Russia is preparing to place restrictions on internet orders from foreign retailers arriving in the country.
The government is considering a 30 per cent tax levy on orders made with foreign online retailers with a value of 7,000 roubles (£123.34) or more. The government is also examining the possibility of restricting the number of parcels imported per day.
According to the the Retail Insider the parcel limit could be restricted to five each day.
Retailers such as Asos, Next and Net-a-Porter have made the country an important plank of their growth strategies.
The situation in Russia is part of a wider trend across the globe and is likely to affect UK retailers more than others after it was revealed earlier this month that UK ecommerce firms made a £720 million trade surplus - far more than any other country.
It follows news this week that Argentina has already imposed an even more severe restriction to try to curb a drop in its foreign currency reserves.
Anyone buying items through international websites need to sign a declaration and produce it at a custom office. The items are then collected from the customs office rather than the customer's home.
Individuals are allowed to buy items from abroad up to the value of $25 (£15) tax free each year, according to the BBC. After that limite is exceeded, online shoppers in the country need to pay a 50 per cent tax on each item bought.
Pressure has also increased in the US and Australia where taxes on online retailers are lower.
In Australia, also a key target market for many UK online retailers, online purchases worth less than A$1,000 (£527) are not subject to VAT. Online sales in Australia have increased from A$6 billion in 2007 to A$10 billion in 2012, with 75 per cent of the revenue going to overseas ecommerce firms, according to the Guardian.
In the US, bricks and mortar retailers have also sought to bring pressure on the government to clamp down on etailers who, by a quirk of the law, do not pay state sales tax in the same way as physical shops.
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