The orders are pouring in. Phones are buzzing in shops and homes across Pakistan, because the Daraz 11.11 sale is the biggest shopping week of the year. For daraz 11.11 sale sellers, the numbers look wonderful at first glance. More orders, more customers, and more sales than any normal week. But behind the record orders sits a harder question. When the discounts are counted and the returned parcels come back, how much profit is actually left?
This year’s sale runs from 10 November to 21 November, and it opened with discounts of up to 75% on more than 100 brands. Shoppers love it, and sellers should too. Yet the maths of a mega sale is not as simple as it looks. Deep discounts, advertising costs and returned cash-on-delivery parcels all eat into what a seller keeps. So this article looks at the other side of 11.11 — the seller’s side.
Daraz 11.11 Sale Sellers: The Record Behind the Headlines
Last year’s sale set the bar high. Daraz reported after the 2025 campaign that more than 48,000 sellers beat their previous 11.11 sales. That made 2025 the best 11.11 yet for the seller community. Brands on DarazMall, the platform’s channel for leading brands, recorded 50X growth during the campaign. And partners that joined the Brand Rush Hour windows saw their orders jump by 700%.
Shoppers browsed more than 10 million discounted products. Makeup, women’s fashion, audio, skincare and men’s fashion were the top categories. Lip gloss, unstitched 3-piece suits, earbuds and smartwatches were among the most ordered items. Digital payments grew too, with Easypaisa transactions running more than 12 times higher than a normal trading day. And 92% of customers said they were satisfied with the experience.
How Big Is the 11.11 Sale in 2026?
This year’s sale is bigger still. It opened at 8pm on 10 November and runs until 21 November, giving shoppers 12 days of deals. Daily vouchers are worth up to Rs 14,000, including a Rs 7,500 Prime Voucher at launch. There are also 116 prizes worth Rs 1.8 million up for grabs. Big names such as Samsung, Haier, Dawlance, TCL, J., SAYA and L’Oréal are all part of the campaign.
Fashion is one of the busiest corners of the sale, because shoppers compare clothing deals across brands before they buy. For the best clothing offers in this year’s sale, see our guide to the Daraz 11.11 clothing deals.
Brand Rush Hour and the Discount Race
The sale opened with Brand Rush Hour, a six-hour window from 8pm to 2am with discounts of up to 75% on more than 100 brands. Shoppers could stack an extra 14% off with eligible vouchers, and bank discounts of up to 30% applied in the first six hours. Brand Rush Hour returns on 15 November and again on 21 November, so the pressure peaks three times during the sale.
For sellers, these windows are a double-edged sword. A place in Brand Rush Hour can multiply orders in a single evening, because millions of shoppers are watching at the same time. But to earn that spot, sellers must offer the deep discounts shoppers expect. And when every shop is cutting prices at once, standing out gets harder, not easier. Fashion sellers feel this most, and our roundup of the 11.11 clothing brands shows how deep the offers run.
What Deep Discounts Cost Daraz 11.11 Sale Sellers
A discount looks simple, but its maths is brutal. If a seller cuts the price by 20%, each order earns far less, so many more orders are needed just to earn the same profit. A small cut can wipe out the margin on a product entirely. And discounts are only the first cost. Sellers also pay to be seen: in last year’s sale, up to 2,300 sellers and brands ran Daraz ads, 40% more than the year before.
Big brands can spread these costs. They share discount funding with the platform and the banks, and they sell in huge volumes. A small seller has no such cushion. Every rupee off the price comes straight out of a thin margin, and every ad rupee is spent before a single order arrives. So the seller who drops prices the furthest is not always the seller who earns the most.
Cash on Delivery Still Rules in Pakistan
Then comes the payment problem. Nearly 70% of online shoppers in Pakistan still prefer cash on delivery, and more than 30% of the population has no bank account at all. For buyers, COD feels safe, because they pay only when the parcel is in their hands. If the product is wrong, they can hand it straight back. For sellers, though, COD means shipping every order on trust.
Refusing COD is not a real option. A shop that only takes prepaid orders turns away most of the market. So sellers accept COD, and they accept the risk that comes with it. That risk shows up at the doorstep, when a parcel is refused. The cost of those refusals is real, and it is explained in this guide to reducing COD returns.
The Returns Problem: One in Five Parcels Comes Back
About one in five COD parcels in Pakistan comes back undelivered. DHL puts the national return-to-origin rate at roughly 18% to 20%, and a 2026 study of around 127,000 COD parcels from one large retailer found a return rate of 19.4%. That means a seller who ships 100 parcels during the sale can expect about 20 of them to come back.
Each return costs money twice over. The seller pays the forward delivery, then pays again for the trip back. Packaging is wasted, and staff must inspect and repackage the returned item before it can be sold again. Courier charges for a 1kg intercity parcel run around Rs 230 to Rs 330, with COD handling fees of roughly Rs 100 to Rs 200 on top. On a low-priced item, one return can wipe out the profit from several good orders.
Sale weeks make returns worse. A buyer who orders on impulse may change their mind before the parcel arrives. And a buyer who finds the same item cheaper two days later can simply refuse the delivery. So the same discounts that bring in orders can also push the return rate up.
What Smart Sellers Do Differently
The sellers who profit from 11.11 are rarely the ones with the deepest discounts. Instead, they protect their margins and cut their returns. A confirmation call or WhatsApp message before dispatch catches fake orders early, because a buyer who never replies is unlikely to accept the parcel. Some sellers ask for a one-time password at checkout to prove the phone number is real.
Small incentives can shift buyers towards prepaid orders. A discount of 5% to 10%, cashback or free delivery on prepaid orders gives shoppers a reason to pay in advance. Clear delivery times help too, because many refusals happen when the buyer is not home or has no cash ready. And when a parcel is out for delivery, a tracking alert lets the buyer prepare for it.
There is also a smarter way to compete than cutting prices. A free gift, a bundle deal or faster dispatch can win an order without touching the price. These extras cost far less than a deep discount, and they keep the margin intact. The goal is not the most orders. It is the most profit from the orders you get.
The Good News for Daraz 11.11 Sale Sellers
None of this means the sale is bad for sellers. Far from it. Last year, more than 48,000 sellers beat their previous records, and new brands used 11.11 to reach a national audience for the first time. Names such as Loyi, Kabishah and Sereno were among the rising stars of the campaign. For a small business in any corner of Pakistan, the sale is still the biggest shop window of the year.
Digital payments are growing too. Easypaisa transactions ran more than 12 times higher than a normal day during last year’s sale, and every prepaid order is one less return risk. So the sellers who do best are the ones who use the sale to win new customers, then keep them with good service. Footwear is one of the busiest sale categories too, and our shoe sale roundup shows how many brands compete on price during sale season.
Big Orders or Real Profit: What Do You Think?
The 11.11 sale will end on 21 November, and the order counts will look impressive once again. But the real scorecard is not the number of orders. It is what sellers keep after discounts, ads and returns. The sellers who plan for that — who confirm orders, protect their prices and push prepaid payment — will come out ahead.
So here is the question for sellers and shoppers alike. Is a record week of orders worth it if the profit is thin? And for shoppers, does a refused parcel cost more than it saves? Share your experience in the comments, because the other side of 11.11 deserves to be heard too.
