Getting paid for shipments to Russia: payment agents, deposits and direct transfers — what changes for the exporter

1. Why the money is late and how it looks from your side

Cross-border settlements with Russian counterparties have tightened, and the effect reaches the supplier directly. A transfer that used to take two or three days may be screened, returned to the payer, or in the worst case lost in the correspondent chain for a long time. Your buyer sees a rejected payment; you see an invoice that stays unpaid with no explanation.

There is no universal solution here — every deal is settled individually, depending on the goods, the amount and the pair of banks involved. What matters for you is that the route your buyer chooses is not neutral: it decides who the money comes from, how much of it arrives at a time, and what has to be written in the documents you issue.

2. Three routes your buyer can use

Russian companies currently settle with foreign suppliers in one of three ways. The table shows what each route means for the exporter — not for the importer.

Whichever route is used, the goods still have to be declared on arrival, and the payment documents are part of that file — this is the stage where customs clearance in Russia either goes through smoothly or stalls over a mismatch.

3. What your buyer will now ask you for

Expect requests that did not come up before, and treat them as conditions of getting paid rather than as bureaucracy:

• The EAEU HS code in the invoice and in the payment purpose. For direct transfers the code in the payment reference is a hard requirement, so the buyer needs it from you in writing and needs it to be the same code on every document.
• A contract clause allowing payment by a third party. Without it, money arriving from an agent company in another country is difficult to attribute to your deal.
• Exact, repeated identifiers. Contract number, invoice number and date, unchanged across the invoice, the packing list and the payment instruction.
• A consistent goods description. The wording in the invoice, the transport documents and the payment purpose should describe the same thing in the same words.
• Specific banking details. Your buyer may ask you to receive funds through a particular bank, because a workable bank-to-bank link matters more than convenience.

A returned payment is not a delay of a few days: the money goes back to the buyer, the whole route has to be re-arranged, and your cargo waits unpaid in the meantime. Most returns trace back to something small on the paperwork side — a missing commodity code, a payment reference that does not name your invoice, or a payer whose name the contract never anticipated.

If your product also requires permits or certification for the Russian market, prepare that paperwork in parallel — a payment that finally clears is of little use if the goods then sit waiting for a document that takes weeks to obtain.

4. Payment timing and the risk of cargo standing at the border

The practical consequence for a shipper is that «payment sent» and «payment received» are now separated by an unpredictable gap. A copy of a transfer order is no longer evidence that the money will arrive: it may still be returned days later. Booking a vessel, a truck or an aircraft against a payment order alone is how exporters end up with goods in transit and an unpaid invoice.

Two timing rules follow. First, plan production and loading around confirmed credit to your account or an agreed deposit balance, not around the date the buyer initiated the payment. Second, build a buffer into the delivery schedule you promise: if a transfer is returned and has to be re-sent through another route, the lost time is measured in weeks, and any deadline tied to the arrival date moves with it.

5. What the exporter should do

1. Ask your buyer which route they are using — an agent, a deposit or a direct transfer — before you confirm the order, and record it in the contract.
2. Add a clause permitting payment by a third party on the buyer’s behalf, and agree in advance what the payment reference will say.
3. Put the EAEU HS code on the invoice and give the buyer the exact wording to use in the payment purpose.
4. Keep contract and invoice numbers identical everywhere; do not renumber documents after a payment has been initiated.
5. Confirm your receiving bank details with the buyer before invoicing — the choice of bank affects whether the payment goes through at all.
6. Release goods against credited funds or an agreed deposit balance, and reconcile that balance in writing after every shipment.
7. Add a realistic time buffer to your delivery commitments and warn the buyer early if the payment has not landed, so the route can be changed before the cargo moves.

6. Frequently asked questions

The payment came from a company in the UAE, not from my customer. Is that legitimate?
Yes — settlement through third parties is done on a contractual basis, and it is currently the most widespread scheme for Russian companies. What you need is a contract that allows it and a payment reference that clearly identifies your deal.

Why does the commission differ from deal to deal?
Agents charge depending on the amount transferred and the type of transaction, so the same buyer may quote you different figures for different orders.

Can I ship as soon as I receive a copy of the transfer?
It is safer not to. Transfers are still returned or held, and a payment order is not credited funds. Ship against money in your account or against an agreed prepayment balance.

Is there one route that always works?
No. There is no universal solution for international settlements — each case needs its own approach, and the workable option depends on the banks, the country and the goods involved.

7. Expert opinion

Yaroslav Loginov — expert in logistics and customs clearance with 40 years of experience.

«What I see most often on the supplier side is a document set that was perfectly fine two years ago and is now the reason the money comes back. An invoice without a commodity code, a payment reference that says nothing but the buyer’s name, a contract that never imagined a payer registered in a third country — any one of these is enough for a bank to reject the transfer, and neither you nor your customer will be told exactly why.

The second thing is timing. Exporters still plan production against the date the buyer promises to pay, and then discover that the route chosen for that particular deal takes far longer, or fails and has to be replaced. Agree the payment route before you accept the order, write the wording of the payment purpose into the contract, and count your lead time from credited funds. It costs nothing and it is the difference between a shipment that leaves on schedule and one that waits.»

Summary

Russian buyers settle with foreign suppliers through payment agents in third countries, through advance payments against a deposit balance, or directly where a reliable pair of banks exists. Each route puts different demands on your invoice, your contract and your banking details, and the most common cause of a returned payment is a document detail rather than the deal itself. Agree the route and the payment wording before you confirm the order, and ship against money that has actually arrived. Leave a request for a consultation, and we will go through your specific shipment to Russia.