Ukrainian online stores

Around New Year's I made the two biggest online purchases of my life. Since I'm not yet willing to risk buying anything large from abroad, I used the services of Ukrainian sellers.

First, I made a purchase at rozetka.com.ua. I'd heard decent reviews about it before and figured the store had a good reputation, but after dealing with them I almost completely lost any desire to deal with local online stores.

I picked the worst possible time to place the order. I made it on Thursday, a week before New Year's. For some reason I wasn't too alarmed that registration on the site was completely broken, but I did manage to place the order. The manager called and told me the order had been accepted, but they wouldn't ship it until a prepayment of one fifth of the item's cost had been made — even though the site said everywhere that no prepayment was required. He also said that if the prepayment was made at the warehouse in Kherson on Thursday before noon, they'd ship on Thursday, and if on Friday, then on Friday. The warehouse is on the same street I live on, so I agreed to the prepayment. On Thursday it didn't work out, we paid on Friday, and they promised it would be there Saturday or Monday.

On Saturday the truck arrived right as the warehouse was closing, so they told me to call on Monday. On Monday the warehouse said the item wasn't there and they didn't know whether it would be. Getting in touch with «Rozetka» itself was difficult, because the feedback form on the site turned out to be non-functional on top of the broken registration — meaning only ordering worked on it, and that was it. From Beeline I couldn't get through at all; from MTS I somehow managed — they said they'd ship the item on Monday and that I could pick it up on Tuesday. On Tuesday they confirmed it had been shipped and that I should check with the warehouse for pickup after noon. And at the warehouse they said that because of the snowstorm the truck hadn't left, that it would leave only on Tuesday afternoon (the last shipping day before the break until January 10), and to expect it around midday Wednesday. Wednesday evening the truck with the cargo finally arrived at the warehouse. That's how I ended up picking up the item at the very last minute, since the next morning I already had to leave for the holidays.

I doubt I'll ever deal with «Rozetka» again. Yes, I'm partly to blame too for ordering at such a time. But the false information on the site about payment, the mostly non-functional site features, the constant lies from the managers about shipping the item are also telling. Distrusting the customer by demanding prepayment, when the site officially says there isn't any, only confirms that the seller himself is being deceptive and shouldn't be trusted. It's a shame that here, as stores expand and gain popularity, the treatment of customers gets worse; you don't see that in the West.

The second was nextgame.com.ua. I bought from them right after the New Year's holidays. They left a good impression, if you don't count the problems with the local branch of the delivery service.

I received the item the next day, and without any prepayment. They just forgot to send me the express waybill number after shipping — I had to call and find out myself. Interestingly, both times they likewise forgot to send it at videogames.org.ua. Maybe there's something I don't understand about why sellers don't provide delivery-service waybill numbers without a reminder.

All in all, this store left a good impression, though the delivery service «Nova Poshta» turned out to be a negative. I asked them on the phone how to get to the warehouse, since I didn't know that part of the city, and in the end they directed me to a minibus that took me to practically another, unfamiliar end of the city, and I then had to walk several kilometers to get there. They couldn't explain how to get back from the warehouse either…