What are the real costs and margins on ONDC compared to Amazon and Flipkart?
The short answer
There's no single ONDC commission rate, your actual cost is the fee your chosen seller app (Mystore, Fynd, etc.) charges plus logistics, which several claim is meaningfully lower than Amazon or Flipkart's stacked commission-plus-fulfilment fees, but published numbers vary a lot by app and category. Because pricing transparency is still a known weak point of the network, get a written fee breakdown from your seller network participant before committing rather than relying on marketing claims. Model ONDC as a smaller, cheaper-per-unit-but-lower-volume channel next to your marketplace numbers, not a like-for-like replacement.
A quick summary to orient you. The real value is below: the resources worth your time, from people who've actually done it, not us.
Here are the resources
Hand-picked from around the web, each with a note on why it earns your time. India-specific ones carry a badge.
Why we picked it
The honest counter-view every founder should read before betting on ONDC, awareness gaps, scalability friction, opaque pricing, and real founder quotes about needing outside help to onboard.
Why we picked it
A more managed onboarding route for founders who don't want to navigate the ONDC registry/seller-app landscape solo, worth comparing against a DIY seller-app signup on cost and speed.
Why we picked it
Fynd's ONDC seller app skews toward fashion and D2C brands specifically, worth shortlisting since it's been used by recognisable D2C names, unlike some generic SME-first seller apps.
