Should you pay an ecommerce platform commission on each sale, or a fixed monthly fee? If your online sales swing between quiet months and a festive rush, a commission usually costs you less across the year, because you pay only when you sell. A monthly fee wins only if you sell a lot online every single month.
Think of a small gift and jewellery shop in Kanpur during Pitru Paksha. (A typical example, not a real shop.) Families who follow it put off new purchases for a fortnight, so the owner spends most afternoons dusting showcases and answering the odd “price kya hai?” on Instagram.
Then a text arrives from the website platform she signed up with last year: “Your monthly subscription renews on the 1st.” It’s the same amount whether she sold ten pieces online this month or two.
The day after Pitru Paksha ends, Navratri begins, and she won’t have time to eat lunch. That swing between dead weeks and mad weeks is normal for Indian retail. A monthly subscription ignores it.
When are the slow months for Indian shops?
It depends on your town, your category and your customers, and you know your own pattern better than anyone. But some lean spells are shared widely.
Take Shradh. In 2026, Pitru Paksha runs from September 27 to October 10, according to The Economic Times: Economic Times report
During this period many families avoid buying new things. In 2024, traders in Dehradun’s main markets told The Pioneer they were seeing sales fall 30 to 40 per cent during Shradh, and the president of one local traders’ body put the dip at nearly 80 per cent. A jeweller in the same report described a similar 30 to 40 per cent fall: Pioneer Edge report
That’s one city and one year, so don’t treat it as a national number. But the direction matches what most shopkeepers describe every year.
How big is the festive peak compared with the rest of the year?
Very big. The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) estimated Diwali 2025 trade at ₹6.05 lakh crore: ₹5.40 lakh crore in goods and ₹65,000 crore in services. It called this 25 per cent higher than the ₹4.25 lakh crore of 2024, based on a survey across 60 distribution centres: CAIT release
CAIT also said traditional, non-corporate markets made up 85 per cent of that trade. By category, grocery and FMCG were about 12 per cent, gold and jewellery 10 per cent, electronics 8 per cent, and ready-made garments and gift items 7 per cent each, as Business Standard reported: Business Standard report
So the same shop that struggles through Shradh can do a big share of its year in a few festive weeks. Your costs should follow that curve.
Why does a fixed monthly fee hurt most in lean months?
Because it stays the same while your sales fall.
That fee is a small slice of a festive month and a big slice of a slow one. When online sales drop to a trickle, you’re paying the same rent to the platform for a store that barely sold. Some owners are tempted to cancel in a slow month and restart before Diwali. That means setting everything up again at the busiest time of your year.
There’s a second cost people forget. Many store platforms need a separate gateway, and gateways charge per transaction. Razorpay’s public pricing page, checked on 6 October 2026, lists a 2% platform fee per successful domestic transaction, with 18% GST on that fee: Razorpay pricing Our guide to payment gateway charges in India breaks down the rest.
What does a worked example look like?
These are illustrative numbers, not data from any real shop or any specific platform. Change them to match your own year.
Say your online sales (value of delivered products) look like this:
| Month type | Months in year | Online sales per month |
|---|---|---|
| Lean | 6 | ₹8,000 |
| Normal | 4 | ₹25,000 |
| Festive | 2 | ₹90,000 |
Total for the year: ₹3,28,000.
Option A: a made-up monthly fee of ₹1,500 a month, plus a separate gateway at 2% of sales. The ₹1,500 is invented for this example; it isn’t any real platform’s price.
- Lean month: ₹1,500 + ₹160 = ₹1,660. That’s about 21% of that month’s online sales.
- Normal month: ₹1,500 + ₹500 = ₹2,000
- Festive month: ₹1,500 + ₹1,800 = ₹3,300
- Year: ₹24,560
Option B: 5% only on delivered orders, with payment processing included.
- Lean month: ₹400
- Normal month: ₹1,250
- Festive month: ₹4,500
- Year: ₹16,400
Both options are shown before GST on the fees. GST applies on the fees in both cases.
Now the honest part. In the festive month, Option B costs more (₹4,500 against ₹3,300). With the made-up ₹1,500 fee, the two lines cross at about ₹50,000 of online sales a month. If you reliably sell more than that online every single month, a monthly fee could work out to cost less on paper. For a real price, our ecommerce website cost guide shows how to compare a monthly plan with a per-order fee using your own numbers. Most small shops don’t have twelve months like that. They have two great months, a few decent ones and several quiet ones.
How do you compare ecommerce platform commission with a monthly fee?
Ask four questions:
- What do I pay in a month when I sell nothing online?
- Is the gateway included, or charged separately?
- Is the fee charged on returns or refused parcels?
- Is shipping inside the fee or separate?
A big marketplace works differently again. The commission rate usually depends on the product category, and other fees sit on top. Most sellers compare only the headline percentage, so read the current fee pages line by line before you decide. For marketplace numbers on one kurta, see Amazon, Flipkart and Meesho seller fees.
Put your own lean, normal and festive months into the table above and calculate where your line crosses.
Cost is one piece of a bigger picture. A shop selling on WhatsApp and Instagram also loses money to payment proof it can’t trust, orders lost in chats, and counter bills kept apart from online orders. A fee that follows your season is what makes fixing those affordable in a slow month. Comparing builders as well? These Dukaan alternatives show what each one charges.
How does Indi Andaz price an online store?
Indi Andaz charges no monthly fee, 5% only on delivered online orders, payment processing included. GST applies on the fee.
- Example: a customer pays ₹1,000, the platform fee is ₹50.
- Delhivery shipping is charged separately. It isn’t part of the 5%.
- There’s no separate gateway fee for UPI or card orders.
So in a Shradh fortnight with two online orders, you pay 5% on those two orders once they’re delivered. In a month with none, you pay nothing to the platform. You can see how it works at Indi Andaz for sellers.
The same account covers the whole cycle: your online store link, confirmed UPI or card checkout, delivery, and GST billing at the counter, with counter bills and online orders in one app. Counter stock and online stock are kept separate today.
What are the limits of pay-per-order pricing?
- 5% isn’t zero. In your best months you’ll pay more than you would on some subscription platforms, as the example shows.
- Shipping is separate. Budget for Delhivery charges on top.
- Refused COD parcels still cause trouble. The 5% is charged only on delivered orders, but shipping is a separate charge.
- GST still applies on the fee. Keep your CA in the loop.
FAQ
Do I pay anything to Indi Andaz in a month with no online sales?
No platform fee. The 5% applies only to online orders that are delivered, so no delivered orders means no platform fee that month.
Is there an ecommerce platform with commission instead of a monthly fee?
Yes. Indi Andaz is one: 5% only on delivered online orders, payment processing included, and no monthly fee. A monthly fee can still work out to cost less if your online sales stay high every month. In our example, the two cost the same at about ₹50,000 a month in sales, but that’s for a made-up ₹1,500 fee. Run your own numbers.
Does the 5% include payment gateway charges?
Yes. There’s no separate gateway fee for UPI or card orders. GST applies on the fee, and shipping is extra.
New here? Start with our Start here page.
About Indi Andaz Indi Andaz by Prilix Labs gives Indian shops an online store with UPI, card and COD checkout, plus GST billing at the counter. No monthly fee, 5% only on delivered online orders, payment processing included. GST applies on the fee. Based in Ashoknagar Kalyangarh, West Bengal. Start selling
Leave a Reply