Too many problems have accumulated
It’s time to put an end to the legal confusion reigning in the e-commerce market. This opinion was expressed by the first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Control, Dmitry Gusev. The lack of clear rules of the game leads to the fact that entrepreneurs cooperating with marketplaces cannot withstand more and more sanctions from trading platforms.
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— There has been a sharp increase in requests from owners of order pick-up points and those involved in logistics. This surge mainly affects Wildberries due to the fact that the company began charging more fines for everything that happens. For example, for defective goods, for loss of goods, for substitution of goods, for contamination of goods by the owners of order pick-up points. There are also big questions regarding the introduction of a service fee by OZON in relation to the owners of delivery points. There are still unrest on the part of the owners of such points due to the fact that OZON will charge them a lot of money for a service fee that has not been registered anywhere before, says Dmitry Gusev, who heads the Supervisory Board of the Association of E-Commerce Market Participants.
However, today not only entrepreneurs, but also banks are expressing concern. Industry leaders believe marketplaces gain a major advantage by integrating financial services directly into the purchasing process. Such activities must be conducted under strict government control to avoid potential risks and abuses.
As Alexey Koitov, co-chairman of the Russian Consumer Union for the digital sphere and international relations, notes, the number of conflicts between participants in the marketplace market has grown significantly in recent years, which means that it is impossible to do without government intervention.
— My approach is based on a simple principle: if the market dynamics are higher or correspond to the dynamics of the number of conflicts that we see in the courts, then everything is fine, the market copes on its own. If the dynamics of conflicts grow more than the market itself, then something is wrong. Recently, marketplaces have been growing at a double rate year-on-year, and the number of court cases in arbitration in 2021 increased by 2.9 times, in 2022 by 2.4 times, and in 2023 by 3.5 times. . That is, the level of conflict is off the charts, and this, unfortunately, means that marketplaces cannot cope with the problems that arise in the market,” said Alexey Koitov during a round table organized by the Faculty of Law of Moscow State University.
At the same round table, OZON Managing Director Sergei Belyakov admitted that regulation of the activities of marketplaces is necessary.
— Despite the fact that I am a representative of the company, I, in general, have a fairly confident position that yes, it is necessary, because the volumes, both of all e-commerce, and on the scale of each of the leading players in the industry, are such that the risks of abuse of the dominant provisions really exist. Of course, it is necessary to introduce fairly clear rules defining conscientious or dishonest behavior and responsibility, emphasized Sergei Belyakov.
Today, several bills regulating the activities of marketplaces are being considered by the State Duma. We are talking about amendments to the laws “On Trade” and “On Protection of Consumer Rights”, and about the industry law for electronic platforms.
— We need to go further, adopt a separate law. How is this done in other countries, for example in China. The share of online commerce in China is higher than in Russia. At the same time, there is a fairly strict law according to which sites operate. And everything is fine, the industry is developing successfully,” summed up Dmitry Gusev.