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Yandex Market is set to introduce a fixed service fee of 20 rubles per order, a move announced by the company’s press service, as reported by TASS. The fee, which is less than one percent of the average transaction on the platform, will be implemented to support the expansion and maintenance of Yandex Market’s technological infrastructure. Initially, this service charge will apply to orders in Moscow, the Moscow region, Yekaterinburg, and Nizhny Novgorod, with plans to gradually expand to more cities.
According to The Bell, the fee will only be applied to goods of good quality that Yandex Market successfully delivers to the buyer. Notably, the fee has already been included in the cost of orders for users in Moscow, as observed by Novaya Gazeta. Yandex Market, recognized as one of Russia’s leading online marketplaces, hosts a vast inventory that reached 108 million products by the end of the second quarter of 2024. The platform also reported having 80.6 thousand active sellers as of June.
The decision to implement this service fee comes after significant corporate restructuring within Yandex. In July 2024, Yandex, the Russian tech giant, and Yandex N.V., (now Nebius Group) completed a long-anticipated split, a deal first reported by Meduza back in 2022. . Post-division, Yandex’s founder, Arkady Volozh, has continued to develop various businesses independently abroad, while Yandex Market remains under the development of the Russian company.
This new fee structure reflects Yandex Market’s strategy to sustain its competitive edge in the marketplace by investing in the necessary technological enhancements. The gradual rollout of the fee across different regions signals a careful approach to balancing user experience with the company’s infrastructural needs.