Marketplaces will be prohibited from issuing paid returns of goods
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Marketplaces are going to be banned from demanding money from customers for returning goods. This measure is contained in the new bill on the regulation of trading platforms, RBC has reviewed it. The initiative assumes that in addition to the general rules, the law will also spell out additional ones for those market players who occupy more than 20%. In particular, they will be prohibited from changing the provisions of contracts and worsening conditions for sellers or owners of order delivery points without warning at least 30 days in advance. It will also not be possible to impose services that are not related to e-commerce and create advantages for the sale of own brands.
What will this change in the market? Marketplace expert Artem Bobtsov believes that the most questions arise about the size of the commissions that are specified in the bill: “Most of the provisions that are in this bill have already been discussed in one way or another or were put up for discussion in previous versions of the bills. Except for one thing that currently raises the most questions is the limitation of the maximum commission for marketplaces at 10%.
The fact is that today the average commission for marketplaces is 20-25%, which is what allows them to expand. The commission limit at 10% is a very dubious innovation. For marketplaces, the cost of shipping an iPhone and a ballpoint pen is exactly the same. But 10% on an iPhone is an excessive commission, on electronics it is several percent, and in the case of a ballpoint pen, delivery will be at a loss. Then marketplaces will have to remove all inexpensive goods from sale.
Speaking of paid returns, only one marketplace currently has it, the largest in terms of turnover. And the legislator is quite successfully fighting this through the FAS and Rospotrebnadzor. In general, it has been preserved only for goods such as hygiene items, personal items and dietary supplements. I think there won’t be any particular problems with this, since marketplaces are also not very interested in charging customers for returns.”
As the developers of the bill suggest, the requirements for service agreements should become general. Venues will have to check documents and profiles of counterparties. In general, all these measures will help protect the rights of conscientious small businesses and consumers, noted independent retail innovation expert Boris Agatov: “The rapid growth of this segment is accompanied by serious imbalances that the owners themselves are not able to resolve.
The initiatives that have now been announced seem quite significant at this stage. They will make the situation easier for marketplace partners and make the position of consumers somewhat more protected. This business is evolving rapidly, and some measures are required today, and others may be required tomorrow, in order to balance all participants, have a better shopping experience and not introduce any unnecessary imbalances into the economy at all.”
If the bill is approved, it should come into force in March 2025. The Federal Antimonopoly Service will monitor compliance with all rules. “Kommersant FM” sent inquiries to major market players, marketplaces Wildberries and Ozon, as well as the Association of Internet Trading Companies.
Everything is clear with us – Telegram channel “Kommersant FM”.
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