They wanted to write off 2 billion rubles from WB sellers. Does the punishment fit the crime?

Expert opinions and discussion around another scandal related to the marketplace.

Everyone already knows about the next Wildberries scandal. This time, the company wants to charge sellers 2 billion rubles on suspicion of advertising fraud.

A special bot appeared in Telegram that offered Wildberries sellers inexpensive advertising of their products on the site. The sellers used the services of the bot and really got a huge boost on the site. The marketplace estimates the damage at 650 million rubles.

After the discovery of the fact of fraud, WB began to issue fines.

According to the security service of the marketplace, the employee or employees of the company are guilty of organizing fraud.

Yesterday there was a siege of the company’s office. The protesters counted a total of more than 2 billion rubles in fines. A shadow ban or blocking of the LC of suspects was also applied. They can say goodbye to the WB business.

I propose to discuss the situation, as it is ambiguous. And although today WB suspended accruals and promised to look into each case individually, we all understand how Wildberries can “understand”.

In the morning I gave an interview to MoscowFM about the situation and expressed my opinion. I can say right away: the public is against the actions of the marketplace and is on the side of the protesters.

But everything is not so clear!

What do the experts say?

In general, the logic of WB is clear. Scale is the tenth question, but the logic itself is clear. Did you promote goods on WB? promoted. Did you pay the WB to use their tools? No. Want to save on gray schemes? So, I was aware of the risks, so keep an account for 2 billion))

Let’s imagine a similar scheme with the state: some uncle says that he has access to the database of the Federal Tax Service, and he can write off your company’s taxes for a third of the price; you pay, taxes are written off, but a year later the scheme is opened, what will happen next?

That’s right, they will put you and the organizer in charge of the bottle, they will force you to pay for everything again, they will impose more fines and a criminal case from above.

So, 2 billion is tolerable. As in that Jewish wisdom: “Thank you, Lord, for taking money.”

Yuri Sapozhnikov. Founder of the telegram channel “From commerce to e-commerce”

In general, there is logic in this. Especially when it comes to the letter of the law.

I see 2 global problems of Wildberries in this situation:

1. Lack of communication between the marketplace and sellers. Sellers simply have no one to ask questions. In conditions where changes in the offer can occur several times a day, I suspect that some of the sellers did not even realize that they were paying money for advertising not to the marketplace, but to scammers / services, etc.

2. There is still no tool on Wildberries to legally motivate customers to leave reviews (on Ozon this tool is called “reviews for points”). So, sellers, in order for them to start their first sales, use various services, gray and black methods, to get goods into the TOP. Well, make you a legal tool and the problem will go away. But, apparently, Wildberries earn more money on fines and such a tool is not profitable for them.”

Denis Vetrennikov. SellerDen Ecosystem CEO

My opinion:

It must be understood that WB sets short-term profit as its main goal. I am sure that KPI of top management is tied exclusively to it. This is the only marketplace that showed profitability the year before last and even last year.

And if Ozon and Ya.Market have plans to invest in development, robotization, and they are ready not to earn money while the market is growing, then WB is not ready.

And since inside the company they are not used to solving problems with technologies and systems, they solve them with fines. And it doesn’t matter who these fines are imposed on – on sellers, pickup points or end consumers.

Have you noticed that such cases are growing like a snowball? Major scandals are already more than once a month. Small – almost every week.

Why 2 billion and not 650 million? Because, apparently, this amount of costs is not enough to plan. And you also need to show the sellers that any “gray” schemes will be punishable by death (cross out) exit from the business and debts.

Write your opinion on the situation in the comments:

👉Is the company right, should it prosecute sellers who confessed to fraud?

👉 Or does the punishment not fit the crime?

I’m leading telegram channel about profitable niches e-commerce business. Weekly project reviews. Fly in.