The gray market for smartphones is growing in Russia

The number of administrative offense cases initiated by customs authorities on the facts of illegal deliveries of smartphones to the Russian Federation tends to increase, the Federal Customs Service (FCS) told Izvestia.

"For 10 months of 2024, the number of cases, the subject of offense in which were smartphones, increased compared to the same period last year by 70%, and with the same period of 2022 - more than six times," - noted in the FCS.

As one of the major participants of the Russian electronics market told Izvestia, from the beginning of 2022 to the end of 2024, the share of smartphones that are imported into Russia with violations of tax and customs laws increased from 10 to 30%.

"Since 2022, large batches of equipment and electronics are imported still officially by distributors with full registration and payment of VAT. And the share of private imports without paying VAT has grown to 30% of the market volume," the Izvestia interlocutor added.

According to MTS estimates, the share of gray and counterfeit smartphones in a number of positions reaches 30% of the total volume. The biggest concern is the growth of counterfeit on marketplaces, while the system of control and responsibility of sellers on these sites is often nominal, said Andrei Gubanov, General Director of the MTS retail network.

Purchasing goods from gray sellers is fraught with lack of quality guarantee, lack of instructions in Russian, the risk of acquiring faulty or broken equipment, according to M.Video - Eldorado. In the best case, buyers have to rely on the honesty of such outlets, at worst - to deal with the solution of emerging problems with the equipment themselves, noted in the press service of the united retailer.

Read more in the exclusive material "Izvestia":

Imports are still there: the gray market of smartphones is growing in Russia