Selling on a marketplace: fines and account blocking

Sellers come to us with the same set of problems: money withheld over returns, a fine imposed for cancelled orders, a product listing blocked just before the high season. And with a sense that arguing is pointless, because "we accepted the offer". Below I set out what in this arrangement genuinely works against the seller, and what can be challenged.

What binds the seller and the platform together

The relationship rests on a contract of adhesion: the public offer, plus rules published on the website, plus amendments that take effect automatically.

The Civil Code gives the adhering party the right to demand that the contract be varied or terminated if it deprives that party of rights ordinarily granted under contracts of that type, or contains manifestly onerous terms. For an entrepreneur this works where the terms were imposed and there was no opportunity to take part in negotiating them — and with a marketplace there is no such opportunity.

In addition, the rules prohibiting abuse of rights apply and, where the platform holds a dominant position, so do the provisions of competition law.

The usual grounds for withholding money, and what to do about them

A fine for cancelling an order or being out of stock. Rarely challenged successfully: the obligation to keep stock available is usually spelled out expressly. What does work is proportionality. If the fine exceeds the value of the order many times over, a court may reduce it under Article 333 as a disproportionate penalty.

Withholding for returns and defective goods. The key question is evidence. The platform has to show that the goods came back, that they are damaged, and that the damage did not arise through its own fault in storage and delivery. Inspection reports, photographs, records of movements. Quite often it turns out that there is nothing to support the withholding, which was made automatically.

Compensation for trade mark infringement. This is where the risk to the seller is highest: the platform blocks the listing on a rights holder's complaint. If the goods are legitimate, you need documents on their origin and either the rights holder's permission or evidence of exhaustion of rights — the goods having been put on the market in Russia with the rights holder's consent.

Blocking of the seller's account. The most painful measure. It is challenged by way of a claim for specific performance of the contract and compensation for losses over the period of downtime.

How to quantify losses

Courts award losses where they are proved. General statements about lost profit do not work.

What persuades: sales statistics for comparable periods, exported from the seller's account; seasonality data; purchase documents for the goods that could not be sold; the cost of storage at the platform's warehouse during the blocking; and correspondence with support in which the platform acknowledges that a restriction was applied.

The closer the calculation is to plain arithmetic, and the fewer assumptions it contains, the better the prospects.

The order of steps

First: preserve the evidence. Dated screenshots of your account, exported reports, correspondence with support — all before access disappears. Once the account is blocked, access to the data is often lost.

Second: ask for the grounds. A written request through the official channel: under which clause of the rules was the measure applied, and which documents establish the breach. The answer will either give you your grounds or show that there are none.

Third: a pre-action letter. It is mandatory for a commercial court dispute. The time for a reply is thirty days unless the rules provide otherwise.

Fourth: court. The claim is filed according to the jurisdiction rules set by the contract — as a rule, at the platform's location. The relief sought: recovery of the sums wrongly withheld, a declaration that the blocking was unlawful, compensation for losses, and interest for the use of another party's money.

What helps in advance

Keep the documents for your goods, including evidence that they were imported lawfully and that you may use the marks on them.

Export your reports regularly, not when the need suddenly arises: sales history is the principal evidence of the size of your losses.

Record the version of the rules in force on the date you started trading: platforms change them frequently, and a dispute is assessed by reference to the version in force when the breach occurred.

Do not keep all your sales on a single platform. That is not legal advice, but it is exactly what saves a business when the account is blocked for three weeks.

This material is for information only and does not replace advice on a specific matter.

If a platform has withheld your money or restricted access to your account, write to us. The first consultation is free when an engagement is signed. There is more about our work on commercial disputes in the practice section.

Kristina Tsypkalo — attorney, Kovalev, Malyutov, Tsypkalo & Partners Bar Association