eBay Still Sees Russia as Top Priority

Despite recent legislation aimed at e-sales, and the possibility of further sanctions against Russia, online marketplace eBay still sees Russia as its top priority in emerging markets. "We said three years ago that the Russian marketplace is eBay's top priority in emerging markets. It was true then and it is true now," eBay deputy head Wendy Jones told a news conference dedicated to the signing of a memorandum with Russian Post, Reuters reported.  Earlier this year, Putin signed a law obliging international payment systems such as Visa and MasterCard to pay a massive security deposit in order to continue operations in Russia. Another bill signed into law yesterday will allow them to evade paying the deposit if they find a Russian partner to take over their operations by Oct. 31. Jones's words and the memorandum signed Wednesday show that eBay is in no hurry to exit the burgeoning Russian e-commerce market, which is growing at an average yearly rate of 30 percent. eBay began to service the Russian market in 2010 and launched its Russian headquarters in summer 2012. By the end of December 2013, the company was receiving about 90,000 orders a day from Russian customers, Interfax reported.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/russia-still-top-priority-for-ebay-in-emerging-markets/503916.html