Four things set it, and one of them surprises people.
1. Size, not just weight
A courier bills the greater of actual weight and volume. A big light parcel — a lampshade, a cushion, a boxed saree with air in it — costs what a heavy one would.
This is the one that catches people out. A 400-gram item in a large box can cost more to send than a 2kg item packed tightly.
2. Distance
The seller sets delivery zones, and a rate per zone. Your PIN code decides which zone you are in. Same city is usually cheapest; the far end of the country is not.
3. The seller's rule
Each store chooses how to charge: free, a flat rate, by weight, or by order value — often with free delivery above a threshold.
So two sellers with identical items can quote very different delivery, and neither is wrong. How delivery is charged
4. Who books the courier
A store that books through Metzee passes the courier's price through. A store delivering itself sets its own. A store offering pickup charges nothing at all.
Two ways to pay less
Buy more from the same store in the same show. Within one store, wins usually combine into one parcel and one charge — that is a seller setting rather than a rule, but most stores have it on and the extra-item charge defaults to nothing. Winning three things often costs one delivery. Do I pay delivery on every item I win?
Collect, where it is offered. Usually free, and nothing is in transit — which for anything heavy or fragile removes the main risk as well as the cost. Can I collect instead of having it posted?
Check before you bid, not after
Check delivery to your area and Enter delivery PIN code on the listing tell you the figure in advance. Thirty seconds at the start of a show covers every item in it, and it stops you discovering a ₹400 charge inside a thirty-minute payment window.
If the store does not reach you at all, you will see Doesn’t deliver to your area — you can collect it. or, at checkout, This store doesn’t deliver to your address.
When it is genuinely worth questioning
If it is wildly out of line with the item's size. Ask the seller — they may have entered the wrong weight or box dimensions, which is a common and easily fixed mistake. A seller who has mis-measured a box is overcharging you by accident and would usually rather know.
If you were charged twice for one parcel. Within one store, with neither item shipped, a seller can refund the difference. Most will, because it is a two-minute fix rather than a dispute.
What is not negotiable
The courier's price. A seller passing through what the courier charges has no margin in it to give you, and asking them to absorb it is asking them to pay to sell to you.
More: how delivery is charged, how do I know the total before I bid, how pickup works.