Fee reductions haven’t taken effect yet. What should we do about the price?

The price may be yours, but the commission may not be. That is what marketplace sellers are demanding: they want amendments to the platform economy law that establish sellers’ right to set retail prices (Prospect, Inc. Russia, rb.ru, 21.10.2026). Rosbalt reported the same day that sellers want to limit marketplaces’ influence over prices and product listings.

The next day, on 22.10.2026, the Ministry of Industry and Trade proposed preventing marketplaces from charging sellers elevated commissions (TKS.

RU).

Two news stories about the same issue. There is still no answer: as of the check date, there is no confirmation that the amendments have already been submitted to the State Duma, and the agency promises to submit the document by the end of 2026 (Versiya, Public News Service, 21.10.2026). The gap between “proposed” and “entered into force” is precisely where sellers typically lose margin.

Fact, proposal, forecast: what is the difference, and why it determines everything

Fact — in October 2026, negotiations are underway on prices, commissions, and listings simultaneously. The sellers’ appeals and the agency’s proposals do exist, as confirmed by published reports.

Proposal — to establish sellers’ right to set retail prices and prevent marketplaces from charging sellers elevated commissions. These are the negotiating parties’ positions, not rules currently in effect.

Forecast — lower commissions, a redistribution of control over pricing, and “more of the price under your control.” None of these outcomes has been confirmed by a document that has entered into force.

Until you bridge the gap between these three statuses, a seller must make decisions based on the conditions in effect today. This is not a formality: pricing decisions are built on precisely this distinction.

Why an expected commission reduction cannot be built into your price

An expected commission is a promise that margin pays for. For example, you lower your price by 5%, expecting the marketplace commission to fall by 2 percentage points. If the initiative remains at the discussion stage, the price reduction will remain, but the commission reduction will not. Margin will fall not because of a regulator’s decision, but because the seller trusted the discussion before it became the rule.

The rule is simple: only costs confirmed by the marketplace’s current terms should be built into your price. Anything based on promises belongs in a separate “scenario” line and should not affect your price.

Where your pricing zone of control ends

A marketplace pricing formula consists of at least four layers: procurement, marketplace commission, logistics and storage, with a recommended retail price floor on top if you are a manufacturer or distributor operating under a contract.

The first two layers are partly in your hands: you negotiate procurement with the supplier, and you set the price within the terms and restrictions available to you. Logistics, storage, and plans depend on the marketplace’s terms. Treat the recommended retail price as an agreed restriction under your arrangements with the manufacturer or retail chain.

It is useful to map out this formula in full and for each SKU. This shows not just the “price,” but the relationship between the layers: where you are losing control and where you are still making the decisions yourself. For manufacturers and distributors, the agreed recommended retail price level is also factored in, leaving less room to maneuver—not because of the market, but because of your own agreements.

What is already changing the formula, regardless of regulation

Regulatory discussions are not the only source of changes in your economics. When a marketplace changes its current plans, the cost side of the formula must also be recalculated.

This means prices should be recalculated by SKU not when it is “time,” but whenever at least one layer changes. A regulatory signal is a reason to check. A routine change to a marketplace’s plans is a reason to recalculate.

The regulatory package goes beyond two signals

• Besides prices and commissions, several other matters are being discussed in the same package. Each changes not the price itself, but the way it is implemented.
• The marketplaces’ profit tax could be allocated based on the location of sales (TKS.
• RU, 22.10.2026). For sellers, this is not yet a direct expense line, but the marketplace’s tax burden may shift in priority if the initiative is implemented.

Sellers are asking for the “Similar products” and “Find cheaper” buttons to be prohibited in product listings (New Retail, 20.10.2026). This is already about where your price appears: shoppers see a competing price right in your listing.

If these demands become rules, the competitive environment within a listing may change: products will be compared on different parameters, which is a separate discussion about positioning.

Two trajectories—and what to do in each

If the initiatives remain proposals, the pricing formula does not change. You work from the full cost price, remember that some costs are currently outside your control, and do not wait for a reduction that has not yet materialized.

If the rules enter into force, the focus of pricing may shift: some costs will move out of the risk zone, and some of the time you spent compensating for costs will be freed up for positioning against competitors. But this is a scenario, not the current reality: you can prepare for it, but you cannot restructure today’s price based on it.

What to do today

• 1. Compile the pricing formula for each SKU: procurement, commission, logistics, storage, and recommended retail price. Work product by product, not “on average for the category.”
• 2. Mark the line items that are currently outside your control, and identify who changes them and how quickly you will see the change.
• 3. Establish thresholds: the commission level and recommended retail price level at which a recalculation becomes mandatory rather than merely advisable.
• 4. Keep a history of price changes—your own and those of others. When margin drifts apart, the dispute comes down to memory and blame; a log turns it into an analysis of the formula.

5. Monitor the status of regulatory signals and verify the details in the original source rather than a news summary. The “by the end of 2026” deadline applies to submitting the amendments and does not guarantee when they will enter into force.

Pricerio takes over part of this manual work: it tracks suppliers’ and competitors’ prices, maintains a history of price changes, applies pricing rules based on formulas, and monitors compliance with the recommended retail prices (RRTs). This is a control tool, not a legal review: it does not replace checking regulatory documents.

One important caveat. The provisions cited, the list of affected marketplaces and product categories, the status of the Ministry of Industry and Trade document, and its effective date are not disclosed in the publications: the text of the articles and the current version of the law remain unread. That is why the article does not include numerical commission rates or RRTs—any such figure would currently be a guess, not a fact.

And there is still the main question to ask yourself before you finalize your pricing: how much of your price today is actually your decision? If the answer is “I don’t know,” that is the line in the formula where you need to start.

Do you already have any SKUs where you factored an expected reduction in commissions into the price? Tell us in the comments which expectations turned out to be correct.