Most advice about mistakes in online selling focuses on the launch: picking the wrong product, buying too much stock, pricing without counting costs. Those matter, and our guide on how to start an online business in India covers them.
This article is about what comes next. The mistakes below show up after the first orders start arriving, when a seller is busy, learning on the job and too close to the work to notice small leaks. Each is common, each costs real money, and each has a fairly simple fix.
Mistakes in shipping and packing
1. Guessing parcel weights and dimensions
When orders pick up, it is tempting to enter “0.5 kg” for everything. Couriers weigh and measure parcels in their hubs, and if their figure is higher, you are charged the difference. Since couriers charge on the higher of actual and volumetric weight, a guessed box size is as risky as a guessed weight.
Fix: Weigh every parcel on a digital scale, measure each box size once and save it, and photograph the parcel on the scale with the label visible. Those photos are your evidence if a charge is disputed. Our guide on courier weight disputes explains the process in full.
2. Relying on a single courier for every pincode
A courier that delivers well to Pune may struggle in parts of the North-East or in remote areas of Rajasthan. New sellers often stay with the first courier they used and blame buyers when parcels come back.
Fix: Look at delivery times and failed attempts by region every month. Where one courier struggles, try another on that lane. Our guide on why sellers move to a multi-courier shipping platform lists the warning signs.
3. Packaging that survives your table but not the journey
A parcel goes through several hubs, conveyor belts and vans. Thin mailers for glass, unsealed bottles and loose items in big boxes all come back as damage claims or angry reviews.
Fix: Send a test parcel to a friend in a distant city every time you introduce a new product or new packaging. Use corner protection, sealed inner pouches for liquids and filler that stops movement.
Mistakes with COD, failed deliveries and returns
4. Shipping COD orders without confirming them
COD orders placed on impulse, with a half-typed address or a wrong phone number, are among the most common reasons parcels come back. You pay shipping both ways and the stock is stuck in transit for days.
Fix: Confirm every COD order by phone or WhatsApp before booking, checking the address, landmark, pincode and phone number. Hold orders you cannot confirm. Our RTO reduction playbook covers address checks and pincode rules in detail.
5. Ignoring failed delivery attempts
When a courier cannot deliver, the parcel usually gets limited further attempts before it starts its journey back to you. Sellers who check their failed-delivery list once a week find out too late.
Fix: Check failed delivery attempts every morning, call or message the buyer the same day, and request a reattempt with corrected details. On Courier Tales, failed delivery attempts are listed in your dashboard for action, and RTO shipments stay visible until they reach your pickup address.
6. No written return policy, or one you don’t follow
Without a clear policy, every return turns into a negotiation over chat. Sellers end up accepting some returns and refusing others, and buyers notice the inconsistency.
Fix: Write a short policy covering what can be returned, within how many days, who pays return shipping and how refunds are made, and apply it the same way every time. India’s Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020 also expect clear information on returns, refunds and return shipping costs; confirm how they apply to you with a lawyer or CA.
Mistakes with money
7. Not reconciling COD remittances
You shipped 300 COD orders last month. Did you receive the money for every delivered one, minus the charges you expected? Many new sellers never check, and small gaps go unnoticed for months.
Fix: Every week, match delivered COD orders against remittances received and charges deducted. Our guide on COD reconciliation includes a simple sheet. On Courier Tales, you can follow COD collections against each order.
Losing track of shipments and COD? Follow COD collections against each order, act on failed deliveries and respond to weight disputes from one dashboard.
8. Mixing business and personal money
Paying for packaging from your personal UPI, receiving settlements into a family account, buying stock on a personal card: it feels simpler at first. By month three, nobody can tell whether the business is making money.
Fix: Open a separate bank account for the business, route every receipt and payment through it, and keep courier invoices, remittance statements and gateway reports in one folder.
9. Measuring revenue instead of profit per order
“We did ₹3 lakh this month” says little if returns, discounts, COD charges and ad spend took most of it. New sellers often chase order count and discover the margin problem only when cash runs out.
Fix: Every month, work out profit per order by product and by channel. Include the full shipping cost, including return trips. Our guide to shipping cost per order shows how to calculate that piece properly.
Mistakes with customers
10. Slow replies once orders get busy
In the first weeks, the founder replies to every message within minutes. When orders grow, replies slip to the next day. Pre-purchase questions go unanswered and buyers whose parcel is late assume the worst.
Fix: Set fixed reply windows (for example, three times a day), use saved replies for common questions, and state your hours on your website and WhatsApp profile. Answer delivery problems first, because those buyers are about to refuse a parcel or post a review.
11. Faking or buying reviews
Asking friends to post five-star reviews, or writing them yourself, is tempting when a listing has none. Marketplaces detect and remove them, buyers increasingly spot them, and India’s e-commerce rules prohibit sellers from posing as consumers to post reviews.
Fix: Ask real buyers for honest reviews after delivery, make it easy with a direct link, and reply to every critical review with a solution.
12. Discounting to compete instead of improving the offer
When a competitor lists a similar product for less, the first reaction is to cut price. Margins fall, and the competitor cuts again.
Fix: Compete on what a small seller can do better: accurate photos, faster replies, careful packing, reliable delivery, a bundle or a personal touch. Our guide on how small businesses can compete with big brands covers the strategy.
Quick self-audit
| Question | If the answer is no… |
|---|---|
| Is every parcel weighed and photographed before pickup? | Start today; see mistake 1 |
| Do you know your delivery success rate by region? | Review last month’s shipments |
| Are all COD orders confirmed before booking? | Add a confirmation step |
| Are failed deliveries checked every morning? | Assign someone to own it |
| Did every delivered COD order’s money arrive last month? | Reconcile this week |
| Is business money in a separate account? | Open one |
| Do you know profit per order by product? | Build the sheet this month |
Final thoughts
None of these mistakes is dramatic. Each one is a small leak: a few rupees on a weight difference, a parcel that comes back, a remittance nobody checked, a buyer who never got a reply. Fix them early and they stay small. Leave them and they grow with your order volume.
Create your Courier Tales account to compare courier options per route, act on failed deliveries and keep track of COD and weight disputes in one place.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most expensive mistake new online sellers make?
It varies, but many sellers lose the most money on parcels that come back undelivered, because they pay shipping both ways and the stock may return damaged. Unconfirmed COD orders and incomplete addresses are common causes. Tracking returns by reason quickly shows where your money goes.
How do I know if my online business is actually profitable?
Work out profit per order after every cost: product, packaging, shipping, COD charges, payment charges, returns, platform fees and marketing. Then check that COD money you were owed actually arrived. Revenue and order counts alone do not tell you.
Should I use one courier or several?
One courier is simpler at the start, but no courier serves every pincode equally well. Many sellers add a second or third once they see routes where deliveries are slow or attempts fail often. A multi-courier platform lets you compare them per route without separate accounts.
How quickly should I reply to customer messages?
As quickly as you reasonably can during working hours, and state those hours. Before purchase, a slow reply often means a lost order. After purchase, a slow reply to a delivery problem often means a refused parcel or a bad review.
Sources
- Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020 (G.S.R. 462(E)), Department of Consumer Affairs, Government of India (Gazette of India) (accessed 2 November 2026)
Courier, marketplace and tax rules change. Check the current terms with your courier, marketplace or adviser before relying on them.