India, Oct. 27 -- Consider a kurta priced at Rs.799 sold directly on Flipkart by a fashion brand such as Globus Fashion.

Since July, Flipkart stopped charging a commission on fashion products, so on paper the seller keeps more of each sale than it did a year ago.

But under Flipkart's new penalty structure, effective August 23, the seller is penalised Rs.30 or about 3.8% of the sale price the moment the kurta misses its dispatch-by date.

If the order is then cancelled, the seller is penalised another Rs.60.

Flipkart now also counts three missed deadlines as a cancellation. But the flat penalty (a total of Rs.90) means that sellers face a greater burden to clear low-value orders.

This is one example of how selling online has become cos...