The referral fee has always been the largest single cost of selling a low-priced product on Amazon India. Since 16 March 2026, on most products under Rs 1,000, it is zero. That changes which products are worth listing on Amazon — and it is why a lot of sellers who only ever sold on Meesho are now looking at it.
What changed
Amazon expanded zero referral fees from about 1.2 crore products priced under Rs 300 in 2025 to more than 12.5 crore products priced under Rs 1,000, across 1,800+ categories. Amazon's examples include t-shirts, shoes, earphones, sarees, bed sheets, electric kettles, coffee tables, chairs, pet accessories, fashion jewellery and toys.
At the same time, Easy Ship fees dropped by more than 20% for products under Rs 300. Amazon puts the combined saving at up to 70% of total selling fees, and up to 90% on the second unit onward when multiple units ship in one box.
Amazon's own examples
| Product | Price | Fulfilment | Saved per unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fashion jewellery necklace | Rs 999 | Easy Ship | Rs 224 (69%) |
| Earphones | Rs 798 | Fulfilled by Amazon | Rs 139 (56%) |
| T-shirt | Rs 299 | Easy Ship | Rs 15 (21%) |
The pattern matters more than the numbers: the saving is largest where the referral fee used to be largest — higher-commission categories like jewellery near the Rs 1,000 ceiling — and smallest on very cheap items, where the referral fee was already low.
What you still pay
"Zero referral fee" is not "zero fees". On an eligible product you still pay:
- Closing fees — which rose on 7 September 2026, by Rs 1 per item up to Rs 500 and Rs 3 above.
- Shipping or fulfilment fees, depending on Easy Ship, Self Ship or FBA.
- Cancellation penalties if an Easy Ship or Self Ship order is cancelled on your side — now a percentage of order value plus GST.
Recalculate each product with its real closing and shipping fee. See all of Amazon India's 2026 fee changes for how they stack.
The Try FBA waiver
For sellers new to Fulfilment by Amazon, the Try FBA promotion removed Pick & Pack, Weight Handling and Closing fees for 60 days from the first FBA offer going live, capped at 100 units or Rs 10,000, whichever came first. The referral fee was not part of the waiver, though under Rs 1,000 it is often zero anyway. Selling through FBA also needs the Amazon fulfilment centre address added to your GST registration.
The promotion window runs until 30 September 2026, having already been extended once from 31 March. Check the Try FBA page for whether it has been extended again.
Is it worth moving to Amazon?
For a seller already profitable on Meesho with products under Rs 1,000, the referral waiver removes Amazon's biggest cost on exactly those products. It does not remove Amazon's operational demands: dispatch deadlines that now carry order-value penalties, stricter catalog requirements and account-health metrics. The products that tend to work are ones you can keep reliably in stock and ship on time, not simply the cheapest ones.
Before committing inventory, compare the channels on your own numbers — Meesho vs Flipkart for sellers covers the trade-offs, and our Amazon account management service handles onboarding, catalog and dispatch if you would rather not learn Seller Central from scratch.
Sources
Checked on 30 September 2026. Fees change often, so confirm the current figure for your category in Seller Central before repricing.