The three pricing models
Indian ecommerce agencies price in one of three ways. Which one you are being quoted matters more than the number itself, because they behave very differently as your business grows or shrinks.
1. Monthly retainer
A fixed fee, billed whether the month went well or badly. Published industry ranges for Indian ecommerce agencies run from around ₹75,000 to ₹10,00,000 per month, with most falling between ₹1,50,000 and ₹6,00,000. The range is wide because “agency” covers everything from a two-person shop to a hundred-person firm with a media buying team and a studio.
What it means for you: predictable cost, no alignment. The agency’s revenue does not change if your sales double or halve. In a bad month you pay the same as a good one.
2. Percentage of ad spend
Commonly 10–20% of media budget. Popular with agencies whose main service is media buying.
What it means for you: the agency earns more when you spend more. That is a direct conflict with your interest in spending efficiently. It also means the fee rises during a scaling push, exactly when margin is tightest.
3. Percentage of revenue
Less common in India. The agency takes a cut of sales. The critical detail is which sales — gross revenue or net revenue after returns.
That distinction matters enormously in Indian D2C, where cash-on-delivery return rates and RTO (return-to-origin) can remove a large share of apparent revenue. A percentage of gross revenue still bills you for orders that came back. A percentage of net revenue does not.
Orcas Prime charges 3.5% + GST of net sales after returns and RTOs are deducted. If a shipment is refused and comes back, it leaves the base we charge on.
What to actually ask when comparing quotes
- Is the number all-in? Ask specifically whether creative production, landing pages, setup, and reporting are included or billed separately.
- What is the base, exactly? For percentage models: gross or net? Before or after returns? Before or after GST?
- What is the lock-in? Six- and twelve-month minimum terms are common. Ask about the exit process, not just the exit fee.
- Who does the work? Ask who will be inside your ad account day to day, and whether you speak to that person or to an account manager.
- What happens in a bad month? The answer tells you which model you are really buying.
A worked comparison
At three revenue levels, comparing a percentage-of-net-sales model against a typical retainer floor:
| Net sales / month | At 3.5% | Typical retainer |
|---|---|---|
| ₹5,00,000 | ₹17,500 | ₹75,000+ |
| ₹10,00,000 | ₹35,000 | ₹1,50,000+ |
| ₹25,00,000 | ₹87,500 | ₹3,00,000+ |
The percentage model costs less at every level shown, and it scales with the business rather than ahead of it. The trade-off is that a percentage model only makes sense if the agency is doing the full scope — a media-buying-only shop taking a percentage of all revenue would be charging for sales it did not influence.
Sources
Ranges compiled from publicly available agency rate pages, industry directory listings on Clutch, DesignRush and Sortlist, and public LinkedIn descriptions for Indian ecommerce agencies, as of Q3 2026.
If you have a quote that falls outside these ranges, we would genuinely like to see it — it makes this page more accurate.