As shoppers gear up for festive bargains, Amazon is handing out its own gift to small businesses — sweeping fee cuts, smarter AI tools, and easier compliance support. The initiatives, unveiled ahead of the Great Indian Festival 2025, are designed to help sellers scale up during India’s busiest shopping season.
Earlier in the month, Amazon rolled out fee reductions across high-demand categories such as fashion, beauty, home appliances and healthcare, while cutting weight handling charges by up to Rs 100 on items under 25kg. For instance, sellers of treadmills priced at Rs 36,999 will now save Rs 740 per unit, men’s t-shirts at Rs 999 bring Rs 40 in fee savings, and air fryers at Rs 4,999 see savings of Rs 100. Women’s ethnic wear, winter wear and Diwali staples like candles and decor have also seen referral fee cuts of 2% to 7.5%.
These interventions come on top of April’s decision to waive referral fees on more than 12 million products priced below Rs 300 across 135 categories — a step aimed at easing pressure on sellers of low-value items.
Smarter tools for sellers
To nudge higher order values, Amazon has also launched its “Sell More Save More” promotion tool. The programme lowers fees on additional units sold in the same basket, helping SMEs trim shipping costs while encouraging bulk buys.
The interventions are rooted in months of on-ground engagement with sellers. Amazon begins this exercise almost as soon as one festive season ends, hosting events in 14-15 cities where it meets around 2, 000 sellers at each stop.
The workshops are designed to gather feedback that directly shapes the next year’s playbook. “We typically go to around 14-15 cities for seller events, which are more like semi workshops, where the team meets around 2, 000 sellers in person, listens to them, and asks what we can do as partners to really make it successful for them,” Amit Nanda, director, selling partner services at Amazon India, said.
Amazon is also betting big on AI to make selling simpler. Its GenAI for listings tool automatically generates product titles, descriptions and compliant images from a single photo, cutting catalogue creation time by 70%. Different dashboards help sellers plan inventory and spot demand trends, while an adaptive ad tool runs campaigns with minimal input. New sellers get up to Rs 26, 000 in ad credits and free partner support to kick-start visibility.
Logistics boost and compliance support
On the logistics front, Amazon has added new fulfilment centres and sortation hubs, and bolstered its workforce to cater to festive demand. Its Go-Local programme allows sellers to store inventory closer to buyers, helping them cut delivery times as well as shipping costs. The company is also assisting with GST registration outside sellers’ home states to smooth interstate operations.
Adapting to recent GST reforms is another priority. “Because we generate the invoice on behalf of the seller, we will make sure those system changes are done from our side, and then whatever is the new GST amount and therefore the base price, those recommendations will be given to sellers in advance so they are able to go over them,” Nanda said, adding that these interventions are being done at a “frenzied pace” to ensure implementation in time for the sale launch.
Rounding out the package are seller rewards — from cash prizes to trips abroad — aimed at recognising top performers.
Taken together, the measures signal Amazon’s attempt to keep costs low and operations simpler for its sellers, but the real test will be whether these fee cuts and tech tools actually translate into higher sales when festive demand peaks later this month.