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Why is my Meesho, Amazon or Flipkart payout less than expected?
By the TruePayout team · Updated · 5 min read
Quick answer
A marketplace payout is your order value minus commission, shipping, returns, taxes withheld (GST TCS and income tax TDS), ads and any penalties or recoveries, all netted into one bank transfer. Most of these are legitimate, but unpaid orders, repeated deductions, wrong weight slabs and charges above your rate card are common errors you can claim back.
Key points
- One payout combines hundreds of lines: orders, returns, fees, taxes, ads and recoveries.
- GST TCS (0.5%) and income tax TDS under section 194-O (0.1%) are legitimate deductions you can claim credit for in your returns, not errors.
- Errors worth checking: delivered orders never paid, the same fee taken twice, wrong weight slabs, courier returns (RTO) charged as customer returns, and commission above your rate card.
- Compare each payout with your orders report and your bank statement, not just the panel total.
How a payout is built
Every marketplace starts from what the buyer paid for your delivered orders and then subtracts its charges before sending the rest to your bank. The settlement or payments report lists each part as a separate line. A short payout is almost always explained by one of the lines below.
The 9 common reasons
| Reason | Legitimate or worth checking? | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| Commission or referral fee | Legitimate, but check the rate against your category rate card | Settlement or payments report |
| Shipping or weight handling fee | Legitimate, but a wrong weight slab is a common error | Shipping columns per order |
| Customer returns | Legitimate when the buyer returned the item | Return lines, negative amounts |
| Courier returns (RTO) | Often charged differently from customer returns; check which rule applied | Return type or status column |
| GST TCS | Legitimate, 0.5% of net taxable supplies since 10 July 2024 | TCS column or tax sheet |
| Income tax TDS (section 194-O) | Legitimate, 0.1% since 1 October 2024 | TDS column or tax sheet |
| Ads and promotions | Legitimate if you ran them, but should be taken only once | Ads sheet or account-level lines |
| Penalties and recoveries | Worth checking: each needs a reason | Compensation and recovery lines |
| Orders not paid yet | Worth checking once the payment due date has passed | Orders report vs payments report |
Errors that are worth a claim
- Delivered but never paid. An order shows as delivered in your orders report but has no settlement line after the payment cycle.
- The same charge twice. A return fee or penalty appears in two different payouts for the same order.
- Wrong weight slab. Shipping was charged for a heavier slab than your product's packed weight.
- Courier return charged as a customer return. An undelivered parcel sent back by the courier should not carry the same charges as a buyer return.
- Commission above your rate card. The rate charged is higher than the rate for your category on that date.
- Payout short in the bank. The report says one amount but a smaller amount reached your bank, matched by UTR.
How to check in under a minute
Download your payments or settlement report, your orders report and your bank statement for the same months, and upload them to TruePayout. It matches every order, payout and bank credit, labels each difference as strong evidence, worth checking or explained, and writes the claim text for the ones worth raising. The preview is free.
Frequently asked questions
Is TCS deducted from my marketplace payout an error?
No. Marketplaces must collect GST TCS (0.5% of net taxable supplies since 10 July 2024). It appears in your GST portal and can be claimed as a credit in your GST returns.
What is the 194-O TDS on my payout?
Section 194-O requires e-commerce operators to deduct income tax at 0.1% (since 1 October 2024) of the gross amount of sales. It shows in your Form 26AS and is adjusted against your income tax.
How do I know if an order was never paid?
Match your orders report with your payments report. A delivered order with no settlement line after its payment due date is unpaid and worth raising with the marketplace.
Can I get money back for wrong charges?
Yes, if you raise a ticket with evidence: the order number, what was charged, what should have been charged and why. Marketplaces review each claim; a clear, specific claim is more likely to be accepted.