I once had a Meesho customer return a parcel with no plant in it at all. When a plant dies on the way, I still find some of it in the returned packet, like dried stems or yellow, fallen leaves. This one had nothing. I think the customer took the plant out, planted it, and sent me back just the cocopeat and the cover. It has happened only once, and only on Meesho, but it was really frustrating. I pack every plant very carefully so it stays alive through the delivery, and then about 15 days later I find the same package back on my doorstep as a return.
I also feel it’s very easy for buyers to raise a return on Meesho, especially on COD orders, and RTOs are higher there compared to the other platforms. With live plants, most of what comes back is dead, dried or yellow, so every RTO and every return is a plant I lose.
So the profit you see on a delivered order isn’t your real profit. Put your own numbers into the calculator below, including your RTO and return rates, and it shows what you actually make on each order that stays with the customer.
Meesho profit calculator with RTO and returns
See what you really make on each Meesho order once RTOs and customer returns are counted, and how much to raise your price to cover them.
- Profit if every order is delivered and kept
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- Lost to RTOs and returns, per kept order
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- Real profit per kept order
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Show the working
Meesho rules last checked 27 Oct 2026 on Meesho’s supplier pages: 0% commission, no shipping fee charged on RTOs, and a weight-based return shipping fee on customer returns. Estimates only.
RTO and a customer return are two different losses
An RTO (return to origin) is an order that never reaches the customer. The buyer refuses the COD parcel, isn’t home, or gave a wrong address, and the courier brings it back to you. Meesho’s supplier page on shipping says that when an order “gets converted to an RTO”, the seller “will not be charged any additional fee for shipping.” So in my payment sheet, every RTO order settles at exactly ₹0.00. Meesho takes nothing, but it pays nothing either.
A customer return is different. The order is delivered, and then the buyer sends it back. Meesho’s page says customers can return within 7 days of delivery and that the seller “is charged a return shipping fee based on the weight of the shipment.” That fee comes out of your payout. In my sheet, a returned plant order shows a settlement of −₹157.00.
| RTO | Customer return | |
|---|---|---|
| What happens | Parcel never delivered, comes back | Delivered, then sent back by the buyer |
| Meesho’s charge | No shipping fee | Return shipping fee, by weight |
| My settlement | ₹0.00 | −₹157.00 |
| The product (for me) | Usually comes back dead | Usually comes back dead, once not at all |
For clothes or phone covers, an RTO mostly costs you packing and time, because the item can go out again. For plants, both are a full loss of the product.
What my own Meesho payment sheet shows
Here are eight Cats Claw Creeper orders from my Meesho payment sheet (the Order Payments tab), placed between 19 September and 10 October 2026.
| Order date | Status | Listing price | Final settlement |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19 Sep | Return | ₹113 | −₹157.00 |
| 20 Sep | Delivered | ₹113 | ₹105.66 |
| 24 Sep | Delivered | ₹150 | ₹138.81 |
| 25 Sep | RTO | ₹150 | ₹0.00 |
| 25 Sep | Delivered | ₹138 | ₹126.69 |
| 26 Sep | Delivered | ₹138 | ₹129.91 |
| 9 Oct | RTO | ₹101 | ₹0.00 |
| 10 Oct | RTO | ₹101 | ₹0.00 |
The four delivered orders paid me ₹501.07 in total, which is about ₹125 each. The one return took ₹157 back, so all eight orders together paid me ₹344.07. But I sent out eight plants, and only four stayed with a customer. Each plant costs me ₹75 all in, so the eight cost ₹600. These eight orders lost me ₹255.93.
Meesho’s returns summary for 9 September to 6 October showed the same picture from another side: a 10% return rate (1 order returned out of 10 delivered) and an average reverse shipping cost of ₹157. For the same period it showed a 0% RTO rate, which doesn’t match my sheet. I’m not sure how Meesho counts it there, so for RTO I count the rows in my payment sheet myself.
Why “selling price minus fees” isn’t your profit
Here are my real numbers. I list the Cats Claw at ₹150 (the buyer pays ₹198 with shipping), and a delivered order settles at about ₹125. Each one costs me ₹75 all in: ₹45 for the plant, ₹12 for the pot and cocopeat, and ₹18 for the sleeve and tape. The simple way says I make ₹50 on every order (₹125 − ₹75).
