Wildberries ready for talks with Visa and Mastercard, but yet to receive their proposals
MOSCOW. Aug 18 (Interfax) - Wildberries, Russia's biggest online marketplace whose decision to charge commission on purchases made with Visa and Mastercard cards has drawn criticism from the payment systems, is ready for talks with them.
"Wildberries welcomes the readiness of Mastercard and Visa for talks, but has not yet received any proposals from them," the retailer's press office told Interfax.
"We are open to talks and dialog, and are ready to discuss terms for doing business with them," it said.
Wildberries said that from August 16 it had lowered its prices to reflect commission that had previously been included in the price of goods. Given that payment systems set varying commissions, customers can now themselves choose which system is more convenient for them and which is better, the company said. Buyers can save money by using Russia's Mir, Express Payment System or Sberpay, but the commission when using Visa and Mastercard will be as before.
"Thanks to a new feature, pricing has become even more transparent for buyers and takes into account not only the current promotions and personal loyalty program discounts, but also the commissions of payment systems. Users can now see how what the price of goods comprises and how they can save more money when shopping on Wildberries," the company said.
But Visa and Mastercard have issues with this. "We firmly oppose this practice because we are convinced that such actions negatively affect not only consumers, but also the business itself. We are convinced that consumers should have the opportunity to choose the most convenient payment method for themselves. We are currently looking into the situation with the partner, however the rules of the Visa payment system, our tariffs and position regarding the charging of additional commission when paying with cards remain unchanged," Visa said.
Alexei Malinovsky, the head of Mastercard in Russia, said the company was analyzing the situation with Wildberries and was concerned about possible discrimination against millions of Mastercard cardholders who are active e-commerce market participants. "According to our payment system's rules, merchants are prohibited from charging additional commission (surcharge) from the cardholder," he said.
Wildberries said accusations of discrimination against were groundless as tariffs Mastercard and Visa themselves set the tariffs. Wildberries does not influence those tariffs and does not generate them.
"Wildberries is in favor of transparent pricing. Now Russians can see how good are priced, taking into account the commissions of various payment systems, and how they can save by choosing one payment system or another," it said.
"Western payment systems currently have a significant share of the Russian market and are dictating the terms for domestic businesses to operate. We have said repeatedly to representatives of Western payment systems that their commissions are too high for the market and exceed the tariffs of domestic systems, but their position has not changed," Wildberries said.
