Court finds Wildberries' practice of paid returns for poor quality or defective products illegal

The Podolsk City Court of the Moscow region recognized illegal the paid return of goods that are of poor quality or defective in the Wildberries online store. Wildberries plans to appeal this decision.

Nikolai Drozd, Deputy Head of the Moscow Region Department of the Federal Service for the Protection of Consumer Rights and Human Welfare Control (Rospotrebnadzor), told RBC that in early March 2023, the Rosspotrebnadzor Department of the Moscow Region filed a lawsuit against Wildberries LLC, Russia's largest online store by turnover. On April 13, the lawsuit was satisfied, and the actions of the online store were recognized as illegal.

During the trial, it was proven that Wildberries LLC committed "violations of applicable law" during online sales by "charging or withholding money from consumers for return shipping when they refused to accept products of poor quality."

According to Rospotrebnadzor, the deputy head of the department of the Moscow region, if the buyers have discovered defects or problems in the purchased goods that were not mentioned by the seller, they have the right to:

• Demand that it be replaced by the same brand, with a different brand, recalculating the price of the goods,
• Demand free elimination of defects,
• Refuse the purchase and request a refund of the amount paid for the product,
• Demand full compensation for damages caused by the sale of substandard products.

Wildberries' representatives, however, do not agree with the court's decision and intend to appeal it in a higher court.

"The court did not fully understand the circumstances of the case: the representatives of the company were not present because they were not properly notified and could not present their arguments," the company's representative said in response to RBC.