Now add what actually happened in those eight orders: 37.5% RTO (3 of 8) and 20% returns (1 of the 5 delivered). Tap “My plant: 8 real orders” in the calculator. The real result is a loss of ₹64.25 on every order that stayed with a customer. To break even I’d have to raise the price by about ₹65, and by about ₹115 to get my ₹50 back. Nobody is buying a ₹150 plant for ₹265.
Eight orders is a small sample, so also tap “Same plant, 20% RTO”. With 20% RTO and 10% returns, the ₹50 becomes ₹3.39 per kept order. Even then, I’d need about ₹47 more on the price to get back to ₹50. So for a product that dies when it comes back, the price can only fix part of it. Bringing the RTO rate down matters just as much.
How the calculator works it out
Think of 100 orders. With 20% RTO, 20 never get delivered, so 80 do. With 10% returns, 8 of those 80 come back, which leaves 72 orders that stay sold. Only those 72 pay you a settlement, the 8 returns each cost the return shipping fee, and you paid for the product and packing on all 100. Divide what’s left by 72, and that’s your real profit per kept order.
That’s why RTO is counted out of the orders you dispatch, and returns out of the orders that get delivered. Meesho’s summary counts them the same way. If your stock can be sold again after it comes back, the calculator adds its value back. If your product has GST, it also takes out the GST you owe on each sale, before input tax credit, and adds GST to the suggested price rise.
If your product survives the trip
Tap “Kurti, resellable” in the calculator. A ₹349 kurti with a ₹300 settlement and ₹180 cost makes ₹103.38 when nothing comes back. With 20% RTO and 15% returns, the real profit is ₹75.15 per kept order. That’s about ₹28 lost on every kept order, even though every returned kurti can be sold again. It’s the ₹160 return fee on 12 returns, spread over the 68 orders that stayed sold.
Switch “can you sell the product again” to “No, it’s lost”, and the profit drops much further. That’s the live plant case.
What helps with RTOs and returns
- Record a video when you open every return. If something is missing or wrong, like my empty parcel, you need proof to raise a claim. My supplier panel has a separate Claim Tracking tab for this. I didn’t raise a claim for my empty parcel, because I didn’t know I could. From now on, I will.
- Look at branded packets. My Meesho returns page shows a banner that says “Use Branded Packets & get up to 80% RTO claims approval.”
- Use real photos and a clear description. If the plant that arrives looks like the one in the photo, there’s less reason to send it back.
- Check each product separately. One product can have a much higher RTO rate than another. Put each one into the calculator with its own rates, and raise the price only where you need to.
Why I made this calculator
I used to work out my profit the way most beginners do: selling price minus fees equals profit. But if you keep going with that, without understanding how much money you’re actually losing on RTOs and returns, the business won’t survive, especially in Indian e-commerce, to be honest. That’s why I made this calculator. Type in the RTO % for each product, and see if you need to change your selling price to cover the loss and still save something. I hope this helps everyone out there who is struggling with RTOs.
Frequently asked questions
Does Meesho charge sellers for RTO?
Not for shipping. Meesho’s supplier pages say it won’t charge a return shipping fee for RTOs, and my RTO orders settle at ₹0.00. You still lose the packing, and the product too if it can’t be sold again.
How much is the return shipping charge on Meesho?
It depends on the weight of the parcel. For my 400 g plant parcel it’s ₹157. Check the settlement on a returned order in your own payment sheet to see yours. Meesho says the fee can be waived in some exceptional cases.
Where do I find my RTO and return rate?
In the returns section of the Meesho supplier panel. The Overview tab shows your return rate, average reverse shipping cost and RTO rate for the period you pick. You can also count the RTO and Return rows in the Order Payments tab of your payment sheet.
More tools for online sellers
- Volumetric weight calculator: check the weight your courier will charge for
- E-commerce TCS and TDS calculator: see the tax your marketplace holds back from each payout
Where these numbers come from
The Meesho rules on this page come from Meesho’s own supplier pages, which I checked on 27 October 2026: the Commission Rate and Fee Structure page (0% commission, no return shipping fee on RTOs) and the Shipping and Delivery Charges page (return shipping fee by weight, 7-day return window, waivers in exceptional cases). The orders, settlements and return figures are from my own Meesho payment sheet and returns summary for September and October 2026.
Meesho’s rules and charges change. If you spot a difference, tell me through the Contact page.
Written by Adhil, who sells live plants on Amazon, Meesho and Flipkart.
