I recently had the occasion to have a gift delivered to a person in Russia. That experience drew my attention to the differences in how we deal with electronic purchases in Russia and abroad. I must admit I had forgotten some of the Russian peculiar ways, and new ways have emerged since I left Russia! We have talked about general finance on this blog, but I believe e-commerce is a subject that is both culturally interesting and practical.

Credit Cards

First, it must be said that Russia is far from a cash-free society. When I used to teach Russian, my students wouldn’t believe there was any value to the question “Вы принимаете кредитные карты?” (Do you take credit cards?). However, there are still many places in Russia that are cash (наличные) only.

This being said, new methods of payment (формы оплаты) have emerged in the last 5-10 years. The first of them is a credit card (кредитная карта). First of all, this is a bit of a misnomer, as this is usually a debit card (дебетовая карта – see wordstress). The free card that comes with your bank account is usually a Visa Electron/Maestro. A plain Visa/MasterCard costs extra to issue. In my experience, the identification requirements at the points of sale (пункты продажи) are fairly stringent, so have your passport (паспорт) ready.

Online Stores/Shops

If you are used to online shopping, you may find that some of you favorite online stores (Интернет-магазины) do not ship to Russia. Amazon comes to mind, although the UK, French, and German versions may occasionally have sellers that will ship to Russia. However, there are national online shops that have a large selection (богатый ассортимент) of goods. Some examples include Озон for several categories of merchandise (ozon.ru) and Wildberries for clothing and home goods. There are also online grocery stores, Утконос (literally, platypus) being one of the best-known ones. In addition, many brick-and-mortar stores are now adding delivery options on their websites.

Payment Methods

The payment methods (способы оплаты) offered on Russian websites may be different to what you are used to. The most pronounced difference is that the workflow is often less integrated than with the likes of Amazon. Instead of  “one-stop” shopping, you may need to pay for your order through third-party platforms. They may vary depending on the website, but the most common ones include

• Наличный расчёт (cash)

Yes, you can pay for online purchases in cash! You place your order and can then pay in cash for it (наличными) either to the delivery person or at a pickup location — more on delivery methods later.

• Банковская карта (a bank card)

Depending on the company, the delivery person or the pickup location may be able to process credit card payments.

• Электронные платежи (electronic payments)

In addition, you may be able to pay online through e-payment systems (системы электронных платежей) — third-party websites processing electronic payments. These systems let you load cash, transfer money from an account or a debit card, or use your (prepaid) mobile phone funds. In order to load cash into the system, many people use payment terminals (терминалы оплаты) — touchscreen ATM-like self-service devices installed throughout the country that let you deposit money in one of your electronic accounts (Yandex Money, Qiwi, etc.), pay your cell phone or utility bills, and pay for your purchases.

Delivery

Delivery of online purchases is not limited to mail delivery. In fact, given how unreliable Russian postal deliveries are, most frequently people choose a different method.

• Самовывоз (pickup)

You can place your order online and pick up the merchandise in one of the pickup locations (пункты самовывоза) in your city. This may be a convenient option for working adults whose schedule does not allow them to wait for a delivery at home.

• Курьерская доставка (Carrier delivery)

With less than certain postal deliveries, many vendors choose to have their own delivery carriers (курьеры) on staff, who bring the goods to the person’s home at the time requested.

As you see, Russian e-commerce is somewhat less “one-stop” and automated than in the case of large online retailers, but in some ways it’s possibly more versatile and flexible. It gives the buyer several choices and adds a personal touch to e-commerce. Have you ever bought anything online in Russia? What was your experience like?