Free Ad Credits for Sellers in India: Flipkart Pay Later, Amazon and Meesho Compared

As of November 2026, Amazon.in is the one marketplace with a published free-credit offer for new advertisers: India-based sellers who launch Amazon Ads on or after 1 March 2026 can earn promotional credits worth up to ₹26,000 in total. Flipkart's Advertise Now, Pay Later (ANPL) is different: it is credit you repay, with spend deducted from your Flipkart earnings from the start of the next month. We found no official Meesho free-credit programme.

What does "ad credit" actually mean for a seller?

Sellers use the phrase for three different things, and mixing them up leads to bad decisions.

1. Free credit. The marketplace gives you ad balance that you never repay. This is a promotion, usually limited in time and to some sellers.
2. Pay-later credit. You spend first and the marketplace recovers the money later, usually from your sale proceeds. This is a loan in practice, even if no interest is charged.
3. Auto-deduction from earnings. Ad fees are taken from your payout instead of a card or wallet. This is a payment method, not extra money.

Keep these three apart when you read seller-group posts. A post that says "Flipkart gives ad credit" usually means the second one.

What is Flipkart Advertise Now, Pay Later?

Flipkart Ads announced ANPL in July 2025. Sellers can run campaigns without paying upfront, and the line of credit replaces the booking-order (RO/PO) approvals that usually gate postpaid ads. Key points from the launch coverage:

• It covers Product Listing Ads, Product Contextual Ads and recommended campaigns.
• Ad spend is deducted from Flipkart earnings at the start of the next month.
• Flipkart reported more than 24,000 sellers using it by July 2025.
• A predictive model estimates your expected business volume and offers part of it as credit. Sellers without existing credit access qualify automatically and the feature is on by default, according to Flipkart Ads VP and GM Vijay Iyer.

If you want to compare the product types, see our Flipkart ads guide, and the glossary entries for PLA and PCA.

What is not confirmed about Flipkart's programme?

Be careful here. The press reports we could open do not state:

• the credit limit for any seller, or how it is recalculated;
• the exact repayment day. Campaign India mentions a 10-day cycle and also a "full month's breathing space", so the timing is unclear from that report;
• what happens if your earnings in the next month are smaller than your ad spend;
• whether the terms changed after 2025.

Flipkart's own seller pages did not show these details when we opened them. We also did not find a Flipkart first-recharge credit offer like Amazon's; Flipkart's Saarthi ads support programme is a separate topic (Flipkart Saarthi) and we did not confirm credits in it. Check the Ads section of your Seller Hub for current terms before you build a plan on it. Do not confuse ANPL with Flipkart Pay Later, a separate customer payment option announced for shoppers in 2026.

Does Amazon.in offer ad credit?

Yes, for new advertisers. Amazon.in's seller page lists an offer for India-based sellers on Amazon.in who launch Amazon Ads on or after 1 March 2026. The page describes up to ₹26,000 in benefits:

• ₹1,000 promotional credit on signing up for Amazon Ads, valid for 180 days from registration.
• Further credits based on your first Seller Ads Wallet recharge made within the launch month and the two months after.
• A further ₹15,000 if cumulative ad spend passes ₹50,000 in that window and the first recharge is above ₹10,000.

The page also mentions two months of free ad account management from Amazon-verified partners. It lists credit timing and validity: the first-recharge credits arrive within 3 working days and stay valid for 2 months from the credit date, and you can check them under Settings, Sponsored Ads Billing, Promotion Credits in the advertising portal.

Without the offer, Amazon documents that ad fees are paid from your seller or vendor account balance or by credit card. That is Amazon's global FAQ, so confirm it for your Amazon.in account. Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands are charged per click.

Does Meesho offer ad credit?

We found no official Meesho announcement of free ad credits or a pay-later facility, and the Meesho pages we could open did not list one. Campaign India's 2025 comparison says Meesho offers cost-per-click advertising and nothing comparable to Flipkart's credit. One secondary article mentions occasional limited-time free ad credits, but it gives no dates, amounts or eligibility, so we do not treat it as confirmed.

Meesho's ad model has also changed. In November 2025 Meesho's CTO described a move away from CPC and CPM towards a performance-based system where the seller states a minimum return and Meesho spends only if its algorithms see a path to that return. Check the Advertisement tab of your supplier panel to see which model your account uses. Our Meesho ads guide covers the basics.

How do the programmes compare side by side?

Everything marked "not found" means we could not find it in a primary source as of November 2026. It does not prove the offer never existed for your account.

Worked example: what pay-later does to your cash flow

This is an illustration, not a Flipkart rule. For comparison with a free credit: if you recharge your Amazon Seller Ads Wallet with ₹10,000 under the new-seller offer, the page says you get ₹10,000 of promotional credit as well, so ₹20,000 of ad budget for ₹10,000 of your cash, but the bonus is valid for only 2 months from the credit date. Now the pay-later case. Say you spend ₹30,000 on Flipkart ads in October through ANPL. Your October sales are ₹1,50,000 and payouts are made normally. In early November, ₹30,000 is deducted from your earnings. You did not pay the ₹30,000 in October, so the cash was available for stock. But your November payout is lower by that amount. If your ads did not bring in enough sales, you have spent next month's cash.

The practical rule: model ad spend against the contribution margin of the orders it brings, not against sales. Our guide to ACOS, TACOS and ROAS shows how.

When is pay-later credit a good idea?

It suits you when your catalogue converts reliably, ad spend is a small share of earnings and your working capital is tight at the start of a sale season. It is a poor fit when your ACOS is already above your margin or you are testing new products with no conversion history. Credit does not fix weak listings. Plan the big spends with a festive season ads budget plan and compare platform economics in Flipkart ads vs Amazon ads.

FAQ

Does Flipkart give free ad credits to sellers? We found no confirmed free-credit programme on Flipkart, unlike Amazon.in's new-seller offer. What Flipkart announced is Advertise Now, Pay Later, where spend is recovered from your earnings the next month. Any free credit offered to your account will show in the Ads section of Seller Hub.

Is Flipkart Advertise Now, Pay Later charged interest? The July 2025 launch coverage reports no joining fees, interest, penalties or hidden charges. We could not open a Flipkart terms page confirming this for November 2026, so read the terms in your own account.

How do I switch on Advertise Now, Pay Later? Reports say sellers can activate it from the Flipkart Ads portal, and that eligible sellers without existing credit access have it on by default. Credit limits and eligibility rules were not published in the reports we could open.

Does Amazon.in give ad credit to new sellers? Amazon.in lists promotional credits for India-based sellers who launch Amazon Ads on or after 1 March 2026: ₹1,000 on sign-up plus credits tied to your first wallet recharge and spend, up to ₹26,000 in total. Read the terms PDF on the offer page.

Does Meesho give free ad credit? Not confirmed. A secondary report mentions occasional limited-time credits, without dates or amounts. Meesho's own panel and your account manager are the only reliable sources.

Is ad credit the same as a loan? Pay-later credit works like short-term credit because you owe the money, even when no interest is charged. It is recovered from earnings, so it reduces your later payout.

Can I use ad credit on any campaign type? For Flipkart ANPL, launch coverage lists Product Listing Ads, Product Contextual Ads and recommended campaigns. Other formats were not mentioned.

Get help planning ad spend

If you are deciding how much to put into ads across Flipkart, Amazon and Meesho, Blooprint's marketplace ads management team can review your margins and set budgets that your payouts can carry. Blooprint is a Bengaluru e-commerce agency and an Amazon Ads Advanced Partner.