ONDC for Small Sellers — How to Sell Beyond Amazon and Flipkart Without Their Commission

On 6 October 2026, Dr. Ashish Bhutani, Secretary of the Ministry of Cooperation, chaired a meeting with ONDC representatives at Atal Akshay Urja Bhawan in New Delhi. On the table: a proposal for a dedicated digital commerce ecosystem for cooperatives, built in association with ONDC, to carry cooperative products — dairy, agricultural commodities, processed foods, handloom and handicrafts, organic products — to a much wider consumer market. The meeting is the latest sign that India's open-commerce push is being taken seriously at the top of government. And it matters to every small seller who feels squeezed by the fees and rules of the big marketplaces. This guide explains what ONDC actually is, how it differs from Amazon and Flipkart in plain language, what the much-discussed commission difference looks like, and what realistic first steps look like for a small seller.

ONDC in one paragraph

ONDC — the Open Network for Digital Commerce — is an open network, not a shopping website. Instead of listing your products on one platform and being visible only to that platform's shoppers, you digitise your product catalogue once and become discoverable across many buyer applications on the network. You enter the network through a "seller app" rather than through one dominant marketplace, and the network provides digital cataloguing, connected logistics and onboarding support. Because no single platform owns the transaction, there is no single-platform lock-in — and, in principle, lower intermediation costs. ONDC's own material names limited online visibility, restricted market access and high customer-acquisition costs as the barriers small businesses face when trying to sell online.

How ONDC differs from Amazon and Flipkart — in plain language

The simplest way to understand the difference is to think about who owns the marketplace. Amazon and Flipkart are single platforms: you list there, customers find you there, and the platform sets the fees, the search ranking, the returns policy and the terms. If the platform changes a fee or suspends your account, your entire online business is affected. Your products are discoverable only within that platform's walls.

ONDC works differently because it is a network, not a platform. Think of it the way UPI works for payments: no single company owns UPI; many apps participate, and money moves between them. Similarly, on ONDC, seller apps bring sellers onto the network and buyer apps bring shoppers, and transactions flow between them over shared protocols. Your catalogue, once digitised, can be discovered across multiple buyer apps — you are not dependent on any single one of them.

Three practical consequences follow from this design. First, there is no single-platform lock-in: you are not building your entire online presence inside one company's ecosystem. Second, your entry point is a seller app of your choosing, and ONDC's framework provides onboarding support to help sellers get listed. Third, logistics is treated as a connected service on the network rather than something you must arrange entirely on your own or buy from the marketplace.

It is also worth being clear about what ONDC does not do: it does not bring you customers by itself. Being discoverable across buyer apps is an opportunity, not a guarantee of orders. Which brings us to the question everyone asks first.

The commission question — and the careful way to read it

The headline that catches every seller's eye is the commission gap. Industry coverage of the seller-infrastructure announcements made around 8 October reports network commissions of roughly 3–8%, compared with 20–55% on legacy marketplaces. To put that in illustrative terms: on a ₹1,000 order, a 20–55% commission means ₹200 to ₹550 going to the platform, while 3–8% means ₹30 to ₹80. The difference is large enough to change the economics of selling online for thin-margin products.

But this figure needs to be handled with care. It is a reported industry claim, not an official ONDC tariff — ONDC itself has not published a fixed commission schedule, because commissions depend on the seller app you choose and the services bundled with it. Treat the 3–8% figure as a signal of the network's direction, not a quote. Before committing to any seller app, confirm the actual fees, commissions and service charges in writing, and factor in the costs you will carry yourself — packaging, shipping, returns and payment processing — which exist on every channel.

Why the cooperative meeting matters to ordinary small sellers

The 6 October meeting was about cooperatives, not about your shop — but it is relevant to you anyway. The proposal discussed was a dedicated digital commerce ecosystem for cooperatives in association with ONDC, sitting under the government's "Sahkar Se Samriddhi" (prosperity through cooperation) vision. The products in scope — dairy, agricultural commodities, processed foods, handloom and handicrafts, organic products — are exactly the kinds of goods that small and grassroots producers struggle to sell beyond their local markets.

