Meesho is built for value shopping. In the 12 months to June 2026, 274 million people ordered on Meesho and 1.04 million sellers got at least one order, its July 2026 shareholder letter says. If your products sell on price, you should know how it works.
A lot of Meesho advice online can’t be traced to Meesho. Blogs quote fee tables Meesho doesn’t publish, and tools promise cheaper shipping if you crop your photos. This guide sticks to what Meesho itself says, and flags what we couldn’t confirm.
How Meesho makes money
Meesho charges 0% commission in every category, with no registration, listing or collection fees. Its prospectus says it earns instead from services it sells to sellers: order fulfilment, advertising and data insights.
So zero commission isn’t zero cost: you pay shipping, return shipping and any ads you run. Meesho Mall, the branded marketplace, is different. It charges a percentage commission plus shipping, at unpublished rates.
Who pays shipping, and how it’s set
You do, when an order is delivered. In Meesho’s words, the amount is “determined based on factors including product weights, delivery zones and the chosen mode of payment”. Return shipping on returns and exchanges is also yours, based on weight, zone and courier.
There’s no public rate card. Meesho’s July 2026 shareholder letter says it passed fuel and minimum-wage cost rises “through to the ecosystem” that quarter, without saying how much reached sellers. Recheck your deductions often.
Meesho’s pricing page says shipping carries 18% GST, but the same letter says freight through its logistics arm is taxed as a goods transport agency service. Check the GST line on your own invoices with your CA.
Fact-check: does cropping your photos lower shipping?
Third-party “shipping reducer” tools say Meesho reads your product’s size or weight slab from its photos, so a tighter crop saves roughly ₹20–80 an order, depending on the tool. None we checked cite Meesho.
Every factor Meesho names, across its prospectus, supplier pages and consumer Terms, is physical or transactional: weight, zone, payment mode, courier, distance, order value, shipment weight and dimensions, and delivery time. Meesho’s lists are open-ended (“including but not limited to”), so this doesn’t prove images play no part, but none of them mention images.
Meesho does scan photos, but for trust and safety: image matching, logo detection and checks that images match descriptions.
Our verdict: unverified at best, and misleading as a way to save money. Cropping doesn’t change the parcel, and gaming a scanner works against Meesho’s own checks. The real levers are lighter, tighter packaging and an accurate weight.
Registering as a Meesho supplier
Registration is free. You need:
- a mobile number and email ID
- a GSTIN, or an Enrolment ID or UIN if you’re not GST-registered
- an active bank account matching your GST details
- a store name and a pickup address
Can you sell on Meesho without GST?
Yes, with an Enrolment ID or UIN from registering as an e-commerce seller on the GST portal. Composition-scheme sellers have been allowed since 1 October 2023. The limits:
- One state. You can sell only within your registered state.
- A sales cap. If your total annual net sales, on Meesho and elsewhere, pass ₹40 lakh with an Enrolment ID or ₹1.5 crore with a Composition GSTIN (₹20 lakh and ₹75 lakh in north-eastern states), Meesho says it will restrict further sales until you get a regular GSTIN.
- No ads. Meesho Ads need a regular GSTIN.
Which route suits you is a tax question for your CA.
Uploading your catalogue
A catalogue holds one to nine products from one category. Meesho recommends at least three or four products per catalogue and at least five to seven catalogues in your first few days, and says it usually takes five to seven to start getting orders. Catalogues go live 72 hours after upload, once they pass quality checks (QC). Price, GST rate, HSN code and weight are compulsory. The steps below come from 2024–25 Learning Hub lessons, so menus may have moved.
- Single upload: Catalog Upload > Add Single Catalog. Pick the category, add a sharp front image, then details and more images.
- Bulk upload: Add Bulk Catalog. Fill in the category’s Excel template and paste in image links from Images Bulk Upload. Keep descriptions short; Meesho says long ones risk rejection.
- Branded products need brand approval first, via a ticket under Support > Cataloging & Pricing.
Meesho’s prospectus says about three in four orders in the six months to September 2025 came from its personalised feeds or recommendations, so your photos may do more selling than your keywords. Want listings that pass first time? See our cataloguing.
Meesho image rules, in Meesho’s words
Meesho’s category pages ask for a clear front image, recommend more than one, and say to upload “images in JPEG format without any logo or watermark”, with no partial product images and no props. A 2024 Learning Hub lesson adds that all images must pass a decency test to go live.
