New Klondike? What Russian Marketplaces and Gold Mines Have in Common

At first, Russian consumers faced a mass exodus of foreign brands. It seemed like the perfect time for Russian brands to occupy the freed niches. Even if a bit worse and more expensive, at least domestic production. But the state needed a huge amount of imported products, without which planes and rockets refused to fly, computers refused to compute, and imported machines refused to work.

And then the law on parallel imports appeared. According to the developers’ idea, it was simply supposed to allow bringing across the border everything the state needed for its purposes, both military and civilian. But in fact,

the law gave the green light to a huge unaccounted flowof gray and black imports. And this entire business spun around marketplaces, which became for many a chance to enter the world of big money.

So what do such seemingly different markets as marketplaces and gold mines have in common?

First, there is an extremely low entry barrier. To start trading on a marketplace, you practically don’t need initial capital, and, as many believe, no special knowledge is required. Second, we see a beautiful success story right before our eyes, where a simple housewife became the owner of a global trading empire with a purple emblem. Let’s not discuss the absurdity of these beliefs now. Let’s talk about the consequences.

The low entry barrier to the market leads to a huge number of people rushing in who poorly understand all the risks and problems associated with working on marketplaces.

According to 2024 data, about 1.2 million people traded on Russian marketplaces, and the total revenue amounted to 8.2 trillion rubles. Monthly revenue per person in this case is about 570 thousand rubles.

According to expert estimates, a normal profitability for marketplaces is about 20%. This means, on average, a person on a marketplace earns about 115 thousand rubles monthly. And this means that the vast majority of sellers on marketplaces practically earn nothing. After all, the median revenue of 78% of sellers in 2024 was 53 thousand rubles per month.

But when selling on marketplaces, you have to pay for advertising and storage if the goods don’t sell for a long time. And there are also returns of unsuitable goods.

It turns out that 90% of participants in this trade will, at best, break even. In the worst case, they will be left with unsold goods and large debts.

Alas, this is the logic of any competitive market—the more participants, the less profitability. And it doesn’t matter what market it is, whether it’s an agricultural farmers’ market, securities market, or IT startup market.

Of course, there will be winners here too. Besides a small number of successful sellers, profits will go to the marketplaces themselves, companies that equip pickup points, logistics companies, and foreign manufacturers.

Some benefit will be gained by ordinary consumers buying imported products at bargain prices. Provided they don’t end up with falling-apart sneakers, TVs breaking the next day, non-working smartphones, and clothes that fail after the first wash. Since after the 2022 enactment of the parallel import law, consumers cannot protect their rights—the manufacturing companies no longer bear responsibility for these products.

As a result, a large number of participants in this almost illegal trade regularly go bankrupt. Surely many of them think they were just unlucky, and that in general this is probably a profitable business.

But the system is arranged so that there will be few winners. Just like 130 years ago during the legendary Klondike Gold Rush.

While the modern Klondike operates, grinding down thousands of participants, new ones eager for success take the place of those who fall. In a way, we are facing a pyramid fueled by the numerous Russian population and the deliberate breaking of normal customs rules.

However, such a system cannot work for long. Either the state will restore a normal system of international trade, or degradation will affect other state institutions as well. Unfortunately, there is no third option.