ONDC already runs an "Amazing India" programme aimed at this segment: it currently connects 1,500 FPOs (farmer producer organisations) and more than 50,000 farmers, with support in packaging, warehousing and logistics. The signal for ordinary small sellers is that the infrastructure being built — digital cataloguing, connected logistics, onboarding support — is the same infrastructure you would use. When the government invests in making the network work for a dairy cooperative or a handloom cluster, the seller apps, logistics connectors and support systems get stronger for everyone on the network.

Getting started — realistic first steps

If you are a small seller curious about ONDC, here is a grounded sequence. None of these steps requires you to quit your existing channels.

1. Digitise your catalogue. This is the foundation everything else rests on, and it is also one of the practical hurdles grassroots organisations face. Photograph your products properly, write clear descriptions, fix your prices, variants and stock counts, and keep this information in one organised place. A messy catalogue will perform badly on any channel, open network or not.

2. Choose a seller app and get onboarded. You join ONDC through a seller app, not through ONDC directly. Compare a few on their fees, the categories they serve, and the support they offer — ONDC's framework includes onboarding support, so ask what that covers for your product type. Confirm all commissions and charges in writing before you list.

3. Sort out packaging, warehousing and order management. The same practical hurdles named in the cooperative discussions — cataloguing, packaging, warehousing, order management, digital payments and last-mile delivery — apply to you. Decide how orders will be packed, where stock will sit, and who handles a return. If you are small, start with what you can fulfil reliably rather than listing everything you stock.

4. Set up digital payments before your first order. Digital payment acceptance is part of the basic readiness checklist. Make sure you can receive payments smoothly and reconcile them — order volume means nothing if the money does not land cleanly in your account.

An honest word of caution

Lower commissions and an open network are genuinely attractive, but they do not remove the fundamentals of selling. ONDC's own framing acknowledges that small businesses struggle with visibility and customer acquisition — being on the network does not automatically solve either. Your success will still depend on product quality, honest pricing, good photographs, prompt dispatch and responsive customer service. A seller with a sloppy catalogue will lose to a careful competitor on ONDC just as surely as on Amazon.

It is also sensible to treat ONDC as an additional channel rather than a replacement, at least at first. Many sellers will keep their existing marketplace listings while testing the open network, and there is nothing in ONDC's design that prevents that — the absence of lock-in works in both directions. Start small, measure what actually happens to your margins and order flow, and expand what works.

Frequently asked questions

Is selling on ONDC free?

The network itself is open — you do not pay ONDC a listing fee to exist on it. But you join through a seller app, which may charge fees or commissions, and you still bear your own costs for packaging, shipping, returns and payments. Always confirm the full cost picture with your chosen seller app before listing.

Can I sell on ONDC and on Amazon or Flipkart at the same time?

Yes. ONDC is an open network with no single-platform lock-in, so nothing stops you from keeping your existing marketplace listings while you test the network. Many sellers treat it as an additional sales channel rather than a replacement, especially in the beginning.

How long does it take to get started?

That depends on your readiness and your chosen seller app. ONDC's framework provides onboarding support, but the biggest variable is usually your own catalogue: sellers with clean product photos, descriptions, prices and stock data get listed far faster than those starting from scratch. Getting the catalogue digitised first is the single best way to shorten the timeline.

Is the 3–8% commission figure official?

No. The roughly 3–8% figure, versus 20–55% on legacy marketplaces, comes from industry coverage of the early-October seller-infrastructure announcements — it is a reported claim, not an official ONDC tariff. Actual commissions vary by seller app and services used, so confirm the real numbers in writing before you decide.

Sources

• Indian Cooperative — "Co-ops to Consumers: Ministry Explores ONDC Commerce Route", 7 Oct 2026: indiancooperative.com/from-states/co-ops-to-consumers-ministry-explores-ondc-commerce-route/

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