What changes for sellers in practice. The penalty is fixed and "piecemeal", that is, with large batches, an error in packaging turns into a systemic loss of margin. This is especially painful for products with low margins and high turnover: household chemicals, cosmetics, consumables. It is these categories that are chosen first — they leak more often, dirty neighboring positions and give a chain of claims: damage → refund → negative feedback → increased logistical losses of the marketplace.
It is important to understand the logic of the site: a fine is not just a punishment, but a mechanism to shift some of the security risks to the supplier and force them to standardize "entry control". Previously, many sellers hoped for "somehow it would get there," but now the rate is changing: packaging becomes part of the cost, like a label or labeling. In the reports, the fine is reflected as a financial deduction, which means it must be embedded in the unit economy and controlled in the same way as the commission, storage and logistics.
For foreign economic activity and imports (including from China), the news is even more important. Imported goods often come in a "shipping" package that looks neat, but does not always meet the marketplace's requirements for individual protection against bumps and leaks. This means two options: either to repackage the product on the manufacturer's side (increasing the cost and time), or to transfer operations to fulfillment in Russia (additional processing, quality control, consumables). Over the long run, those who standardize packaging in advance to meet the requirements of the site and fix this in the technical specifications for the factory and in the acceptance checklists will benefit.
What should I do right now to avoid paying fines?:
- update packaging regulations for specific categories (liquids, glass, aerosols, "loose");
- introduce selective batch control before shipment to the warehouse, especially for "pilot" facilities;
- to fix in the contract with the contractor/fulfillment the responsibility for the quality of packaging and photofixation;
- Recalculate the unit economy: sometimes it is cheaper to strengthen packaging by 3-7 ₽ than to steadily lose 40 ₽ per unit when a violation is detected.
The pilot at two warehouses is a signal of scaling up: if the damage and return metrics improve, the rule will almost certainly be expanded to other facilities and categories. This means that packaging in 2026 will become as competitive a factor for the seller as the price and delivery time.
