Wildberries fire: seller compensation and legal advice

After the fire at warehouses of marketplace Wildberries in Elektrostal (Moscow region) and Kotovsk (Tambov region), hundreds of entrepreneurs reported on social media about multi-million ruble losses due to destroyed goods.

In this article, we have compiled lawyer advice for sellers who lost goods in the fire at Wildberries warehouses, as well as support measures announced by the company.

On the morning of 18 July 2026, a huge logistics center in the Moscow region was attacked by drones; the warehouses burned down completely. Read details about the dead and injured in this article.

WB«s Liability

According to Moscow lawyer Artemy Volovik, first of all, sellers need to understand that Wildberries acts not only as a marketplace but also as a professional custodian of goods.

According to Article 901 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, a professional custodian is liable for loss of property and is released from liability only if it can prove the existence of force majeure circumstances. That is why a mere declaration of force majeure is not enough — the company still has to prove that it really could not prevent the consequences of what happened, the lawyer told MSK1.RU.

According to him, the key issue in possible litigation will not be the fact of the drone attack itself, but the reasons for such a large-scale spread of the fire.

What Sellers Should Do

Artemy Volovik advises sellers not to delay gathering evidence and to prepare now for possible litigation.

Since the situation is mass-scale, I would recommend dividing into two groups: those who handed over goods to the warehouse before the change of Wildberries« public offer, and those who did so after. For each of these categories, it is advisable to file a class action lawsuit. This will reduce legal costs, as all participants essentially have the same situation, the lawyer says.

In the lawyer«s opinion, sellers who handed over goods before the change in the terms of the offer may have a particularly strong legal position.

The goods were accepted for storage under the previous contract terms. If the marketplace later unilaterally changed the terms of its liability, it remains to be determined whether the sellers were properly notified of these changes and had the opportunity to make a decision — to continue cooperation or take back the goods. This will also be subject to judicial assessment, Volovik explains.

On 7 July 2026, a new version of the Wildberries offer for sellers came into force. The marketplace increased the commission for selling goods and also changed the liability terms: the document added a clause stating that the company is not liable for full or partial loss of goods due to force majeure circumstances, including military actions, terrorist acts, sabotage, and drone attacks.

First of all, the lawyer advises documenting all evidence related to the loss of goods. It is necessary to save information from the Wildberries personal account: balances for each SKU and warehouse, goods movement history, statuses, reports, loss notifications, correspondence with the marketplace, and other data confirming that the goods were in the warehouse. He recommends notarizing the most important pages.

In addition, both versions of the Wildberries offer, the news about the changes and the date of their publication should be preserved. According to the lawyer, this may be relevant when considering the dispute, especially if the goods were transferred to the warehouse before the change in contract terms.

It is also necessary to collect all documents confirming the value of the goods and the fact of their transfer to the warehouse: contracts with suppliers, Universal Transfer Documents (UPD), waybills, payment orders, documents on production cost, labeling and transportation.

When approaching the marketplace, the lawyer recommends separating claims: separately claim compensation for lost inventory, payment of revenue from completed sales, refund of disputed deductions and netting, as well as reimbursement of other expenses related to the incident.

Before going to court, Volovik advises sending a pre-trial claim through the Wildberries portal — section «Support» → «Claims» → «Pre-trial Claim». According to the terms of the offer, the response time is 30 calendar days, and correspondence through this section has legal significance.

In the claim, the lawyer recommends demanding:

an individual loss report for each SKU;

information about the storage location of the goods;

calculation of the proposed compensation;

information on the cause of damage to the goods;

information on the fire-technical investigation;

preservation of video recordings, logs of fire alarm and fire extinguishing systems;

documents on inspections and maintenance of fire protection systems;

information on property and liability insurance.

Another important recommendation from Artemy Volovik is not to agree to the compensation offered by Wildberries until all its terms are studied.

The current version of the offer stipulates that the seller«s consent to receive compensation may mean the absence of further claims against the marketplace. Therefore, before accepting the payment, it is necessary to carefully assess its legal consequences, the lawyer warns.

Was Separate Insurance Necessary?

According to the lawyer, after the goods were accepted by Wildberries and this was reflected in the marketplace system, the fact of transfer is considered confirmed and the company bears responsibility for them. Therefore, third-party insurance would not have helped in this situation.

After Wildberries accepted the goods, confirmed receipt and this was displayed in the seller«s system, the liability for their storage already falls on the marketplace as a professional custodian. Additional insurance is possible, for example, at the stage of transporting goods to the warehouse, but after acceptance, the obligations of the custodian itself are key, concluded Artemy Volovik.

What Support Does WB Offer?

On 19 July, Wildberries founder Tatyana Kim said that the marketplace continues to operate normally: all products available on the showcase can be ordered, while goods that were in the affected warehouses are temporarily hidden from the catalog.

In addition, the company announced support measures for entrepreneurs whose goods were destroyed in the fire at the warehouses in Elektrostal and Kotovsk. In particular, Wildberries and WB Bank offer:

a deferral of debt repayment for up to six months for small and medium-sized businesses (a similar mechanism for large partners is promised to be launched later);

preferential loans and factoring to restore inventory;

cancellation of fees for payments within Russia and an increased interest rate on the balance of funds;

preferential conditions for accelerated withdrawal of revenue, including the provision of overdraft limits.

On Monday, 20 July, the company announced that new rules are being introduced at all logistics facilities, which will apply in emergencies requiring a temporary suspension of work and evacuation of people.

The company has revised the amount of compensation to cover payments not received by warehouse workers for time spent during evacuations, Wildberries said. Thanks to this, they will maintain their usual level of payments even in cases where tasks are temporarily suspended for safety reasons.

Later, Tatyana Kim said that they continue to monitor the condition of the victims and have already started making initial payments to families.

On 23 July, after completing an assessment of the logistics complex in Kotovsk, the warehouse will be able to accept deliveries again, she wrote on social media. Goods that were there will return to sale. More details are on the seller portal. In the very near future, we will correctly display all goods that were in Elektrostal in the reports on our seller portal.