What the Marketplace Claims — and What the Law Says
After a warehouse fire, the platform announces: “Under the updated user agreement, drone strikes constitute force majeure. Monetary payments are not foreseen. In their place, we offer discounted commission rates.”
This is not care for business partners. It is an attempt to transfer the marketplace’s own financial losses onto sellers. And legally, it does not hold up.
Three Facts That Form the Legal Foundation
Fact 1. Russian civil law overrides marketplace rules
The marketplace charges for storage. This makes it a professional custodian under Article 901 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, with full statutory liability for the goods entrusted to it.
No platform rules — no user agreement, no storage policy — can override this provision. The Civil Code takes precedence over contractual terms with respect to mandatory custodial liability rules.
Fact 2. The new terms do not apply retroactively
Under Article 425 of the Civil Code, a contract does not have retroactive force unless it expressly provides for it. If your goods entered the warehouse before the drone force-majeure clause was published, the conditions in effect at the time of acceptance apply.
Applying a new force-majeure clause “backwards in time” is a direct violation of the principle of stability of civil legal relations — and is legally impermissible.
Fact 3. A logistics discount is not compensation
Accepting “preferential conditions” without reservations risks constituting a voluntary waiver of the right to claim actual damages. Acceptance agreements typically include a clause confirming “the absence of any further property claims.”
Legal advice: do not accept any discount arrangement before having the text reviewed by a lawyer.
Why Now Is the Critical Moment
Claims arising from marketplace warehouse fires are a new category of commercial arbitration dispute. Courts have not yet established uniform positions on these cases — which means early claimants with properly assembled evidence have the greatest prospects of success and will effectively set the precedent for the entire industry.
Those who accept the discount and stay silent will lock in their losses permanently.
Three Steps to Protect Your Rights
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Do not sign supplementary agreements or accept discounts before verifying the language for any waiver of claims.
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Download all reports from your personal account covering stock at the affected warehouse — immediately, while the data remains accessible.
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Gather your primary cost documents: UTDs, invoices, supplier contracts, and payment confirmations.
Read Also
- Behind the Scenes: How a Lawyer Builds a Defence Strategy for Marketplace Sellers
- Warehouse Fire: 3 Steps to Preserve Evidence Before Data Disappears
The marketplace is offering a “discount” in exchange for your burned goods? Contact us — we will review your documents, check delivery dates, and lay out a step-by-step plan for recovering real money through the courts.