Sale or return is one of the oldest arrangements in fashion retail, and Myntra uses it as one of its seller models alongside marketplace fulfilment options. Under SOR the brand ships inventory to Myntra's warehouse; Myntra lists, stores, picks, packs and delivers; the brand invoices only for units that customers buy and keep; and stock that does not sell within the agreed period is returned to the brand. Ownership of the goods stays with the brand until the sale, which is what separates SOR from an outright purchase, where the platform buys stock on a purchase order and takes the inventory risk itself.
How it works
The mechanics typically run like this:
- Brand and Myntra agree a range, quantities, the commission or margin, the SOR period and the return terms.
- The brand inwards stock to the Myntra fulfilment centre with a delivery challan (not a sale invoice), because no sale has occurred yet.
- Myntra sells the units; the brand raises sale invoices for units sold, net of customer returns.
- Myntra deducts its commission, logistics and other agreed fees and pays the balance on the settlement cycle.
- At the end of the season or SOR period, unsold units are returned to the brand or, by agreement, marked down.
Worked example: a footwear brand places 2,000 pairs at ₹1,999 MRP into Myntra on SOR. Over the season 1,400 pairs sell, of which 200 come back as customer returns, leaving 1,200 net sales worth ₹23.98 lakh at MRP. If the agreed commission is 22% and logistics and other fees average ₹90 per unit, Myntra retains about ₹5.28 lakh in commission plus ₹1.08 lakh in fees, and pays the brand roughly ₹17.6 lakh. The 800 unsold pairs come back to the brand's own stock. Commission rates on Myntra vary by category and agreement and are not published; the 22% here is illustrative.
Why it matters for sellers
SOR gives a brand shelf presence and Myntra's fulfilment speed without waiting for a purchase order, and the platform will usually list a wider range on SOR than it would buy outright, because it takes no inventory risk. The cost is that the brand carries that risk instead: unsold stock, returns handling, and capital locked in someone else's warehouse for a season. For fashion, where sell-through is seasonal and size curves are hard to forecast, SOR is often the only way a new brand gets breadth.
How to manage it
- Negotiate the SOR period and return condition (saleable, with original packaging) in writing before the first inward.
- Inward on a delivery challan and keep the GST treatment straight: stock transfer first, sale invoice only on sale.
- Track sell-through by size and colour weekly and pull back slow variants before the season ends.
- Agree markdown rules in advance so end-of-season clearance does not become a dispute.
- Reconcile Myntra's settlement against your net-sales ledger every cycle; SOR statements are easy to misread.
Blooprint's Myntra account management service models SOR versus outright for each range and handles settlement reconciliation. Read how to sell on Myntra for the full set of seller models.