Quick commerce platform Blinkit is moving from a fixed commission model to a variable one for its sellers under the marketplace model, according to people in the know. This change will require sellers in certain categories, such as home cleaning, to pay higher commissions on higher-priced products.
Earlier, the company used to charge a fixed commission in the range of 3% to 15% based on the category but irrespective of the selling price of the products. For instance, home-cleaning was charged a commission of 11%, irrespective of the product price.
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Now, it will be charged based on the selling price and not the category.
One of the mails sent by the company to its sellers shows that a commission of 2% will be charged on products priced below Rs 500. This will increase to 6%, 13%, 16% and 18% as the selling price moves to Rs 700, Rs 900, Rs 1,200 and above Rs 1,200.
The new rates will come into effect from next week, but the dates depend on the product category.
Blinkit did not respond to FE’s queries till press time.
Blinkit is the only quick commerce major to use the marketplace model. Its rivals use the purchase order model, where the buyer procures the product from the seller beforehand and maintains the inventory.
The variable commission model is typically used by e-commerce companies.
In addition to the platform commission, known as the platform commission, a seller on Blinkit also needs to pay an inwarding fee of Rs 5 for every unit of the product, a storage fee which starts from Rs 1 per day and increases based on the number of days, a fulfillment fee of Rs 50 per unit, a return fee of Rs 50 (if the product is returned) and an inventory removal fee of Rs 5 per unit.
According to a seller on Blinkit, the total takeaway comes in the range of 30-40%, depending on the category. Along with GST, this becomes 50% in some cases.
“The platform commission is almost at par with e-commerce. But other fees like storage take it higher than that,” she said.
Another seller said, “With this, the platform will become like e-commerce where sellers with lesser volume find it hard to sustain and the churn is high.”
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