Wildberries and Ozon, two of Russia’s largest online marketplaces, wrote sellers out of compensation for war damage
Russian e-commerce platform Ozon has revised its seller agreement to specify that the company will not compensate sellers for goods lost or damaged due to military action, a state of emergency, shelling, mass unrest, or “other similar circumstances.”
Bestseller, Ozon’s marketplace media outlet, reported the change on June 11, but Russian media outlets and Telegram channels did not pick up on it until July 18 — after Ukrainian drones struck warehouses belonging to the online retailer Wildberries in the Moscow and Tambov regions.
The revised terms took effect on June 12. Under the updated agreement, sellers assume the business risk and release Ozon from any claims stemming from, among other things:
- Combat, military, or defense operations
- Martial law
- Mass unrest
- The launch, use, impact, hit, or fall of unmanned aerial vehicles for any purpose
- Weapons fire of any kind
In early July, Wildberries similarly added a clause to its seller agreement freeing the marketplace from liability if it fails to meet its obligations during a drone attack. Those terms took effect on July 7.
On July 18, Wildberries chief executive Tatyana Kim, commenting on the drone strikes that hit the marketplace’s warehouses, reminded sellers that the company is not obligated to compensate them for lost goods but added that the marketplace is “working out” how much to pay sellers and what other financial support it might offer.
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