commission recently.

The report pointed out that numerous sellers have hinted that the revised policy will have direct consequences on the price at which people buy products. An estimated 9 per cent price increase has been pegged by the sellers. Also, the new return policy will only affect select categories—electronics, books and mobile phones, and other expensive goods.

Some of the products that won’t be affected by the new policy include clothing, footwear, watches and eyewear, jewellery and accessories, and large appliances.

One Flipkart spokesperson who spoke to ET said that the company’s revised structural reforms across returns, commissions, and shipping will enable sellers to have better insights, helping them gain a stronghold over their online business.

Moreover, the company has also discontinued its Zero+ commission policy, which was introduced recently. Under this policy, the company had stopped charging sellers, instead asked them to advertise on its platform for a fee. The policy also barred sellers from charging any shipping fee from sellers.

Sellers, however, explained that they are ready to bear the cost of shipping a product to the customer but suffer a lot during any product return; in many cases the consumers have no reason to return the products. The situation is difficult for the sellers as the platform doesn’t seek sellers’ permission before accepting returned goods.