FAS recommended Wildberries to abandon abrupt changes in working conditions at the site

The FAS Expert Council called on the Wildberries marketplace to abandon unilateral actions that drastically change the working conditions and the purchase of goods on the site. About it informs “Kommersant” with reference to the minutes of the meeting. The FAS told the newspaper that the company must respond to the recommendations by May 30.

It is also recommended to Wildberries to create a mechanism for pre-trial settlement of disputes and work out practices “with a view to establishing reasonable and proportionate conditions for users.” The company noted that they are actively interacting with the FAS, and promised to present the results of the study of issues from the protocol.

Wildberries added that the offer is the same for all partners, changes to it come in seven days from the date of publication. They clarified that the finalization of the document is a matter of interaction with the Federal Antimonopoly Service. The company also plans to develop a mechanism for pre-trial settlement. Business associations and independent experts are expected to be involved in this process.

Kommersant, citing SPARK data, writes that since the beginning of 2023, more than 560 claims against the marketplace have been filed with arbitration courts, and about 730 applications in 2022.

In March, some of the owners of the PVZ went on strike due to the introduction of penalties by Wildberries for returning goods due to marriage or substitution. In response, the company suspended the work of outlets that “choose uncivilized forms of dialogue.” Soon, deputies of the State Duma and the Ministry of Labor intervened in the conflict, after which Wildberries agreed to freeze about 10,000 fines and unblocked 15 pickup points.

In the Ministry of Industry and Trade urged marketplace to strengthen feedback with employees. FAS instructed Wildberries to create internal arbitration to resolve emerging disputes and finalize the offer.

Another incident between Wildberries and suppliers occurred in early May. The company revealed illegal methods of promotion on the marketplace, due to which the site lost about 650 million rubles. In this regard, Wildberries turned to law enforcement agencies to initiate a criminal case on fraud on an especially large scale. According to Wildberries, the attackers created a Telegram bot, where they provided their services to site sellers. About 300 sellers could use the “gray promotion” on the online platform.

On the evening of May 11, several dozen sellers of the site staged a rally outside the company’s office in Moscow. They claimed they were billed for the promotion. According to the representative of the sellers, lawyer Alexander Baksheev, about 2 billion rubles could be written off from suppliers. After that Wildberries suspended accruals for advertising during the period of investigative measures.