If you listened to any of the recent news from eBay it’s that Russia is not only one of the fastest growing places in the world for eBay, it’s also a huge opportunity for the future. According to comScore Russia has the largest Internet user base in Europe, with 61.3 million Russians online that’s about 15% of the European web population. The number of Russians online is also growing faster than anywhere else in Europe barring Italy.
It’s no surprise that eBay are focusing their efforts on the emerging markets and Russia is right up at the top of the list for John Donahoe. If you’re not already making your products available for purchase in Russia you should be.
Latest update from Russia is that eBay are airing TV ads to Russia buyers. (Thanks Andre from eSeller Solutions for spotting it).
6 Responses
Dear Ebay,
I have switched off Russian buyers, because there is no competent way of tracking parcels in Russia. They are all quick to do paypal chargebacks. I find them difficult to deal with, and they seem to know all the steps to get their money back. Until their postal system improves, I will not trade with them.
Parcels seem to take ages to reach Russian buyers, sometimes 8 weeks or more.
It is a relatively untapped market, but their postal service cannot cope.
Have many buyers saying that their item has not arrived. Will have to consider stop selling to Russia as well until the problem is fixed or loose more money in ‘Item Not Received’ claims.
Same here, we have switched off Russian buyers for the same reasons, so much time spent dealing with frustrated customers and then money lost refunding them. Not worth the time and energy.
“If you’re not already making your products available for purchase in Russia you should be.”
Is that advice from the editorial staff at Tamebay or is it copy from the ebay spin doctors?
The comments above suggest issues. What are the experiences of the article author?
To avoid Russia I use the European Union post to europe option. Means I don’t have to put customs labels/contents reveals on the packaging for Euro packets.
Have to say this was something I was discussing with my business partner today. Recently we have found more sales going to Russia.
However we are looking at about 50-60% not begin received. If this continues, we will look to stop this. As others have said, I think it is a postal issue.