Selling on Amazon and Flipkart: Registration to First Order

The marketplaces put a national storefront within a week's reach of any Indian seller — and bury the unprepared under fees, returns and buried listings just as fast. Selling on Amazon/Flipkart is a real business model with real math: 25–45% of MRP goes to the platform machine, and profit exists only for sellers who price, list and operate deliberately. Here is the complete path from registration to a sustainable first quarter.

Registration and the compliance base

• GST is the gate: goods sellers need GSTIN regardless of turnover (marketplace threshold exemption doesn't apply) — plus the bank account, PAN and pickup-address basics
• Category approvals: most categories open freely; some (beauty, food, jewellery) need documents (FSSAI, BIS/hallmark where applicable) — clear them before inventory decisions
• Brand layer: trademark enables brand registry (Amazon Brand Registry/Flipkart brand protection) — unlocking listing control, A+ content and counterfeit defence; file the TM early
• Multi-warehouse note: opting into FBA/Flipkart-warehouse networks across states triggers state-wise GST registrations (the compliance guide on this site) — a real cost to price into the fulfilment decision

The fee mathematics (do this before buying inventory)

Stack every deduction on a ₹500 sale: referral fee (category-wise 2–18%), closing fee (price-slab fixed fees), shipping/fulfilment (weight-band charges — FBA fulfilment fees or self-ship rates), collection/payment costs, and — the silent killers — returns (category return rates of 5–30%+, with return shipping and damaged-return write-offs yours) and ads (realistically 5–15% of sales for visibility in year one). Model the true unit P&L: many first-time sellers discover their ₹500 product nets ₹280 before product cost — which is why marketplace-viable products want 60%+ gross margins and price points above ₹300 (fee floors eat cheap items alive).

Listings that actually rank

• Title architecture: brand + product + key attributes + size/count — keyword-researched (the platforms' own search suggestions are your keyword tool), not poetic
• Images sell: 6–8 frames — white-background hero, lifestyle shots, infographic frames (dimensions, benefits), packaging — shot properly once, earning forever
• Bullets/description answering objections (material, warranty, compatibility, care) — reviews' questions are your content brief
• A+ content for registered brands; backend keywords filled; correct category nodes (misfiled products are invisible)
• Reviews engine: platform-legal routes only (follow-up via platform tools, product inserts within policy) — bought reviews get accounts suspended

The first-90-days playbook

Weeks 1–2: 10–20 SKU launch (depth over breadth), pricing with launch offers, sponsored-product ads on exact keywords at controlled budgets. Weeks 3–6: read the dashboards daily — CTR (image/title problems), conversion (price/review problems), ACOS by keyword (kill losers, scale winners); chase the first 15–25 reviews via legal routes. Weeks 7–12: double down on the 2–3 SKUs showing velocity (marketplaces compound winners — rank feeds sales feeds rank), enter deals/events (the platforms' sale events are visibility machines worth their fees for proven SKUs), and start the operational disciplines that decide survival: returns analysis (SKU-wise — a 25% return-rate product is a listing problem or a product problem; find which), inventory-planning against stockouts (rank dies in stockouts), and weekly payment-reconciliation (platform deductions audited against agreements — errors and reimbursement claims are routine money most sellers never collect).

How Aidwish helps

Aidwish launches marketplace sellers — GST/registration stacks, unit-economics modelling before inventory, listing and content builds, ad-launch management and the reconciliation/returns MIS — so the national storefront runs on math, not hope.