Weight slabs, zones, and the 50g that costs ₹32

Before March 2026, shipping was a rounding error next to a 17% commission. Now that commission on most sub-₹1,000 products is zero, shipping is often the single biggest line on the fee breakdown — and unlike commission, you can actually change it.

Shipping is charged in steps, not by weight

This is the part that catches people. You are not charged per gram. You are charged a base rate for the first 500g, then a further increment for each additional 500g or part thereof.

"Or part thereof" is doing all the work in that sentence. A 501g parcel is charged exactly the same as a 1,000g parcel.

Nothing about the product changed. Nothing about the price changed. A packaging choice moved the parcel across a boundary that costs the same as adding half a kilo.

Find out where your product sits

Weigh your product as it ships — item, polybag, box, filler, invoice, label. Not the item on its own. Then find the nearest slab boundary above it.

Sellers routinely spend weeks trying to negotiate a ₹5 better product cost while shipping 30g over a boundary that costs ₹32.

Zones matter as much as weight

The second variable is distance. All three marketplaces price by zone:

• Local — pickup and delivery in the same city.
• Regional — within the same region.
• National — across regions.

Amazon groups India into four regions:

The same 300g t-shirt, ₹499, on Amazon, by zone:

Over six margin points between selling in your own city and selling across the country — same product, same price, same everything else.

Shipping differs by marketplace too

The same 300g parcel shipped nationally:

Meesho is consistently cheapest on shipping in our model, which matters far more than it sounds — Meesho charges no commission at all, so shipping is essentially the whole fee. Its shipping rate is its pricing. See our Meesho guide for what that does to the comparison.

Volumetric weight: when size beats weight

Couriers charge on whichever is greater — actual weight, or volumetric weight, which is a function of the parcel's dimensions. A large, light parcel is billed as though it were heavy.

If you sell anything bulky and light — cushions, soft toys, empty containers, lampshades — this, not the scale reading, is your shipping cost. The same logic applies to Amazon's FBA storage fee, which is charged per cubic foot per month rather than by weight: ₹50 per cubic foot, so a light bulky product can cost more to store than a dense heavy one.

Compressing packaging is worth real money here, and it is the one lever that helps with shipping and storage simultaneously.

What to actually do

1. Weigh your parcel as shipped. Not the product — the parcel.
2. Find your distance to the next slab boundary. Under 60g? That is your highest-return optimisation, worth about ₹32 an order.
3. Measure your box and compute volumetric weight. If it exceeds actual weight, your packaging is your shipping cost.
4. Check your zone mix. If most orders are national, stock closer to demand or consider a fulfilment option that does it for you.
5. Re-run the numbers per marketplace. With commission at zero below ₹1,000, the cheapest shipping usually wins the comparison outright.

Shipping is the rare cost that is both large and genuinely under your control. Price is constrained by competitors; product cost by suppliers; commission by the marketplace. Sixty grams of packaging is a decision you can make this afternoon.