Russia’s leading marketplaces outlined measures to address regulator demands for fairer treatment of domestic sellers.
Wildberries and Ozon have responded to complaints from Russia’s antitrust regulator, the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS), over alleged discrimination against domestic sellers.
Ozon said it had submitted proposals to the regulator, including capping the maximum sales commission charged to sellers and fixing the source of discounts so they are funded solely from sales commissions. Wildberries, for its part, said it would equalize commissions for Russian and Chinese sellers.
Earlier, the FAS had called on marketplaces to set economically justified commission rates for both foreign and domestic sellers and eliminate discriminatory practices.
Wildberries said it had developed a set of measures and presented them to the regulator following a meeting of the FAS expert council on competition in IT. In addition to aligning commissions, the company plans to improve seller interaction mechanisms in pricing management and automate a system allowing sellers to voluntarily opt out of platform-funded discounts. Sellers will now be able to switch discounts on or off in their personal accounts.
The company is also preparing a commercial policy aimed at improving transparency and predictability for businesses operating on its platform. The policy, which will define pricing principles and rules for platform-funded discounts, will soon be submitted to the FAS for approval.
Ozon told Forbes it had proposed limiting the maximum commission rate and ensuring that discounts are financed only through sales commissions. The company said these measures would provide predictability for sellers while maintaining attractive prices for millions of customers.
“If the source of discounts is not fixed, companies will be able to ‘shift’ their costs into logistics, promotion and other services for sellers. Such an approach is unfavorable for entrepreneurs and does not стимулирует fair competition in the market,”
Ozon said.
The marketplace also proposed banning platforms from funding discounts in one product category using commission revenues from other categories. Cross-subsidization could disadvantage certain categories and limit growth opportunities for sellers, the company said.
Ozon called for clearly defined restrictions to be developed in consultation with all marketplaces, suggesting the FAS could act as a mediator. The agreed standards should then be закреплены in a legal act or memorandum adopted simultaneously by all platforms, it added.
“On Ozon, sellers can opt out of promotions at any time, but this option is not popular: only 2% of sellers have declined platform-funded discounts, and six out of ten later re-enabled them in their accounts,”
a company representative said.
In February, Economy Minister Maxim Reshetnikov proposed requiring marketplaces to set commissions for foreign sellers at no lower levels than those applied to Russian sellers. The measure was suggested for inclusion in a memorandum on fair platform practices signed in November 2025 by Wildberries & Russ, Ozon and Avito.
Source: Forbes