The detailed specifications sit inside the Supplier Panel. Third-party guides quote exact sizes without citing Meesho, and they disagree, so go by the panel. See our product photography.
Why a saved Meesho photo may be an AVIF file
Meesho’s shopping site offers product photos in AVIF, a newer, lighter format. Save one in a modern browser and you’ll usually get an .avif file (some browsers get .webp), but Meesho asks for JPEG uploads.
So export JPEGs from your original photos, not a saved web image. And don’t reuse photos from other listings: image matching is one of Meesho’s checks.
Quality checks and legal details
If a bulk upload fails QC, download the error file, fix your sheet and re-upload. Meesho’s listed errors include wrong category, duplicate SKUs and bad image links.
Listings also need Legal Metrology details, such as the manufacturer’s, packer’s or importer’s name and address, country of origin, net quantity and MRP. Your price can’t exceed the label MRP. Counterfeits are prohibited and their sellers barred. Unsure about a mark? Ask a trademark agent before you list.
Pricing for Meesho
Meesho’s average order value was ₹265.50 in the six months to September 2025. Its prospectus, citing Redseer, says it had the lowest average order value of India’s scaled e-commerce players in the year to September 2025.
Price from the bottom up: product, packaging, shipping and its GST, returns and ads. Meesho offers a Price Recommendation tool and a Product Quality Dashboard, which shows your quality score, low ratings and listings at risk of being blocked. Flexi Growth Offers, under Promotions, let you set discounts of 1–99% for as long as you choose.
Returns and packing
Customers can return within seven days of delivery, and you pay a return shipping fee. Return to origin (RTO), when an order isn’t delivered, is different: the courier tries three times, and Meesho says it doesn’t charge a return shipping fee for any RTO.
- Pack properly and ship within two to three days. Meesho doesn’t give you packaging free, and its shipping page asks for plain packs with none of your own branding. It also sells barcoded transparent packets (BP-TP) through the app and links them to claims, so check what your panel asks for.
- Keep your catalogue image honest. For wrong-return claims, Meesho’s AI compares your claim photos with it.
- Consider the paid Return and RTO Assurance Program if returns make income unpredictable.
When Meesho pays you
Payment reaches your bank on the seventh day after delivery, cash-on-delivery orders included. That matters: only about 37% of shipped orders were prepaid in the quarter to June 2026.
Pay Later Lite, which Meesho began promoting to sellers in September 2026, lets selected customers pay after delivery. It’s opt-in, under Boost Sales in the Supplier Panel, and Meesho says you get full payment even if the customer doesn’t pay.
Penalties: what’s actually current?
Meesho’s supplier pages now promise no penalties for late dispatch or cancellations. But a Learning Hub lesson archived in May 2025 listed cancellation penalties and a ₹5,000 “direct shipping” penalty with possible deactivation. Meesho’s Terms say these policies are updated in the app, so treat “zero penalty” as today’s headline, not a promise.
Meesho Ads
Meesho Ads charge per click, with a ₹300 minimum budget. You can set your own bid or, in ROI campaigns, a target return. You pay for clicks through to your catalogue and for share or wishlist taps, not for views, and costs come out of payouts.
Meesho lists ₹600 of free catalogue visibility as a reward for your first 30 days. It’s ad credit, so you need a regular GSTIN, and Meesho says it depends on eligibility.
Meesho’s prospectus says sellers earned 8.62x their ad spend in FY25 and 13.55x in the six months to September 2025, on its own measure. Treat those as its figures, not your forecast. For help, see marketplace ads.
Which brands and categories suit Meesho
Meesho’s prospectus, citing Redseer, says that in the year to September 2025 it had the most placed orders of any Indian e-commerce player in fashion and in home, kitchen and furnishing, and was top three in beauty and personal care. Most of its shoppers live outside India’s eight biggest cities.
It suits value-priced fashion, home and beauty, unbranded and regional brands, and light products. Premium or heavy items are a harder fit, because shipping eats a low order value.
Brands can also sell on Meesho Mall, which had about 1,200 brands in the quarter to June 2026. Watch for lookalikes: in May 2026 the Delhi High Court, in an interim order, told Meesho to remove listings using marks deceptively similar to JOCKEY. More on our Meesho page.
Where to start
Settle your GST route, shoot clean JPEGs of your own products and price from real shipping and return costs. Skip image tricks; fix the parcel instead. UGLY can also run setup and day-to-day management for you.
If you’d rather hand it over, tell us what you sell, and we’ll tell you what to fix first.
