Ozon Promotional Price Limit Disappeared: What to Check Before the Sale

Starting October 15, sellers taking part in some Ozon promotions could no longer set in advance how many products they were willing to sell at the promotional price. The limit either cannot be set or is calculated under new rules. This is not “the discount has become smaller.” It is a different management issue: the volume you agree to sell at the reduced price.

What happened and when

On October 15, 2026, the Union of E-Commerce sent a letter to the FAS requesting an investigation into the terms of promotions on Ozon. The letter was signed by the union’s director and member of the FAS Public Council, Georgy Bagiryants; the organization confirmed that it had sent the letter. The appeal concerns the interests of small and medium-sized businesses selling products through Ozon.

The news was published on October 20, 2026, at 10:20 a.m. by the industry publication New-Retail.ru.

What sellers are challenging

According to the organization, sellers have faced several challenges since October 15: in some promotions, the ability to set a limit on the quantity of products sold at the promotional price has disappeared, and the method for calculating this limit has changed. That is all the specific information provided in the publication. It does not include discount percentages, penalties, or sales volumes—and there is no reason to make them up.

Ozon’s response

The marketplace said that the logic for sellers’ participation in promotions and the terms for buyers had remained unchanged and that the changes were technical in nature. It also noted that each product now has a single price. In other words, as of October 20, Ozon described the update as technical rather than as a revision of the participation rules.

What the sources do not include

None of the publications found includes an official response from the FAS to this appeal. Nor do they acknowledge any violation, cancellation of the rules, or impact on buyout rates and sales. But this is not the same as “there is no response”: the story is recent, and the facts are changing by the day, so the status should be rechecked before making a decision for your assortment.

A related issue should be noted separately: on October 21, sellers submitted a separate appeal asking for the removal of the “Similar products” and “Find cheaper” buttons from product listings, as well as an end to the automatic inclusion of products in promotions. The FAS told Kommersant that it would review the appeal; the relevant State Duma committee had not received the letter as of publication; and Ozon and Wildberries declined to comment. This is about a different issue—coercion to participate and buttons on product listings. However, both stories point to the same thing for you: promotion rules are changing, and responsibility for pricing decisions remains with the seller.

Why this is a question about volume, not discount

When the quantity limit at the promotional price can be set at the outset, you know your cap in advance. You decide: this SKU, this many units I am willing to sell at the promotional price, and everything above that goes at the regular price. When the marketplace calculates the limit differently, your cap becomes a function of someone else’s logic. And this is a risk that cannot be addressed after the fact: the promotion is underway, the product is selling, and the margin has already been calculated.

That is why “I was given a 20 percent discount” is not an answer to the question “Is this profitable for me?” A discount is a percentage of the listed price. The real question is how many units you will sell at the promotional price and at what volume the numbers work out.

What to check for each SKU before entering a promotion

1. Record your entry. For each product: the entry date, regular listed price, promotional price, exit date, and—separately—the quantity limit at the promotional price that you set upon entry and the limit you actually received. The difference between these two numbers is precisely the disputed area under discussion. Track this in a spreadsheet by SKU, rather than relying on memory or notes: with dozens of products, there is no way to reconstruct anything “from memory.”

2. Calculate the economics at the promotional price, not the listed price. For example, suppose your purchase price is 900 ₽, your listed price is 1,990 ₽, and your promotional price is 1,490 ₽. Write-offs at the promotional price should be calculated using 1,490 ₽, not 1,990 ₽: account for the commission, logistics, and storage first, and only then decide what share of the volume to sell at that price. If the economics work out only for some of your products at this price, then your entire assortment should not go into the promotion.

3. Compare your promotional price with competitors’ promotional prices in the same promotion. Not with their listed prices. This is the most common mistake during sales: a competitor enters the same promotion and also has a promotional price, but you compare your discount with their regular price and see an advantage that does not exist in the listing. The correct comparison is promotional price against promotional price, date against date, listing against listing, and product against product.

4. Check what happens to the price after the promotion. The published materials do not explain how the promotional price affects subsequent discounts or the calculation of the RRP, so you need the marketplace’s rules here, not a summary of the news. Check what RRP is shown in your listing, how the marketplace treats the end of the promotion, and what base it uses to calculate subsequent discounts. This point should be addressed first if a recommended retail price applies in your category.

Three questions you will have in your account

Should you exit the promotion before the FAS responds? There is no universal answer, and making one up would be harmful. Make the decision for each SKU based on your unit economics and your volume cap. If the limit at the promotional price cannot be set, you are accepting the promotion with an uncertain quantity—the question is whether your unit economics can withstand it.

Is it true that the new mechanics will kill buyout rates? The sources do not confirm this. The appeal concerns the ability to set a limit on the quantity sold at the promotional price; the publication says nothing about buyout rates, sales, or volumes. Drawing conclusions based on that connection creates risk for your own listing.

What should you do if the limit cannot be set directly in your account? Record everything you can set: the promotional price, the dates, your planned volume cap at the promotional price, and the price at which you are willing to sell beyond that cap. This record is exactly what you will return to when the promotion ends and you calculate the results.

What to do today

Take one past promotion and one dozen SKUs. Pull up the displayed price, promo price, dates, your volume limit at the promo price, and actual write-offs. Calculate the economics at the promo price. Separately, open your competitors’ product listings for the same dates and look at their promo prices, not their displayed prices. The difference will be immediately apparent, and most of the time it will not work in your favor.

With an assortment of hundreds of SKUs, doing this manually is impractical: each listing needs to be monitored both on the promotion’s start date and on its end date. Pricerio offers competitor price monitoring with a history of price changes, automated pricing rules, and control over recommended retail prices. The history shows how competitors’ observed prices have changed; the website stores price history for 90 days.

What share of your assortment was sold at the promo price rather than the displayed price during your last promotion—and who tracked it? If the answer is “no one,” that is the first thing you should address before the next sale.

Sources

Sellers ask government agencies to check Ozon’s promotion terms — New-Retail.ru, 20.10.2026, 10:20, https://new-retail.ru/search/?q=%D1%83%D1%81%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%8F%20%D0%B0%D0%BA%D1%86%D0%B8%D0%B9%20Ozon

Sellers seek to ban the “Similar products” and “Find a better price” buttons in product listings — New-Retail.ru, 21.10.2026, 09:55, https://new-retail.ru/search/?q=Ozon%20%D0%A4%D0%90%D0%A1