Avito began testing a free delivery service from abroad

When placing an order from another country, the package will be delivered free of charge by Russian Post. The range of partners currently includes approximately 200 thousand offers, including clothing, footwear, accessories, household items and tools.

These orders are placed according to the usual scheme for the user: through “Avito Delivery” with the “Secure Transaction” option, which implies the freezing of funds until receipt of the goods, Avito noted.

Sellers will take care of any customs related issues. The average delivery time will be about two or three weeks. Once the order arrives at the Russian Post Office, the user will receive a notification.

Avito’s costs to subsidize cross-border shipments until 2027 could amount to 2 billion rubles, Infoline-Analytics CEO Mikhail Burmistrov estimated. The company noted that delivery from abroad makes it possible to order original products from well-known brands that are not represented in Russia.

Once the tests are completed, the advertising service will make a decision on the expansion of the project and its future evolution, as well as on the incorporation of new destinations and foreign partners, including logistics services.

Russian retailers and online platforms began launching deliveries from abroad after foreign companies left the country, Forbes said. For example, SDEK (CDEK.Shopping) and Boxberry (BXBox) have these types of services.