Online Convenience Fees: Survey Reveals Majority Pay

New Delhi, Jun 23 (PTI) A majority of respondents admitted paying convenience fees across several online platforms for buying products or services and booking tickets, LocalCircles said on Monday.

The online survey platform claims to have received over 40,000 responses from consumers located in over 321 districts of the country, while the number of replies for each question varied.

The survey, conducted between April 2 to June 21, discovered the scope for online entities that do not charge convenience fees as 78 per cent of respondents expressed that desire to prefer those platforms that do not levy such fees.

"62 per cent of consumers surveyed say they are being charged convenience charges for the majority of the tickets or services they purchase online," the report said.

It found that consumers have paid convenience fees on leading platforms like Flipkart, Amazon, Paytm, Razorpay, Myntra, Ajio, Blinkit, Zepto, BigBasket, PVR, Zomato, Swiggy, Book My Show and even on railways ticket booking platform IRCTC.

According to the survey, 52 per cent of consumers said they have been charged convenience fees for most products they purchased online.

"Not so surprisingly, 78 per cent of consumers surveyed say that they are very likely to prefer platforms that do not levy a convenience fee on product or service purchases over those that do," the report said.